Review of Ashby (2015) by Kevin D — 23 Apr 2016

Another genre-less film full of platitudes and meaninglessness.

'Ashby' is yet another film lacking any sort of direction, structure, and storytelling from a decade full of films like these. Is it a character film? Perhaps a teen drama, or redemption story? Maybe a terrible mesh of all three perhaps? Tony McNamara brings a lot of different ideas into a script that is devoid of anything important to say at all.

Mickey Rourke portrays the titular character Ashby, a former CIA assassin who has killed for his government because quote; "That was my job... sigh..." I suppose as a younger man he must have been a patriot and a soldier, but all that has changed over time, when he has his first heart attack and finds out he has very little time to live. His neighbor (Nat Wolff), a rather bland teenager who just moved into town with his single mom (an equally bland Sara Silverman), asks Ashby if he can write an essay about him... because quote; "You're old." And so the film unfolds at a slow and steady pace with nothing really to offer the viewer and focuses solely on a teenager who literally has nothing to complain about, yet still finds the time and energy to do so.

What really upset me about this movie's direction and writing, isn't the awful story line itself, but the real lack of any message for the viewer. Outside of Micky Rouke's character coming to terms with who he was and the horrible things he'd done during his career, every single character in this movie is exactly the same at the end, as when it started out. The idea of an assassin seeking redemption through a kid writing a high school essay is laughable at the least, but putting up with the most annoying teenager in the world, makes me literally weep for future generations of screenwriters and directors. It's predictable at most times, ablaze with platitudes, and lacks anything worth watching for an hour and forty five minutes.

This movie has absolutely nothing to teach anyone except that murder can be part of a geek coming to age film. He also becomes an accessory to murder, but hey... that's fine if your friends right?

I wish I could get my time back.

1/5.