Soul Assassin

What I hated most about the film is that the building most of the film is shot in has is located in Amsterdam, but the view is of a bridge in Rotterdam for a resident of Amsterdam this would be his ultimate nightmare.

then in a, i have to say, nicely shot chase on the canals, suddenly, the character played by Skeet Ulrich is in Utrecht. there are too many of these things in the movie to explain.

maybe this is the cause, of the film not getting really good credits in Holland.

An advice to future directors, who want to shoot a film in holland, take notice of the fact, somethings don`t mix, taking the view of the Rotterdam bridge from a Building in Amsterdam as main example.

Beyond an absolutely brilliant performance by Skeet Ulrich as a man trained to be a hit-man for a criminal corporation, there's not much to recommend this film. It's not as terrible as some reviewers remarked - beneath the flashy visuals lies a rather old-fashioned suspense thriller. Unfortunately, the producers were clearly shopping for another "Bourne Identity", and the director, probably a meth-addict, had watched too many John Woo films. I mention this because while I watched the bicycle chase stunts - all too clearly created by the editor rather than the stunt crew - I thought of Jackie Chan's marvelous bike chase in "Project A" and thought to myself, 'gee, that's what this movie needs - Jackie Chan, not John Woo'. But John Woo is the influence here, and since Woo is an arch-stylist, to imitate him you have to have a real schmaltzy but original plot going on beneath the style; and while this film has the schmaltz, it has no originality to speak of. There are glaring references to Hitchcock and Stanley Donen, Samuel Fuller's "Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street" and an obscure thriller based on an Alistair MacLean novel, "Puppet on a Chain" - glaring because the originals were so much better and certainly don't need this sort of 'tribute'.

I won't say this is a bad thriller; some will find it entertaining enough. But it pretends to be so much more - what a disappointment.

As my Summary said: one of the worst movies ever made in Holland. Before I rented the movie I´ve read some bad critics about this movie, but I have never thought that it was a so, almost disguisting, movie like this. I´m a 14 years old Dutch boy, and I was shamed by seeing this movie. The crew of this movie gives outsiders the thought that we are people who love sex, drugs and bicycles only. And that´s not true!! There´s a police chase in this movie with bicycles!! How horrible. Only Dick Maas can direct this kind of scenes, not a worse debutant like Laurence Malkin. The only things that I liked were some (guest-)performances from some Dutch celebrity´s, especially Georgina Verbaan as a newsreporter.

If there is a new type of film genre, maybe it should be film bleu, as is the case with this movie. First time director Laurence Malkin must be credited with the idea. He has given the film a blue tint in its entirety. The film tries to do too many things and the plot is a puzzle if one doesn't pay close attention. Also, at times, it feels like a rock video without music.

The film shot entirely in Holland moves at a fast pace. Like other thrillers, this one delivers for those people seeking instant gratification in watching it. Sometimes one wonders how can these people in the action scenes survive being shot at with high powered rifles. On the other hand, the scene at the hotel where Kevin's girlfriend dies, is very real: this is what happens to people when they are killed.

The hero, Skeet Ulrich, is put through a lot in the film. Of course, he survives with only a few scratches after what is done to him, otherwise there wouldn't be a film at all, would it? The bad guys are more interesting. The Dutch actors are very good and the backdrop is Rotterdam, with a few detours to Amsterdam and Uttrecht, posing as the first city.

Derek de Lint plays with gusto. Would have loved to have seen more of Rena Owens, the great New Zealand actress, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. And finally, Nicholas Irons, can't deny he is Jeremy's son. What an uncanny resemblance!

This was absolutely the WORST movie ever made in Holland and I've seen them all! Being Dutch myself, I am ashamed that this "videoclip-type" movie was made with a lot of Dutch effort (actors, production and ofcourse locations).

The story and the acting are so bad and corny that I first thought they made it as an experimental joke. But they MEANT it! Especially the way that this movie was advertised really annoyed me once I saw the finished product. This was supposed to be a movie that would blow us away and it was supposed to be a rollercoaster-ride of action... We were deceived: the plot is worse than a standard action-movie, the blue filter on the images and the weird experimental imaging gives you a headache, and the biggest stunt in Soul Assassin is when Skeet Ullrich rides his bicycle(!) into a canal...! Need I say more...? The director (Laurence Malkin) used to make MTV-videos for rapper Coolio and it SHOWS! My advice: DON'T bother renting this one, you'll kick yourself after if you DO!