The Job

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.

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.

"The Job" is all about Hannah as a beautiful contract killer with a really bad attitude. This lame flick builds its story around her reluctance to make a final "hit" for reasons we're never really given to understand. We're led to believe she's killed often before but now, for whatever vague reason, she just doesn't want to "off" Renfro and his slutty girlfriend (Swain) to recover some drugs. And, if she doesn't fulfill her obligation and do the deed, her boss (Rocco), who looks too old to be able to pose a threat to anyone, will do something bad to her. And, if all that wasn't enough, she also has to contend with a young man (Mabius) who is falling in love with her in spite of her bad attitude, constant rejections, and a little problem with incipient motherhood. This far fetched bad idea conjures some decent performances and is adequately lensed and scored but can't escape its preposterous plot. It's asking us to care about a killer for no good reason and to believe she can't escape her over-the-hill boss even though she could simply point one of her many guns at him and pull the trigger instead of doing away with Renfro. Hey, what the hell, she could just kill them all but then we wouldn't have all the angst and misery we're supposed to be experiencing as we ponder this turkey. A slightly above average B flick, "The Job" is cinematic couch potato junk food currently on broadcast. (C+)

CJ (Hannah) is a sexy, cold-blooded, contract killer looking to get out of the business. She agrees to carry out one last hit before calling it quits to lead a normal life. However upon staking out the hit, she finds that, for the first time in her career as an assassin, she is unable to finish the job. But she has accepts a contract and is expected fulfill it.

Not bad, but also full of cliche, wannabe next 'Nikita'.

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 *****