The Hit List

the hit list is an awesome film . i think the jazz soundtrack adds to the 'mood ' and suspense . his film adds to the fact that all you need to make a great suspense film is a man , a woman , an old man , a villain and most definitely ... a room with a view (preferably a view offered by a telescope ) i mean , now , how many erotic thrillers have featured glass windowed apartments which have a telescope ...?

the beauty of watching such films is the fact that they have residues of great suspense moments created by many directors and storytellers over the years . hence you always end-up feeling or rather being reminded of some classics .

one doubt though . the film was R-Rated for most things . however the version i saw had none of hose things . people out there please educate me if there is an uncut version or at least if what i saw was probably cut .

This film starts by giving you the impression you are in for a good show (b movie or not), right from the outake you are presented with a far from unattractive sexually active blonde and Jeff Fahey (someone I regard as a good actor) preparing to do something nasty with a suppressed gun and a container of rather deadly looking pills! This is where the impression quickly wears off. The plot is very weak making it impossible to take your eyes off the screen in fear of getting lost in the film should you decide to do so. The action is also very weak and never really takes off, something which is usually a necessity in order to save a film with a plot as tender as this. I never have been a big fan of Yancy Butler but have never been one to complain about her removing her clothes, something which this film also shy's away from bar once. I cannot think of one reason to recommend this film for viewing, so basically don't watch it....

Think of a cliché, any cliché, in a movie about a professional hit men getting tangled in a web of revenge. Thought about one? It's in this movie.

The leading star Jeff Fahey plays the pro-hit-man and as you could've guessed, he's the sexy, strong silent type hit-man who hardly speaks more then 3 sentences in a conversation. ("I only kill people who deserve to die...") There are flashbacks when someone looks at a picture, there is a client falling in love with the hit-men, etc. etc. etc. The conversations in the movie are the stereotype dialogues you expect in a b-movie and the police-officers investigating the murders just seem to be working on their first case ever.

I give it a 4, for there are martial arts movies about revenge that are worse then this, but this movie comes close...

Jeff Fahey (Psycho III, The Lawnmower Man) stars as Charles Pike, a professional hitman. His boss, Mayhew (James Coburn), puts him in contact with Jordan Henning (Yancy Butlerz), an old family friend. Pike wants out of the game, but he agrees to speak with Mrs. Henning. It turns out her husband was murdered and she wants revenge.

Pike carries out the hit on the man thought to be responsible for the death of Mrs. Henning's husband. They begin an affair. Soon Pike is questioning what's really going on. Has he been played? People have been following both Pike and Mrs. Henning. Does someone want to eliminate both of them?

I typically enjoy Jeff Fahey, but I did find The Hit List to start losing steam after about an hour in. It was an okay watch, but I don't think that I would watch it again.

Charlie Pike is an ex-Government agent turned contract killer. He kills on behalf of lawyer Peter Mahew who is part of a committee of lawyers who hand out their own version of justice. Pike takes a job from Mahew to help out a family friend, the beautiful Jordan. However when Pike completes the contract he falls for Jordan, a situation that leads him into a double crossing situation where deception leads to murder.

When the wonderfully creative people in the TVM business sit down to really push the envelope on a project they really go for it. Imagine the planning meeting for this! `hey, lets make a thriller about a hitman who is ruthless, but really a good guy who is sensitive and listens to classical music', `yeah – and lets have him be kind but tough – and trying to get out of the business except this one last job'. After that how else can they make it really stand out – well lets shoot it all in blues and shadow of TVM noir and have the usual jazz soundtrack to add `atmosphere' and `mood'.

Nothing in the plot or film really manages to be different from any other TVM you'd see and it fails to engage simply for this reason. On top of the cliché ridden film we have an obvious bit of casting with Fahey and Butler (neither strangers to this tvm stuff). The only surprise was Coburn who I imagine has let stuff like this slip off his CV since he got his Oscar.

Overall this is so very predictable and clichéd that it really fails to inspire even a little bit of interest. We have every staple of the thriller/noir TVM – soft porn, jazz music, unimaginative direction – it's all here. It's not a bad film, just a very flat one that has all the appeal of a mass produced industrial production when compared to something clever or inspired.