Dear oh dear there seems to be a lot of easily pleased reviewers here. My eyes are sore, rubbing them so hard reading the praise this film is getting. Granted, everyone has their point-of-view but for me this film was poor at best.
At the beginning of the film the assassin (Lawrence Fishburne) kills four people at the side of an open grave at a funeral; this of course spikes interest for the viewer wanting to know why such a dastardly deed has been undertaken. You will be waiting a long time as no explanation is ever given. Adding to your frustration is the four are then tipped into the open grave and the assassin feels the need to fill the grave in the middle of the day in broad daylight. Hardly, rule number one in the assassin's handbook. If this is not implausible enough a young girl happens to be taking a photograph just when the assassin looks up. He gives chase, killing another person in the process, to a lone farm house, where a veteran soldier (Thomas Jane) is standing on the veranda. So if you were the assassin what would you do? Well rule number two in the assassin's handbook is to take a pot shot at him with a handgun from about 200 metres! Absolute nonsense. The rest of the film is rhetoric between the two men, one wanting the girl and the other not wanting to give her up. Quite why Lawrence Fishburne didn't figure out to set fire to the property is a mystery.
So there you have it, a film full of clichés, no sense of reality and for me wooden acting all round. Ella Ballentine's acting was so twee as the little girl I felt like killing her myself. The only positive is that the film only runs for 100 minutes so you are not 'climbing walls' for too long.
At the beginning of the film the assassin (Lawrence Fishburne) kills four people at the side of an open grave at a funeral; this of course spikes interest for the viewer wanting to know why such a dastardly deed has been undertaken. You will be waiting a long time as no explanation is ever given. Adding to your frustration is the four are then tipped into the open grave and the assassin feels the need to fill the grave in the middle of the day in broad daylight. Hardly, rule number one in the assassin's handbook. If this is not implausible enough a young girl happens to be taking a photograph just when the assassin looks up. He gives chase, killing another person in the process, to a lone farm house, where a veteran soldier (Thomas Jane) is standing on the veranda. So if you were the assassin what would you do? Well rule number two in the assassin's handbook is to take a pot shot at him with a handgun from about 200 metres! Absolute nonsense. The rest of the film is rhetoric between the two men, one wanting the girl and the other not wanting to give her up. Quite why Lawrence Fishburne didn't figure out to set fire to the property is a mystery.
So there you have it, a film full of clichés, no sense of reality and for me wooden acting all round. Ella Ballentine's acting was so twee as the little girl I felt like killing her myself. The only positive is that the film only runs for 100 minutes so you are not 'climbing walls' for too long.