Review of Assassins... (1992) by Mec R — 22 Mar 2008

My self-imposed season of Sly films.... 'my stallone-a-thon' if you like, turned up this rather cool film. I hadn't seen it until now and though I probably won't watch it again for a fair time its certainly a solid movie. Banderas, looks very young and does a great job injecting energy into the film, whilst Stallone is... Stallone. Thats not to say he isn't good... simply his reliable self. At one point during the movie, in a scene where he kips himself down on the floor, and allows Julianne Moore to have the bed, I actually felt that Stallone could have had a solid career as an actor (as opposed to an action star). People don't seem to like Julianne Moore for some reason. I've liked her eversince 'The Hand that Rocks the Cradle' and 'The Fugitive', and I feel her roles in both 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park', and Ridley Scott's 'Hannibal' were informed and very nuanced. Richard Donner directs with his usual pacing, and once again turns out a solid thriller. The somewhat dated looking precursor to MSN Messenger which the Assassins of the title use to communicate with their mysterious employer is good to see, and fairly reminiscent of the opening scenes of 'The Matrix', where Trinity makes contact with Neo. This is unsurprising as the directors of the Matrix Trilogy, the brothers Wachowski, were the screenwriters on ASSASSINS.

Enjoyable and entertaining.