Assassin

It is no secret that my initial thoughts when I sat down to watch the 2023 crime thriller "Assassin" were: 'great, another dubious Bruce Willis movie'. Yet, I still opted to give the movie a fair chance, if not actually the benefit of the doubt.

I will say that the concept idea behind the movie, as written by Jesse Atlas and Aaron Wolfe definitely had some interesting aspects to it. However, the execution of the movie and transition from script to screen just wasn't overwhelmingly enjoyable.

What went wrong here was the pacing of the movie, which felt somewhat cluttered, and the fact that the character gallery had zero appeal or interest. I have to admit that I cared nothing about any of the characters that pranced around on the screen delivering half-hearted and lukewarm dialogue, whilst performing equally lukewarm action sequences.

And I have to admit that I have never been a fan of Dominic Purcell and his monotonous acting and way of portraying every single character in the same manner. So seeing his face and name on the cover wasn't exactly something that hyped me up. And as for Bruce Willis, then yeah, "Assassin" was another run-of-the-mill-and-the-lights-are-on-but-nobody's-home performance here; you know, as it has been for the past couple of years and numerous movies that he popped up in prior to retiring.

I am sure that there is a audience of hardcore fans of either Willis or Purcell out there that will take some kind of enjoyment from watching director Jesse Atlas's 2023 movie "Assassin". I just wasn't a part of that particular target audience.

"Assassin" is not a movie that I would recommend you to waste your time, money or effort on. As a crime thriller then writers Jesse Atlas and Aaron Wolfe just didn't deliver. And should you make it through the movie once, I doubt you'll ever return to watch it a second time, as the storyline simply barely had enough contents for the first viewing.

My rating of "Assassin" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

A Military outfit creates a technologically advanced chip that allows a user to take over their subject, mentally and physically, allowing them to kill their subjects and leave no trace of who's behind it.

Great idea, woeful execution, I stuck this film out through to the bitter end, and wish I hadn't, this was an absolute chore to get through, rather to endure.

I couldn't get into it, it's like they pulled the rug from under our feet, stuff was happening and I didn't have a clue why, it took so long to settle and explain, but by then this poor excuse for a sci fi thriller had lost me.

How sad to think that this was the final film for Bruce Willis, think of the many wonderful movies he's delivered, sadly this is one for fans of his to forget. He's good, but sadly doesn't get much screen time.

If I ever hear 'this is not my body again' I will scream.

One to avoid.

3/10.

Unfortunately for the actors in this film, it seems the writing isn't enough to be gripping in a weird way. One would also imagine this is a film that came about after industry folks knew about Bruce Willis' aphasia (and by this time were feeding him words to repeat through an earpiece). The ethics of that don't feel hazy, they feel wrong. You can tell by the completely monotone delivery of short bursts of language, mostly while looking in a certain direction, like one does when listening, or remembering, but not usually when experiencing dynamic emotions through the scripted words. Or at least acting like it. Bruce Willis is great and I won't judge him based on him being wrung out for money after experiencing an illness specifically disabling to his career craft.

I hope I get a chance to see the other actors elsewhere to experience what art and entertainment they can provide.

This was a multi genre mess, listed as a combination of Action, Crime, Thriller with Sci-fi. The action was cheesy, the crime was lame, there were no thrills, and an automotive disc brake, a laptop, and a bathtub may be the funniest and cheapest props ever used in the history of filmmaking to pass off as sci-fi. They may as well have used an empty shipping box and drawn-on dials with a magic-marker.

The directing - especially cast direction, was horrible, but the writing was even worse, with ideas taken from many other films that were all done much better. The story was dull, lazy, convoluted and riddled with plot and technical issues. It full of eye-rolls and cringeworthy moments, and the normally comfortable 88 min runtime dragged on endlessly with the slow pacing and lame narrative.

Jesse Atlas' Assassin is a movie that, sadly, only stands out for being the last film in which Bruce Willis appears on screen, as the actor has been struggling with aphasia and is no longer able to act convincingly. Despite the questionable ethics of Willis continuing to act in low-budget action films in this condition, the truth is that these movies are generally terrible, even if Willis were still in his prime. In his later career, Willis is reduced to standing around and delivering stilted dialogue, with the action sequences being equally uninspired and bland. Assassin tries to do things differently by using Willis as a minor supporting character and centering the story on Andy Allo's Mali, a Cameroonian-born singer and actress who tries to recover game-changing military technology from career criminal Adrian (played by Dominic Purcell). Unfortunately, the movie is a mess that doesn't even attempt to break any of its own sci-fi rules, failing to explain anything about how the military personnel in the film are able to take over some people's bodies but not others. It's also unclear why they can't just get close enough to the people they need to take over to find the device themselves, and why they need to go through the trouble of taking over someone else's consciousness. Overall, Assassin is a forgettable and dumb movie, and despite Willis' unfortunate situation, it's hard to recommend it. While the Die Hard movies serve as a reminder of Willis' past excellence, this movie is a sad end to a once-great acting career.