Killshot

KILLSHOT with Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Thomas Jane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson and Hal Holbrook, directed by John Madden.

MICKEY Rourke's intense and interesting performance as a troubled hit-man lifts this structurally flawed adaptation of Elmore Leonard's gritty crime novel. Directed by John Madden ("Shakespeare in Love"), the film is never as much fun as the book, which was a violent, witty and richly enjoyable slice of ultra-sleazy pulp fiction. But, despite all it's fault (the movie was completed in 2006, but is only being released now), "Killshot" is not a total dead loss and is likely to be enjoyed by genre fans who approach it with low expectations. Oscar-nominee Rourke ("The Wrestler") plays Armand "The Blackbird" Degas ,a veteran, half Indian hit-man for the Toronto mob who slays his boss's girlfriend during a hit. Returning to the rural area where he was raised, he pairs up with dim-witted young psychopath Richie Nix (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Then, when, when the lovely Carmen Colson (a sexy, effective Diane Lane) sees Armand's face during a botched crime, he decides she must die. And the chase is on. "Killshot is a rather messy film that shows evidence of post-production edits and re-shoots, but Armand, Carmen and Richie are classic Leonard characters, there're one or two good shoot-outs and at least the films retains some of the master crime writer's wonderful trademark dialogue. Nice scenery too. As a Leonard fanatic, I wouldn't have missed the chance to see this on the big screen for anything (it's been given a national cinema release in South Africa - not a huge one, but way bigger than five screens in Phoenix ). I wasn't expecting much, so I certainly was not disappointed. Quite a bit of the book comes through and although Gordon-Levitt - usually one of my favourite young actors - sometimes goes to far over the top, the supporting cast is pretty good. Thomas Jane and (a totally miscast) Rosario Dawson have some nice moments and there's a cool cameo by the great Hal Holbrook . However, the interaction between Armand and Carmen Colson is nowhere near as intriguing as in the book (perhaps this has something to do with the notorious Weinstein scissors) and even though the picture has been pruned to 84 minutes it still drags in the second half. Reading Elmore Leonard's website the other night, I noticed that the maestro has seen the film (apparently a 100-minute cut) and seems to have enjoyed it, which tells us something. This flawed, but watchable (there's a good film lurking in there somewhere) movie should have been released to more cinemas in the States. Sadly, it doesn't look as if that's going to happen, but I can tell you one thing. It's going to be a solid renter when it hits DVD. Hopefully the distributor will release both this 84-minute cut and a longer version on disc. And let's hope we get to see Johnny Knoxville's deleted scenes, and a director commentary. But I suppose it will only come out in a vanilla version shorn of special features.

My Rating: 6 out of 10 (on the big screen).

PS. Drop the score down to 5/10 for the DVD - I've now seen the (South African release)DVD which in the 1.78 aspect ration ratio rather than 2.35.1 and looks shoddy compared to how it looked on the big screen. The film really falls to pieces on a second viewing.

The story around this movie reminds me of the movie 'What Just Happened' which is about movie production and how a brutal atypical movie gets a bad preview screening and has to be strongly edited and isn't widely distributed. This is much the same situation, the movie is not filled with much beauty in life, other than Diana Lane. Always bad weather, depraved characters with few redeeming features, elements of hopelessness and it was apparently edited because of this. That said it's not bad. Professional editing, lighting, direction. Fairly catching story line, good acting and famous actors. I'm pretty sure I've seen widely released movies that were much worse. In what seems like a long dry spell of bad movies this winter, this can definitely be watched. Aside from a few clever details this isn't much different from 'No country for Old Men'

A mob hit-man (Mickey Rourke) teams-up with a young psycho (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and they go after a separated couple (Diane Lane & Thomas Jane) who witnessed a botched hit. Rosario Dawson is on hand as the twerp's girlfriend.

"Killshot" (2008) is a thriller/drama by John Madden that supposedly had post-production problems, sat on a shelf, was reedited and whatever else. As such, some criticize that it doesn't flow well. Don't believe it. This is a very professionally-made film and I never got the sense that the story didn't flow, regardless of what they edited out, reedited or what have you. The story's easy to follow and makes sense.

Mickey Rourke is always a highlight even though he essentially plays the same character, which I guess most actors do. His character here is the same likable, brooding one seen in "The Wrestler" (2008) and "Passion Play" (2010) with the variation that he murders people for a living. Yes, that's a big difference and it does cause the viewer to disapprove of him but it's hard to hate him, unlike his two-bit partner. Somewhat likable or not, the Rourke character HAS to pay for his misdeeds (or should pay, at least).

Speaking of the twerp partner, Joseph Gordon-Levitt shines here as a scumbag with almost zero redeeming qualities. Something happens to him at the end and you just can't help saying "THANK YOU."

Thomas Jane is always a solid masculine protagonist as is Lane in the feminine department. The film is just as much about the potential reestablishment of their relationship as it is about the thugs trying to find them. But this is definitely a thriller/drama. You get a lot of quality drama interrupted by sudden and intense thrills.

The score's nice and atmospheric and there's a great song on the soundtrack ("Monkey" by Low).

The film runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in Port Perry, Uxbridge and Toronto, Canada, as well as Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and Detroit.

GRADE: B.

Lots of actors seemingly heading for the scrap heap have made memorable comebacks. Burt Reynold in "Boogie Nights" , John Travolta in " Pulp Fiction" and Sylvester Stallone in " Copland" are the three obvious examples. The most recent High profile comeback has been Mickey Rourke in the magnificent film " The Wrestler" but was it just a flash in the pan?

When real estate agent Carmen Colson catches a glimpse of a hit-man named the Blackbird as he carries out a job, a subsequent request for her to testify against the aging gun for hire soon lands both Carmen and her husband, Wayne , in the Witness Protection Program. Blackbird isn't a man who likes to leave loose ends when it comes to his work, though, and now as the seasoned assassin and his psychotic partner attempt to catch the couple in their crosshairs, Carmen and Wayne are going to need much more than a few federal agents to make it out of increasingly deadly situation alive

Killshot is one of those low budget films that got a very limited release at the start of the year. In fact according to imdbPro.com in the first two weeks of release in the US it grossed just $17,000. When i read details like this it always rings alarm bells. I needn't have worried because Killshot is a really entertaining , well acted thriller of which i thoroughly enjoyed. I found Mickey Rourke's performance an intense one and he has proved to me that he is back with a bang for good! There is also some great acting from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the gorgeous Diane Lane.

If your into violent gang related movies you wont be disappointed with Killshot. It delivers on all fronts. The story is believable as are the characters and the final twenty minutes produces real "edge of the seat" excitement. My only criticism is that it does have the feel of a Cable or straight to DVD movie but i cant quite put my finger on why. It shouldn't be a surprise that a film directed by John Madden is as entertaining considering he has brought us "Prime Suspect" , "Inspector Morse" and "Shakespeare in Love" in the past.

Killshot is released on DVD in the U.S on May the 26th and has no date yet for a cinema or DVD release here in the UK.

7 out of 10

This B-ish movie packs a pretty strong cast that provides the platform for an enjoyable movie.

The plot is fairly rudimentary but the character development is above the norm for this type of movie as they consider who they are and who they want to be.

Its tough watching Rourke if you watched him when he was younger, he face (from apparent damage) has a reduced ability to express emotion which makes him come across as wooden. As an actor he is/was pretty amazing so to see this reduction in his abilities is a shame. Check out Angel Heart to see what he can do with DeNiro!

Killshot is much better than the coverart would suggest :)