Review of Interview with a Hitman (2012) by Marischa B — 17 Mar 2013

I must agree with the first two reviews, and wonder about the validity of the 9-star reviews. What movie were they watching? The first few minutes looked pretty good. Stylish. Understated. Might be on to something, I thought. It's always lovely to be pleasantly surprised.

Not long after though, this film pooped the bed, and made quite a mess. While a couple of the characters were indeed acted really well, the rest were borderline comical. And the accents on many of these actors took it past borderline into full-blown unintentional comedy.

Turns out this is a first-time director, no surprise there. Like so unfortunately often, he's apparently trying so damn hard to emulate the "big boys" and the films which clearly inspired him, that the film suffers. Why create, when you can emulate? In this case, it's a rather poor and very "studenty" emulation throughout a lot of it. Some of the scenes were painful to watch, and the foul smell of student-project was overpowering. But in its defense, other times were almost very decent.

This director/writer (who we get to see named just milliseconds after the final scene, blasted onto the screen accompanied by a loud and dramatic musical cue, in a move that can easily be called ego-maniacal) gives the impression he hasn't finished cooking. Maybe in the future he'll try something less predictable, with more believable twists (BOY are they silly), and try to create something that will stand the test of time.

Also, what an odd casting choice for the girl. Her massive and swollen upper lip dominated every scene she was in. Not saying she's had work done, but it was the first thing you noticed about her, and after that you are marveling at how it appears she's recovering from aggravated lip trauma, instead of enjoying the film.