"The Last Lullaby" is one of those movies you'll forget right after the end credits. If you remember anything it's just how awful it was.
I've seen many different actors play hitmen/assassins: Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington, and on and on. Tom Sizemore has to be one of the worst casting decisions for a hitman. He was about as convincing as Pinnochio pretending to be a real boy. He was supposed to be this super badass that always has the drop on everyone else: Jason Bourne in a dad bod.
He took a one-million dollar contract to kill a woman named Sarah (Sasha Alexander). I don't think they even tried to hide the fact that he was going to fall for her; a marshmallowy soft plot and as original as tribal arm bands. He was given ten days to kill her and it had to look like an accident.
The predictable and rote romance all began when he was staking her out. You could see in his eyes the slow crumbling of his will to kill her. How could he kill a pretty auburn-haired dame? On day two or three of his recon mission he saved her from her abusive ex-boyfriend. That led to another encounter which led to them essentially dating. You knew that he was going to have to eventually protect her once it was discovered that he abandoned the assignment, and who better to protect her than a retired hitman?
The acting in this movie was abysmal. There was no spark or chemistry between Sizemore and Alexander. And as bad as Sizemore was (almost like he was reluctantly doing a favor for someone), Sasha Alexander was worse. They could've gotten a wooden plank to play her role. Someone forgot to tell her this wasn't a reading and that the cameras were rolling. I've seen DMV employees with more personality.
But as bad as she was, she wasn't the blame for the script. The script should've been labeled "burn after reading." Tell me, what sane woman isn't concerned that the man she was dating was hired to kill her? Sarah wasn't. After believing that Price (Sizemore) had never even held a gun, she saw him totally dispatch of a would-be assassin, and the issue was never brought up. There wasn't a single conversation of how he is so good at defending her and getting rid of people. Eventually, while they were holed up in a hotel, she said, "Go ahead and kill me. That's what you're here for right?" This wasn't said with passion, anger, or any emotion you'd associate with a person who just found out she'd been dating her assassin. This was said in a nonchalant manner like she was ordering takeout. It wasn't even resignation, though she said she was "tired."
The two of them, now bosom buddies, then hatched a plan to kill her father (he hired her killer) and make more money in the process. Again, that was done with little fanfare, and that was probably the biggest issue with this entire production--it was devoid of emotion. Everything, from beginning to end, was done on autopilot. It was like none of the actors wanted to be there, like they all drew the short straw. Whatever the writer Max Allan Collins had in mind if his short story became a movie, this could not have been it.
I've seen many different actors play hitmen/assassins: Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington, and on and on. Tom Sizemore has to be one of the worst casting decisions for a hitman. He was about as convincing as Pinnochio pretending to be a real boy. He was supposed to be this super badass that always has the drop on everyone else: Jason Bourne in a dad bod.
He took a one-million dollar contract to kill a woman named Sarah (Sasha Alexander). I don't think they even tried to hide the fact that he was going to fall for her; a marshmallowy soft plot and as original as tribal arm bands. He was given ten days to kill her and it had to look like an accident.
The predictable and rote romance all began when he was staking her out. You could see in his eyes the slow crumbling of his will to kill her. How could he kill a pretty auburn-haired dame? On day two or three of his recon mission he saved her from her abusive ex-boyfriend. That led to another encounter which led to them essentially dating. You knew that he was going to have to eventually protect her once it was discovered that he abandoned the assignment, and who better to protect her than a retired hitman?
The acting in this movie was abysmal. There was no spark or chemistry between Sizemore and Alexander. And as bad as Sizemore was (almost like he was reluctantly doing a favor for someone), Sasha Alexander was worse. They could've gotten a wooden plank to play her role. Someone forgot to tell her this wasn't a reading and that the cameras were rolling. I've seen DMV employees with more personality.
But as bad as she was, she wasn't the blame for the script. The script should've been labeled "burn after reading." Tell me, what sane woman isn't concerned that the man she was dating was hired to kill her? Sarah wasn't. After believing that Price (Sizemore) had never even held a gun, she saw him totally dispatch of a would-be assassin, and the issue was never brought up. There wasn't a single conversation of how he is so good at defending her and getting rid of people. Eventually, while they were holed up in a hotel, she said, "Go ahead and kill me. That's what you're here for right?" This wasn't said with passion, anger, or any emotion you'd associate with a person who just found out she'd been dating her assassin. This was said in a nonchalant manner like she was ordering takeout. It wasn't even resignation, though she said she was "tired."
The two of them, now bosom buddies, then hatched a plan to kill her father (he hired her killer) and make more money in the process. Again, that was done with little fanfare, and that was probably the biggest issue with this entire production--it was devoid of emotion. Everything, from beginning to end, was done on autopilot. It was like none of the actors wanted to be there, like they all drew the short straw. Whatever the writer Max Allan Collins had in mind if his short story became a movie, this could not have been it.