The Liability

I just finished watching this movie and I expected it to be much better honestly. Certainly when I saw who was playing in this movie. Don't get me wrong the actors were all good. I can't fault any of them for the role they played. It's just that the story is a little bit disappointing. It's not realistic enough and a little bit bland. For a professional hit-man I found that he was doing a lot of mistakes and everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I also would not categorize it under humor because you're not going to laugh a lot. Well at least not me because I didn't laugh once. All in all it's not a bad movie. It's just fine to watch once and then forget about it.

The Liability is a British film which doesn't really have a budget. Its script is only so-so and the only real star name attached to it is Tim Roth. Luckily, that does seem to be enough to pull it off.

Jack O'Connell plays a young man who gets in trouble with his - slightly dodgy - stepfather and, as a punishment, is roped into the 'family business' and asked to do something equally dodgy, which involves driving hit-man Tim Roth to his next job.

It's a road movie which could be pretty average if it wasn't for Tim Roth's performance. The comedy doesn't always work. The performances can be a bit stilted, yet Tim seems to carry the whole thing on his own and makes it worth watching.

Special mention to the location scout who has found some truly outstanding filming locations around the north of England to set some of the action in.

If you're a fan of low budget British gangster movies (or simply of Tim Roth) then you should give this a go. The ending seems to divide audiences, but the film is enjoyable enough for you to ignore that minor point if it isn't to your taste.

Totally unbelievable... but humorous! I still can't decide if it's supposed to be a comedy, a thriller or a gangster movie, or all of the above... Or whether it was just a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun for the writer.

The movie contains a complete mishmash of actors. It's like Laurel and Hardy meets Reservoir Dogs and everything about it is just so wrong but somehow it works! I think Tim Roth is the reason this movie worked so well. The guy is an excellent actor. Jack O'Connell played a fairly good part, too, and even though the movie was quite predictable, it was well worth the watch.

Definitely worth 7/10

Tim Roth stars in The Liability as a hired assassin who takes on a rich gangster boss's stepson on as a driver. The nineteen year old boy, Adam, is eager to learn about the criminal world. Roy(Roth) has the kid drive to a desolate area for a hit. His first test is to cut off the victims hand with an axe to emulate the pattern of a serial killer preying on the area. A beautiful woman with no name (Talulah Riley), a stunning actress, by the way, shows up and throws a monkey wrench into the crime scene. It then becomes a cat and mouse game between the three with some violent moments with occasional dry British humor mixed in. The three main players are all excellent, and although the ending is a bit too predictable, Roth's laid back wise ass attitude makes the film worth watching.

Finding the hitman's apprentice (as was the title I watched) to review it took more time than actually reviewing it.

Interesting film, worth a watch with a couple of good twists to it.