The Job

I don't care what anyone else here says, this is Daryl Hannah's best work yet, and I've seen a lot of her material.

It may start off looking like just another hard edged femme fatale female assassin film (there have been plenty of those), but this is as a much a unique character study as it is a story. The closest quasi example that comes to mind at the moment is "the Assassin Next Door". Even though the stories are quite different, the uniqueness of the circumstances, and the dark intrigues that got these women into their current situations does add an element of depth that is so much more than just another "girl with a gun" crime movie.

In the midst of all this are the young teenage couple that become her "targets", but their twists and turns are an interesting character study in itself, particularly on how the girl finds her own, well . . . self serving solutions to her problems, of which Daryl's deadly pursuit is only a piece of a larger puzzle.

I give this production 9 stars without hesitation. Are there flaws and less than spectacular production quality aspects here? Yes, of course . . . but that's not what I generally watch a film for. Call it a B movie if you wish, but as a story, and Daryl's character in it, it's 9 stars for me.

This film obviously went directly into DVD, and cable and oblivion, but it merits a viewing. Although the director is not a familiar name, he has a flair for presenting this story with a eye for detail. Kenny Goode knows a thing or two about the underbelly of the "city of angels".

The film presents us CJ March, an assassin for hire, who bungles the job she was sent to do and is drawn into a web of circumstances where she herself mirrors the same situation of one of the persons she is to liquidate. We understand by way of flashbacks that CJ, herself, has had an unhappy upbringing. She is a cold woman who has no problem killing until she gets herself in the same situation where she would never have dreamed of being.

Daryl Hannah is CJ's is splendid. She is an underrated actress, but in here she shows a range that is not immediately associated with her work before. Brad Renfro and Dominique Swain are good as the couple CJ is pursuing; they elude her most of the time, until the final show down. Alex Rocco as the CJ's employer strikes the right note as the man without scruples who manipulates people into committing crimes for him. Also effective is Eric Mabius who is too good for CJ, and eventually, her salvation.

As a moody film of suspense it proves satisfying as it keeps the viewer interested in every turn of the action.

Carol Jean "CJ" March (Daryl Hannah) is a professional killer that works to the mobster Vernon Cray (Alex Rocco). CJ fails in her last work for Vernon, when she kills a man to retrieve half-million dollars in drugs, but she realizes that his briefcase that is empty was switched by another man. CJ hunts the man down to finish her job and discovers his name, Roger Washington (Shawn Woods), and address. Meanwhile Roger is murdered by the punk Troy Riverside (Brad Renfro) that wants to sell the drugs to move to Arizona with his pregnant girlfriend Emily "Em" Robin (Dominique Swain). CJ, who is the daughter of a prostitute and orphan since she was seven, finds that she is pregnant and she tries to have an abortion in a clinic. Then she goes to a bar to get drunken and laid and she meets the former priest Rick (Eric Mabius) that gets closer to her. When CJ finds Roger murdered, she seeks out Troy and finds Emily. However she is not capable to kill her because Emily is pregnant. Will CJ finish her last job?

"The Job" is an action movie with a dramatic story with a promising beginning. CJ is very well developed and consistent in the beginning as a cold-blood killer with a traumatic childhood. When she finds that she is pregnant, she wants to abort the baby keeping the consistence of the character. However after meeting Rick and Emily, the story becomes corny but the plot is still acceptable since pregnancy makes women more sensitive and fragile. Therefore it is still possible to swallow the changing of CJ's character. However the corny last scene is incoherent and spoils what could have been a good film. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Assassina por Natureza" ("Killer by Nature")

It was on HBO for many years and was in theatres. It did not go directly to dvd.

The music in the club scene and the bathroom was really cool. It's a band HAITZ from LA. They also did the music for Monster Garage. They have albums available on iTunes.

Daryl Hannah as an over the age of 40 fading beauty with a contract killers position is hired on to get back several lbs of heroin from a boy ( played by Brad Renfro)and his girlfriend ( played by Dominique Swain) & to kill them both. She has a moment of clarity from the killing as she finds out the girl is pregnant which Ms Hannah later in the film finds that one of her numerous unfufilling one-night stands has made her preggie as well. She wants to quit the firm that has hired her on as a assassin & her boss won't let her. Eric Maibus has a mostly forgettable role as a gut Ms Hannah meets who falls for her & wants to save her from herself. Not a bad plot, not a bad film but just okay. ** out of *****