What would it take for a film starring Mickey Rourke, Thomas Jane, Diane Lane, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, and Rosario Dawson to go straight to DVD? Surely something as simple as a mediocre script couldn't keep such star power out of theatres, right? How about poor production value? Would that do it? No. It needs the unholy trifecta, doesn't it? Ok, so let's throw in a pinch of phoned in acting. Not even John Madden, once highly acclaimed director of Shakespeare in Love, could save this turkey from tanking.
Mickey Rourke tackles the role of aging Native American hitman, Blackbird. On a job, he is spotted by real estate agent Carmen Colson, played by the beautiful Diane Lane. Obviously, Blackbird can't allow her to live, so along with his psychotic partner, Richie, they set out to make sure Carmen and her husband Wayne(Thomas Jane) can't identify them. Carmen and Wayne enter the Witness Protection Program, but that doesn't stop the threats and attacks from these two deranged psychos.
Killshot is based off the Elmore Leonard crime novel, but the script by Hossein Amini lacks Leonard's knack for creating realistic and gritty dialogue. Some of the scenes between Blackbird and Richie are just painful. Richie's character is so over the top annoying that I wanted him dead on the spot before he ruined the entire film Unfortunately my wish was not granted. Mickey Rourke appears to be sleepwalking through every scene as if seeming to not care is an acceptable way of portraying "cool". No, it just looks like you don't care. On the flipside, I rather enjoyed the moments between Carmen and Wayne, who are in the midst of a divorce but forced to stay together throughout this ordeal. It's a nice twist on a fairly typical situation, and some of the rough dialogue between them can be attributed to the marital tensions.
Unfortunately not much else works. Characters flit in and out of this thing without rhyme or reason. Rosario Dawson is here apparently to pick up a paycheck. Carmen's mom is dropped in as a totally nonsensical plot device, as she does something so stupid I'm hoping there's a deleted scene of her getting a lobotomy to justify it. The final showdown is quick and isn't satisfying in the least, and feels like it was thrown together haphazard. There's just not much this film gets right.
But atleast it's mercifully short.
4/10
Next up in The Queue: 2009's Powder Blue
