The Hit List

I was watching this and usually i turn off a Cuba Gooding movie within a half hour because of his poor performances in the last 4 or 5 years. This is the 2nd movie i have made it to the end without saying terrible. Actually this is about a 7 out of 10 because at least he had another acter that is not terrible with cuba. Cole Hauser actually makes this movie worth watching. This is worth a watch if you having nothing left to do on a Saturday night. The movie starts off with a terrible bond like move for the credits and of course it backfired i almost turned it off after that. But after that it smoothly moved into the story..With a better director and a better acting crew this could of been at the movies.

Be careful what you wish for. After having the worst day of his life Allan (Hauser) meets Jonas (Gooding Jr) at a bar. After talking to him Jonas says he can help Allan with his problems. Thinking it's a joke Allan gives him the name of five people he wants dead. When they begin to wind up dead Allan is the only one who can stop it. After watching "Sacrifice" I was not expecting much from this movie. This one, however, was very good. Even with Cuba's movie choices lately being one step above Val Kilmer's, his acting is far better. He does a good job playing a heartless killer on the verge of death himself. Cole Hauser also does a really good job playing an everyman trying to correct his mistakes. While there are many similarities to "Collateral" (and a hint of "The Shootist"), this movie is not as good, but it's not a huge decline from that movie. It is a pretty solid action, suspense movie that is well worth checking out. I give it a B.

Would I watch again? - I think I would *Also try - Collateral & S.W.A.T. : Firefight

Cole Hauser is in a bar drinking. He's seated next to Cuba Gooding Jr. Gooding claims he is a hit man, and offers to kill five people for Hauser. Thinking this is nonsense, Hauser writes down his top five picks. Gooding proceeds to kill them.

You'd expect this to be a nothing film. It's surprisingly good, in no small part due to Gooding's performance as a creaky-voiced maniac fixated on Hauser, trying to teach him some sort of weird life lesson. Don't talk to strangers? Don't make wishes that other people would be dead? Take some responsibility for your life? It's not clear. Probably the writers didn't really care; Gooding's role is to be the Terminator and die. Whatever Gooding does to make us think there's some motivation behind his actions is good acting.

This movie is very entertaining. The acting of Cuba Gooding Jr. and Cole Hauser make this movie good. The story is nice, there are only a few lines the writers could have had a second look at, but it is bearable, and the action is good. But the idiot that thought Jonathan LaPaglia could act must be fired on the spot, every time he is in the picture he brings the whole move down, but again, thank god for Cuba Gooding Jr.and Cole Hauser. The movie has something of Collatoral Damage, but is much more fun. I don't understand some of the bad reviews, you just can't go wrong with this movie, it is little gem. I have never seen a William Kaufman movie, but this inspired me to see another one right away.

The idea is peculiar, but logically and well founded, so the events following the meeting in the bar could actually happen. The value of the movie is diminished by the hit-man's past employers (another conspiracy theory?) and trivial/expected ending. However, the scenes around the people on the list are catchy to follow.

An Oscar winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. (as Jonas Arbor) gives another great performance. As for the leading actor Cole Hauser (as Allan Campbell), he was good as well, although it was my first real experience with him (I realized that I have seen many movies with his participation, but never distinguished him). Other performances were nothing special or even mediocre.

Nevertheless, The Hit List is recommended as a good and short (less than 1,5 hours) action. And, perhaps, the occurrence of bad jokes declines after seeing this...