Assassins

Released: 1995

Reviewed: 11.27.09
Star rating: 4 out of 5

Sylvester Stallone (Robert), Antonio Banderas (Miguel), Julianne Moore (Electra), Anatoli Davydov (Nicolai).

Miguel is an up and coming hitman who is very interested in becoming number 1. His only obstacle is Robert, who is currently number 1. But when Robert starts to have feelings for his mark and protects her instead of killing her, Miguel sees the opportunity to kill them both and collect the reward as well as the title.

This one kicks off pretty well jumping right into plot and character development. The story is pretty basic and most folks will see things coming a mile away but with good action scenes, not to many slow dramatic moments, and consistent development the film still holds interest well. It did feel though as if direction was based on the set-up then action then repeat method of storytelling.

Acting was interesting in this one. Stallone was okay and mostly believeable but I kept waiting for him to crack a corny joke that never came. Banderas was good, a bit over the top a couple of times, but did seem to have good chemistry with Stallone. What was with his sweating though? It seemed like the guy was constantly wet in this film which was not very attractive. Moore was intriguing switching from tough girl, to brainy girl, to sexy girl, to helpless girl. It didn't help that her character was seriously underdeveloped. She also seemed to have good chemistry with Stallone though, which helped the film a lot.

Action scenes were pretty good with minimal CGI from what I could tell. Sets, background, and camera work were all nicely done. The film felt like it was a good quality production all around.

Overall I enjoy this one quite a bit. Not a great film but good, solid, middle of the road work on most every level. With plenty of violence, some blood, and foul language save this for the oldest teens and above. Plop this one in the bottom half of your Must See list.