One of my all time favorites.

Excellent, a Must See

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

THE HIT LIST is a typical B-movie thriller with solid performances from the leads and an undemanding plot. Cuba Gooding Jr. is cast against type as a weary hitman who tires of his life and goes off the deep end while Cole Hauser is the down-on-his-luck protagonist who makes a fateful mistake one night. The story opens like STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, with strangers meeting in a bar and agreeing to a deathly pact, but it soon turns into something more akin to COLLATERAL. The low budget works against it a bit, but there are some highlights here, particularly the climax which is heavily indebted to THE TERMINATOR's police station massacre.

The idea is peculiar, but logically and well founded, so the events following the meeting in the bar could actually happen. The value of the movie is diminished by the hit-man's past employers (another conspiracy theory?) and trivial/expected ending. However, the scenes around the people on the list are catchy to follow.An Oscar winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. (as Jonas Arbor) gives another great performance. As for the leading actor Cole Hauser (as Allan Campbell), he was good as well, although it was my first real experience with him (I realized that I have seen many movies with his participation, but never distinguished him). Other performances were nothing special or even mediocre.Nevertheless, The Hit List is recommended as a good and short (less than 1,5 hours) action. And, perhaps, the occurrence of bad jokes declines after seeing this...

And when am asking that, I'm suggesting that this is a hit, but rather a remake of a movie called "The Hit". I just saw the trailer for this other movie (can be found here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0263444/ and is with the actress Joanna Pacula, who some may knew from other movies) and it is stunningly how alike they look. I wonder if someone will check the connection and post it here.But back to this one and it's strong cast. An Oscar winner (okay what movie offers didn't Cuba accept since his win?) and Cole Hauser. Still while it is intriguing (the concept that is) and the actors try their best with a script that is anything but subtle or genuinely good. There is some tension, but you'll eventually loose interest in this. If you have watched one thriller before this, you'll know where it is heading (and it doesn't have to be the one this is ripping off either)!

Just a few weeks after picking up Gooding's last film "Sacrifice", "The Hit List" was released. I picked it up because I am a pretty big fan of his. The film turned out to be pretty well done for a DTV thriller but just like "Sacrifice" it has it's flaws.Jonas Arbor(Gooding) is a hit man and decides to go rouge. His reason unfolds throughout the movie but in doing this he runs into Allen(Cole Hauser) in a bar. Allen is having his own bad day by losing his promotion to a younger partner in his film and problems with his wife come to surface. Arbor and Allen meet in a bar and get drunk together. Jonas explains to Allen that he is a hit man and will kill five people for Allen free of charge. Thinking it is a joke Allen writes down names and laughs it off. It isn't long before he realizes its a joke and has to stop Jonas from completing the list.The film has been compared to "Collateral" and while it is a fair comparison, the film does stand on its own. Its flaws lie in editing and lack of budget which is the same thing "Sacrifice" suffered from. The opening credits are done in almost a comedic or even a James Bond type of way and really turns the viewer away from what the tone is trying to be. The budget shows in the camera set ups and how rarely other angles are used. The DP obviously did not have the time or money to make the film look bigger. There is a car chase in the film that could have been much more exciting if the editing was better. All in all what saves the film is the performances by Hauser and Gooding. They do not play down to the budget level and they treat the film as if it is a big budget hit. Gooding assures the audience that he has still got it and reminds us of why he is capable of an award winning performance. He is deep and scary and really gets into the role more than he has in the last few years. The quality lies in the performances which is why this is an above average DTV Thriller.Acting 9/10 Editing 5/10 Music 5/10 Directing 7/10Fans of Gooding and Hauser should be pleased with this film.