Review of Killshot (2008) by Matthew B — 12 Aug 2009

I experienced the joy of sitting through this tepid crime thriller on an airplane and, despite being a member of the ultimate captive audience, was still unable to find much of a reason to recommend it.

Mickey Rourke, whose career is enjoying a miraculous renaissance, provides intransigent, granite weight to nearly every scene as Armand "Blackbird" Degas - dominating like the stomping Commendatore in the earth-shattering finale of Mozart's Don Giovanni.

The rest of the cast, however, is utterly lost; Diane Lane seems extremely bored (as she has in nearly everything she has done since Adrian Lyne's Unfaithful), Rosario Dawson's Elvis-crazed performance is juvenile and undercooked, Thomas Jane seems unable to anchor his characterization (or take it too seriously), and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a young actor from whom audiences have come to expect so much (particularly after his pseudo-noir turn in Rian Johnson's Brick), roams through the film honking and bleating a mindless, revoltingly caricatured cavalcade of hillbilly-twanged profanity.

Lois Smith and Don McManus make memorable appearances, and Hal Holbrook glimmers briefly in a doomed cameo. A true dud - and a real shame, considering the talent involved.