Lessons for an Assassin

It was easy for me to think that a movie I've never heard of starring Shannon Lee with action choreography by Koichi Sakamoto would be cool. I wasn't expecting much. I was fine with an awful plot as long as the action was cool. But this IS a very bad film. It is extrmely slow moving, and there wasn't much reason to like Richard Vitalli who turned out ot be the star instead of Shannon. He is a very stupid character in this movie. It's amazing to see how he drastically changes through the course of the film. I realize it was supposed to be part of his character to be some lazy and incompotent man who becomes cool ala FEMME NIKITA, but it wasn't enjoyable here. Shannon has the best lines in the movie. She did her best to shine and to make this movie watchable. But the material she has to work with is so awful, that it hurts her performance. Seeing her fight again was great, but she had to go against very stupid stunt men who did not know how to fight. Koichi couldn't direct the action the way he usually does (DRIVE) because of this same problem. He didn't even have the rest of the Alpha Stunt Team with him. Action directors can't direct action by themselves. They have to have a team of other people. This is why guys like Yuen Woo Ping and Sammo Hung are so good at it.

This is an unfortunate film that shows that the people involved must have needed money. Shannon Lee showed she had great potential to be an action star with ENTER THE EAGLES. This is not a good way to follow that movie up. Stick with that movie and DRIVE for real good action.

I knew when I picked up the box that it would be a pretty bad movie. Still, I wanted to see Shannon Lee and the movie having Michael Dorn in it looked like it could be a sleeper. It wasn't...

Shannon Lee and Michael Dorn did a good job with what they were given. The rest of the movie was pretty bad. I won't repeat what has already been said by others. They put it pretty well.

I can see why the actors made the movie. It's easy for me to imagine reading the script and thinking that it had the potential to be better than it turned out to be. Too bad...

If you like Shannon Lee, you may not be too disappointed with this movie. I'm glad that I picked it up, but wouldn't watch it again.

From the opening shootout (that has four different parties shooting at each other, totally confusing the viewer) to the final scene with a psychiatrist, very little about "Lessons For An Assassin" makes sense. Obviously the basic plot is a blatant "La Femme Nikita" ripoff with a gender switch, but the budget is so low it constricts about 80% of the action to a single (underfurnished) building where the "training" takes place. Now this training does help to provide the movie with a few amusing moments, most of them intentional (I presume), especially in the way the ineptness of the main character before his "transformation" is totally exaggerated. Newcomer Robert Vitelli has got some moves and Michael Dorn adds a touch of professionalism, but the main reason I was interested in this movie is, of course, the presence of Shannon Lee, who plays one of Vitelli's "teachers". Shannon looks gorgeous, speaks sensually, and has a number of pleasurable fight scenes. If you can overlook the nonsensical script and the very low budget, "Lessons For An Assassin" does have a few minor goodies to offer. (**1/2)

I had a coupon for a free movie rental and the movie looked like it might be interesting. I wish I could get my free rental coupon back. I would rather have watched "Battlefield Earth" again.

This is the first movie where I have actually felt the urge to ask for

my rental money back, and those of you who know me as former IMDB poster

El Buncho know that I am no stranger to bad movies. This film was simply

that bad.

First of all, I rented this because Shannon Lee (Bruce's little girl,

who is now a serious hottie) is top billed and featured on the box.

Sure, she hasn't made any good films yet, but hope springs eternal. She

has talent, but she needs a script! And she really has very little to do

with the film. This is unfortunately a starring vehicle for Robert

Vitelli (who???), a charisma-free void of a non-actor whose martial

skills are marginal at best. Films that purport to be martial arts films

should at least be able to deliver on the butt-kicking, but this will

make the viewer want to do a bit of butt-kicking on their own (directed

at most of the people involved in this mess).

The plot is a convoluted ripoff of "La Femme Nikita" with Vitelli in the

Nikita role, and the incredibly uninvolving story just lurches along

until it reaches a ludicrous twist ending. And we also are treated to

appearances by two Star Trek actors: Michael "Worf" Dorn and the guy who

plays Dr. Phlox on "Enterprise."

And the final kick in the mouth is that this DVD bears the blasphemous

tag-line "Bruce Lee's legacy lives on." I'm not even related to the guy,

and I was offended for the entire Lee family! Avoid this at all costs;

there is simply no entertainment to be found