Review of Killing Season (2013) by Ponderflix — 11 Feb 2015

John Travolta plays the role of Vengeful Ex-Soldier who was shot during the Bosnian War in a war crime by some bad Americans shooting bad Serbian war criminals. Specifically it’s suggested he may have been shot by Robert De Niro who plays Colonel Benjamin Something. Now 18 years later, Vengeful Ex-Soldier has bought some American military personnel files off a bloke in a pub. One of the files is on Colonel Benjamin Something. “I have been waiting 18 years to do a revenge film with De Niro” says Vengeful Ex-Soldier to the bloke in the pub, who seems to be losing interest.

Imagine if you will, John Travolta attempting a Serbian accent. Imagine what that would be like for 90 minutes. Yep, it’s as bad as you just imagined. Travolta’s awful accent competes for ridiculousness with his ‘hair’ which at times appears to be a specially designed swimming cap and at others a bald head that has been very neatly coloured in with very black permanent marker.

This is so rubbish in so many ways, it seems so little effort has gone into the enterprise, that it has an active contempt for the viewer. It openly defies you to bother summoning the will to dislike it. Or sit all the way through it. I managed it in three chunks. Both actors seem to be putting in the bare minimum effort; the extended dialogue scene between the two in Colonel Something’s cabin looks like a half-arsed script read through/failed improvisation that got left in by mistake....The action is limp, the script is nothing, the performances are shambolic.

I expect this kind of nonsense from Travolta, but the disappointing thing is I have come to expect it from De Niro. It’s sad and perplexing to watch him drive nails into the coffin of a once brilliant career that already has more nails in it than it could ever possibly need. Nothing is getting out of that coffin Bobby, why are you doing this?

Full review at ponderflix on wordpress.