The Assassin's Code

Worth watching for Stormare's limited scenes and some okay mob stuff. And I have a weird thing for Lifetime diva Yancy Butler, so there's that. But Chatwin chews the scenery shamelessly, the relationship scenes are torture and the dialogue is laugh out loud cop shop. Still, I was only intemittently bored and mostly entertained. Nice fish, too.

Take a drink every time you hear a cop movie cliche, you'll be smashed in ten minutes.

Cleveland police detective Michael Connolly (Justin Chatwin) lives under the shadow of his late disgraced cop father. He investigates a shipment of drugs stolen from police custody. Kurt Schlychter (Peter Stormare) is killing lots of criminals involved in the heist. District attorney Laura Consolo (Yancy Butler) suspects a vast criminal conspiracy within the power structure.

This is a lower budget crime B-movie. The opening should be a big heist action sequence but the filmmaking is not good enough. The budget is probably not big enough. The story telling needs more clarity. The acting varies. Chatwin is trying hard to be hard. Stormare plays a good killer but he could use more screen time. He should be equal to Connolly in terms of character importance. Other actors are less capable. It's a mixed bag. This movie is trying to be a hard-boiled crime story but it's mostly flat with inferior filmmaking.

The Assassin's Code (2018) is not a bad film, for direct-to-video fare. The major beats are predictable well in advance. The heroes, villains and villains in the guise of heroes might as well be wearing black and white Stetsons and the characters who are about to die might as well be wearing red shirts. Production values are modest, although they do utilize an elegant mansion, casket and several luxury automobiles. Cinematography is unimaginatve, other than a few aerial shots that seem to be stock images. As is typical of low-budget productions, the film relies heavily on jiggly-cam shots which are distracting and shatter willful suspension of disbelief. The action/stunt choreography, car scenes and gunfights seem about thirty years out of date. The love story is not well developed and the reconciliation near the end seems to come out of nowhere. The acting is generally pretty good. Justin Chatwin is credible in the lead and Peter Stormare delivers a nuanced performance. Sprinkled throughout the film are little gems of dialogue and characterization that shine against the unimpressive background. While the film employs a lot of tropes and often seems familiar, it offers a few fresh moments. The damsel in distress scene has a unusual twist.

A classic thriller with a weak script and multiple lackluster perfomances. Another case of a passable story reduced to a unimaginative work that wastes the talents of decent actors. Jason Chatwin does a good job with little support and the work of Peter Stormare is first rate as the baddie. If you like John Wick or Proud Mary you may find this interesting but most will lose interest quickly.