Review of The Matador (2005) by Aaron L — 14 Apr 2008

The Matador is a very entertaining film. It's a great project for Pierce Brosnan as he shows his real acting chops outside of the narrowed view of Bond. Sure, Brosnan has qualities of James Bond that he will forever use in his other films but one must remember that part of the reason he was cast as Bond was because he had those qualities to begin with.

With that being said, he plays Julian Noble with great honesty and doesn't try to act "outside" of himself like many actors would probably have done. He acts for the sake of the character, and not to play "not Bond".

Greg Kinnear shows he is great as the sidekick or "everyman" that he has so well done in the past. Hope Davis is also a very pleasant surprise as the wife and is very entertaining to watch on screen.

The movie as a whole definitely worked for me. I like the premise (as far fetched as it may be) and the story had a "greater than itself" feel to it. If I had one complaint with this film it would be that I wanted it to be a little more "fledged out".

I would have liked to see more depth to the story or more time spent on the writing, story, and film as a whole. It's definitely one of those films where you are compelled by the characters and honestly care about what they say and do and if given the chance, you want to see more of them.