brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Absolutely the worst movie.

Absolutely amazing

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Tortured by vivid memories of his younger brother's death, a morose professional hit-man teams up with a psychotic thug who reminds him of his brother in this crime thriller directed by John Madden in quite a change of pace for the 'Shakespeare in Love' and 'Proof' director. The film is inspired by a novel from Elmore Leonard (of 'Get Shorty' and'Jackie Brown' fame) and as one would expect from Leonard, the plot quickly thickens as the hit-man and thug find themselves needing to track down a couple experiencing marital problems since they saw their faces during a job gone wrong. Significantly trimmed for final release with a key character (played by Johnny Knoxville) completed deleted in the final cut, 'Killshot' is an at times difficult film to follow. The brisk one and a half hour runtime also leaves limited room for character development and if there is one thing to hold against the film, it is the difficulty of working out who to root for: the targeted innocent couple on the run or the flawed yet principled hit-man played by Mickey Rourke. Whatever the case, the performances (especially from Rourke) are solid enough to carry the film where the story begins to sag and the action scenes are well done, with photography by the Oscar nominated Caleb Deschanel. While he is occasionally over-the-top, it is also worth seeing the usually mild-mannered Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing it tough, explosive and dangerous like never before and Hal Holbrook has a great brief turn early on, managing to act dignified even when disrobed.

Rosario Dawson Week: Day 5John Madden's Killshot went through the ninth ring of production hell before it was finally released in 07 or so, after like three years of gathering dust on the shelf. The resulting film didn't win anyone over who waited all that time with baited breath, because you can see the cuts, chops and gaps in story where it's been muddled around with, no doubt by the fuckwit studio. I still love it, flaws and all. Based on an Elmore Leonard tale (you can never go wrong with his work, it's a sombre tale of psychopaths, assassins and one hapless estranged couple (Thomas Jane & Diane Lane) caught in between. When legendary native American hit-man Arman 'The Blackbird' Degas (Mickey Rourke) botches a job for the Toronto mafia, he's forced on the run, and hides out with aimless young lunatic criminal Ritchie Nix (Joseph Gordon Levitt), who somewhat reminds him of a litte brother he lost years before. Rourke pulls off the native angle quite well, and shows vague glimpses of a humanity that was once there and has long since been buried in violence. When Jane and Lane accidentally witness him murder someone, he won't let it go, pursuing them beyond rationality or reason, even to his own end. Levitt never gets to play the wild card, and he rocks his redneck sociopath brat role with scary aplomb. Rosario Dawson has an odd appearance as Ritchie's girlfriend, an elvis fan who is seemingly a little bit challenged upstairs. Watch for a cameo from Hal Holbrook as a crusty old mobster too. You'll just have to imagine the federal agent character played by Johnny Knoxville though, because he never made it into the film and can now only be seen in ages old trailers that were a false start. Despite it's issues, I find it to be an atmospheric little pulp outing that does have the classic Leonard feel, a hard bitten, cold-hearted turn from Rourke that's one of his best characters in recent years, and a mean, unforgiving narrative set in picturesque northern Canada. Give it a shot, it deserves way more love than its received so far.

Killshot had some issues before it was released in 2008. The studio that owned it went through a sale, it needed a lot of re-shoots, and a character was dropped completely from the film after a bad test screening. The film got a very limited release then went straight to DVD. This is one of the few times a straight to DVD film is actually decent. It was based on a book by Elmore Leonard.The film stars Mickey Rourke (Blackbird) as a hired mob assassin who makes a mistake and his hunted by his employer. He meets up with a psychopathic small time hood excellently played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Richie). They attempt to shake down a real estate agent but end up mistaking Wayne Colson played by Thomas Jane for the agent. Wayne ends up beating up Blackbird and Richie. Wayne's wife Carmen, played by Diane Lane, who works at the same agency sees the fight and sees Blackbird. It seems Blackbird has a thing about people seeing him work and he decides that Wayne and Carmen need to die.The rest of the film deals with Blackbird and Richie trying to kill the Colsons.I really wasn't expecting much but the plot kept me interested. Rourke was believable as a native American and Gordon-Levitt just chewed up scene after scene as his buddy in crime.Thomas Jane as Wayne was decent. He was a bad ass when he needed to be and he could do well in the tender moments with the wife.Diane Lane had her "A" game on. She shines in the last third of the movie especially during the final confrontation with Blackbird and his friend.If this had gotten better support from the studio and a real theatrical release I feel it would have done okay at the box office. Rent or buy this and see if it comes on TV.

Killshot started off to me like it was going to be a gritty action/thriller movie. Then it got into drama. Then into thriller. Then into action. It was all over the place, but only losing interest in a couple of parts. One of my favorite parts, sadly, were the opening credits. The music was great, they introduced each character nicely, and the animations were cool. The cast was great, and I was surprised to see Tom Jane in such a subtle role. Mickey Rourke was the center of attention for me, and him not being one of my favorite actors means that he did a great job in his role. It had a satisfactory ending and overall, it made me feel satisfied that I watched it. It's worth a rent or a see at a friend's house.