Crappy film

A different way of telling a story

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

When I first started watching this film I was surprised by its refined look. Don't get me wrong it is a low budget film. The Killers (2009) knows that, and it doesn't try to outdo itself. The story is comedy noir, it has the feel of the classic noir style with a British gangster accent and it works. The Killers, is a slow paced movie, I know this may sound off putting so some. The only thing is it this feature that really pulls the film together. We get more personally to the characters and they are fleshed out. I enjoyed the acting in the film which was very tight for the budget of the production. The dialogue is also well written. Obviously this film has its flaws, however, the flaws it has are more than made up for with the style and narrative development. The only problem I really had with this film was the sound more particularly the sound track. I would have preferred a more modern sound as it would have fit with the characters better. Such as a jazzy sound rather than the old fashioned sounding music that was used. The character development is very interesting and you some of the actions come quite unexpected. This is where the films humour comes out. The narrative is not so surprising but this does not ruin the film. I went into this film expecting it to be a load of rubbish. I was very pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be alright. The problem that this film avoids that so many independent films don't is that this film knows what it is.

The Killers is a little gem of a black comedy. Just over an hour long, it features smart performances from its cast of four. The tale of two misfit hit men stalking their prey and then attempting to carry out the contract, the performances of the two lead actors playing the would-be killers are excellent. Matthew Jure is particularly impressive as the amusingly hapless Mike, who seems particularly ill-suited to murder, with a good performance also from Ian Attfield as Sean, who shifts between calm, organised and menacing and being a bit of a liability. The dialogue between the two is realistic and comical, owing much to Tarantino's "Royale with cheese" school of chit-chat about stuff but carried off nicely. Shot neatly in black and white, the evident low budget doesn't spoil the film - there are not many locations but why would there be? It is the second half of the film where the story comes to life, with more sides to Mike and Sean revealed and strong supporting performances from Anna Acton as Mike's over-bearing girlfriend Danielle and Colin Holt as the confused victim of the pair. With several twists at the end, Carlo Ortu's film is an enjoyable piece of independent cinema.

The Killers is a black and white (no color), black comedy Indie film running at a little over 60 minutes about 2 hit men - Mike played by Matthew Jure, a hapless, indecisive, believable loser and Sean played by Ian Attfield, an ex-military man recruited by Mike - and their plans to stalk and then take out a mark that they were hired to kill.The first half of the movie follows the 2 leads as they stalk their mark. This portion of the film can either be seen as a hit or miss depending on how the characters and dialogue are received by the viewer. If one doesn't find the 2 men interesting and their conversations about literally nothing enjoyable and funny, the movie will come off as boring and hard to watch. However, if one likes the unimportant banter about favorite foods, compensation for parking/lunch by the man that hired them (per diem), and other random things.. then the first half can be quite good. It's a toss up and I fell somewhere in between. Large portions of the first 30 minutes, especially a good 15 minutes at the start are focused only on the 2 leading men in a car parked outside the residence of the man they are shadowing - no other characters, no other backdrops - just chatting awkwardly about the mark's routine, about when to call it a night, about life, about food, etc...that's it. The second half of the film is when things pick up and Mike introduces Sean to his girlfriend, Danielle (Anna Acton). Sean invites himself over for dinner, Danielle and Sean hit it off and they end up getting drunk together as Mike is left out as the third wheel & previous straight laced Sean becomes a bumbling, alcoholic, psychotic fool.The second half of the film is also when the 2 hit men decide that it is time to go through with the murder and, as one can expect, things don't go as planned. These hapless hit men clearly don't know what they are doing and hijinks ensue. The ending sequences and conclusion are a bit abrupt but for a low budget Indie film I thought it was a decent effort. I didn't love this movie but I didn't dislike it either - it was merely okay... with the actors, especially Matthew Jure carrying the characters and the dialogue and making the most of it.5/10