A Final Hit

It may not be G.B.H. or Sudden Fury, but what is, really? RJ Cusyk's second film proves to be an improvement on his mildly entertaining Giallo-esque thriller Through the Devil's Eyes. A Final Hit follows a retired hit man who is pulled back into the line of duty in an effort to provide for his struggling family. Just when he thought he was out, they keep pulling' him back in, amirite? The film isn't particularly action heavy, and as such it's pacing is plodding and flaggy, but it's filled with fun details that manage to make it worth the slog. The acting is also above par for such a low-budget film, although it's not averse to cheesy lines or flat emotions. Cinephiles might also entertain themselves by playing "spot the reference", as the film has it's share of them, the most obvious being a fairly entertaining nod to Sergio Leone (of all people).

In the end, it's all in good fun.

I would first off like to state that I really like independent films, it's because kids are forced to think on their feet about how to solve a problem and not just throw money at it like the big studios do.

I saw this movie on a very limited theatrical run in Denver, Colorado. I was not even aware that the movie existed, but the actor who plays the Russian guy was standing outside of the theater trying to get anyone in. I guess they spent all their advertising budget on the film.

I decided to see what all the fuss was about. My ticket was $5, wow, when was the last time I paid $5 to see a movie? I sat down in a basically empty theater and watched as the movie began.

I'll admit, there is dubbing and it is not the best but I noticed a lot of the dubbing takes place in the main character's home, maybe there was a noisy air conditioner or something that they had to dub the lines. The story wasn't anything spectacular, but it was interesting to see it pulled off on such a small budget.

There's a part where a car blew up and it's obviously a toy car that's burning but I found this more charming than a deterrent, it reminded me of a film from the 1980s.

The film does have a lot of problems: the aforementioned dubbing, the third act is really confusing, and some acting is really amateur; an indie film standard.

I got to meet with the director and the actor who played the Russian and they were very cool with answering some of my questions. I actually thought the film was shot on Super 8 or maybe 16mm but the director informed me they shot it on a HDV camera and adjusted it to LOOK like film.

Like I said, it's not the greatest film ever made (that would be Hitchcock's Psycho) but it's a low-budget indie film that really wants to be at home with silly B-movies and I feel it really succeeds in that aspect.