Betrayal

I certainly don't agree with the raving reviews others gave this piece of crap. First of all director Mark Lester cast it poorly. In the likes of Julie Du Page (that's a real name?) playing a so called sex pot. Wrong. She's not that attractive to seduce a blind man. And she's so phony on her come ons. Obvious. In her Fredericks of Hollywood bra and panties (a mistake in costumes) she was all skin and bones with no bust at all. Most of the time she's squeezed in, pumped up and pushed together to give her a cleavage at all. Her back bone protruded her bony body. Yuk. Don't tell me those idiots that fell for her charm didn't notice. They must have been hard up. Also with too much lip gloss on her bot-ox lips. Funny scene is when she supposedly goes into the train station inconspicuously, wearing a skin tight, low cut, flaming red dress, with her mop hair and sun glasses - too funny. What she didn't have, Erika Elenkiak, as the tough mother, had too much of. Wearing too tight sweaters throughout the film making her breasts look over sized, she didn't do too much acting. Only looking forlorn and confused. Did she not know what was happening? Adam Baldwin plays a small role, thank goodness. With his usual non expressive face he wanders through this trite movie aimlessly. Then we have the son, played by Jeremy Lellliott, who spends most of the film crying. If he's not ogling our hit whore, he's sobbing "woe is me and my mom". He also must have had his hair dyed along with his mom to that brassy blond. It looked so fake.

It was late at night when I watched this so most others were spared the pain I went through watching.

As thrillers go, there are a few surprises here. For awhile the film seems as though it might go in an interesting unexpected direction before it heads back into standard thriller mode. Had the main protagonists been male, the story would have been too obvious. Putting women in the "tough guy" leads made a nice variation. Still, you cannot expect too much. Once the final chase starts, it's all more or less by the numbers.

The music tries very hard to add tension where there isn't any. The pacing tends towards slow. The story has more than enough holes in it. The acting is okay, but not inspiring. With almost no nudity and no steamy love story it is definitely not an "erotic thriller". The entire production value is equal to the average cable channel movie of the week.

Neither it's theatrical title (Betrayal) or it's DVD title (Lady Jayne: Killer) really fit. It's not a bad film, but I couldn't recommend it. Still, I spent 90 minutes watching it, maybe you'd like to do the same.

Julie Du Page, as a sexy, efficient assassin who likes to strip down to her lingerie before killing her victims (well at least they die happy), is a large part of what makes this movie work. She effortlessly switches from sweet to ice-cold to aggressive, and she knows how to use her sensuality to work over Erika Eleniak's teenage son. Erika, as a divorced mother with financial problems who makes the wrong move by giving a car ride to Julie, appears to be a little bland at first, but as soon as the life of her son is put in danger, she turns into quite the wildcat. Given all the build-up, however, the final confrontation between the two women could have been longer. Also, the script seems to be running around in circles for large periods of time. But overall "Betrayal" (or "Lady Jane Killer" - a much better, less generic title) is not a bad little movie. (**1/2)

I was surprised that several reviewers rated this movie so poorly. I rented it because the concept of a "hitwoman" intrigued me. I honestly thought Jayne (Julie Du Page) was a convincingly evil, cat-like assassin. Sexy, seductive, and OOH so lethal. I was impressed by the talent of the "son" played by Jeremy Lelliot. It was amazing to see so young a boy be so believable in his role. I believe that Erika Eleniak could do a good job of acting if she were given a more challenging role. She shined in "Under Siege". I wish she could land a role that would give her something to live up to. There were some rather predictable parts but that is the nature of movies like this. The one part that made me laugh was a shoot-out where three bad guys with 12-gauge shotguns can't hit the person they are after. All three of them are blazing away but they only manage to take out light bulbs and a bunch of woodwork. That was lame. The director must not have fired a shotgun or he would have known that scene needed to be modified. Anyway, there is a story here, a mom struggling to save her son, cops trying to catch some bad guys and a teen boy stuck in the middle of it all. And in a few instances you don't know who is the good guy and who is the bad!!!

"Lady Jayne:Killer" is a bottom of the barrel B-flick from the get go. You only have to scan the roster to see the personnel are a bunch of B-listers and maybe seeing ex-Playmate Eleniak get naked is the most one can hope for. Unfortunately, this lame flick doesn't even deliver a little gratuitous T&A as it limps along though its trite and cliche-ridden story about a beautiful hitwoman, a bunch of money, and a broke mom and son destined for a showdown. Pretty awful stuff not worth the time. (D+)