The Assignment

First time reviewer. What prompted me to write about this movie is how unusual it is. Interesting premise, and yet written as if by a talented high schooler. The dialogue is so obviously artificial and yet written with artistic intent. An unsympathetic viewer will rightly trash the film as juvenile, and yet a more open viewing may perceive the strained charm that the film almost achieves.

Consider the experiment. Would changing a violent man's gender change him for the better? Interesting question (at least for me). More broadly, how would such a man respond to the sudden change? The movie attempts to present this scenario and provide an interesting response. I think it succeeds.

Look past the actual effects that change Rodriquez into a man. Sure, they don't perfectly succeed, but suspend your critical attention and accept the basic fact of his existence. You can also look past Weaver's awkward dialogue and forced encounters and simply take what she says without concern for verisimilitude, if you can.

This film is deeply flawed and deserves a poor grade, and yet offers an interesting and fairly entertaining experience. I would take this over the multitude of blockbusters that spend millions on special effects and star actors and then forget to pay a decent writer. Movies that have no point, no ambition, and nothing to say.

Well, the Assignment as something to say, and it's worth hearing.

They should have had a man play the part of the male Frank Kitchen. Also should have voice-overed Michelle Rodriguez's voice. Her fake guy voice with accent sounded forced.

Forget the uproar from sensitive trans groups, this film was never transphobic, it was just a classic revenge thriller. Waking up as the opposite sex is the worst thing imaginable for the overwhelming majority of society and tat's the crux of the film - not an attack on trans. If anything, its success would spark a franchise of a kick-ass trans-woman - talk about giving trans the spotlight! I am trans myself and I was looking forward to it as it seemed to be a throwback to the films I grew up on in the 80s when one man would avenge his life being ruined (usually his family being massacred). However this film was dull and muddled and riddled with exposition.

The biggest problem is that it's told in flashback and with lots of - literally - one character 'talking' the story to another (Frank to the camera, the Doctor to the other doctor) and as a result there was no tension only on the nose dialogue. The other problem was a completely unlikeable anti-hero in Frank and a completely unbelievable performance by Michelle Rodriguez who never once convinced she was a man with her female frame, female build, female skin and female voice. Similarly, Weaver's The Doctor was lacking. I appreciate she was playing an aloof, detached character but there was nothing to her character. There was no bad guy you wanted to root against just as there was no protagonist you wanted to root for.

This film could have been a solid, action-filled romp had it been told in a linear fashion and with stronger characterisation. As it was, it was a boring affair with too little action, style or interesting characters. The IDIOTS who say it's transphobic are, well, idiots. It's no more transphobic as Death Wish was phobic to people who have been raped and murdered.

The Assignment (2016)

*** (out of 4)

Frank Kitchen (Michelle Rodriguez) is a hitman who pulls a job not knowing what impact it will have on him. It turns out that he murdered the brother of a doctor (Sigourney Weaver) who gets her revenge by kidnapping Frank and turning him into a woman. Now, as a woman, Frank must seek revenge against those who did this to him.

Walter Hill got back into the director's chair with THE ASSIGNMENT, which is certainly one of the biggest WTF movies to come along in a very long time. Seriously, this here is something you would have expected in the 1970s but not in today's political climate. Sure enough, the film was released to all sorts of controversy with various groups being offended by the story. I must admit that there are a lot of flaws with the movie but at the same time it's so darn weird that I couldn't help but be entertained.

As I said, this is a very strange movie on a lot of levels but if you've ever wanted to see Rodriguez with a beard and a dick then you'll love it. Yes, you actually see that as the film is quite sleazy in its own right and that includes a lot of nudity once the "female" side comes out. The movie is somewhat brave in what it attempts to do and I guess you could say that Rodriguez gives a rather brave performance. Not only is she constantly naked on the screen but this wasn't the easiest roles to pull off. She certainly handles the action quite nicely and she's strong enough to hold your attention throughout.

I think the biggest problem with the film are the scenes inside the mental hospital where the Weaver character is telling her story. These scenes really take away from the revenge side of things and there's just no doubt that these moments aren't nearly as entertaining as the stuff with the hitman seeking revenge. The action scenes are directed quite nicely by Hill and it was great seeing him add some style back to his films. The movie looks and sounds quite good but it does start to lose its story as it moves along.

THE ASSIGNMENT isn't a film meant for everyone but if you like weird movies you should find it entertaining.

This isn't an awful movie and it does have some good moments, but I struggle to think that it really works. Firstly the story itself is pretty improbable although the idea of a mad surgeon wanted to experiment is not new it is still a bizarre thing to want to do, especially to worry about the quality of her work when changing the guys sex to female. Michelle Rodriguez does a pretty good acting job but never really convinces that she is ever male. From the outset it looked like a girl with a beard, apart from the shower scene where they must have used either CGI or good prosthetic. She also didn't really convince as an assassin and made some pretty silly errors of judgement but I guess that is down to the script rather than acting. So over all I have mixed feelings. It isn't a bad movie just not a great one.