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In a way this movie is being like the crime version of "Lost in Translation". It uses a very similar concept of a burned out, aging hit-man meeting an average Joe, in a foreign country and decide on spending their time together. It even somewhat uses the same approach of mixing comedy with serious drama. Not saying that this is a bad thing, or something that really matters but it was just a fun observation I made.

The movie is still good and original to watch on its own though luckily. It's a movie with some hits and misses in it but overall I still consider it to be an above average one.

The movie does feel a bit awkward at times with its comedy, that just seems to come and go within this movie. The one moment it's a real goofy movie to watch, while the movie mostly is still made in a very serious fashion and tone. But still it helps to make the movie pleasant and easy to watch. And this is a good thing, since it isn't exactly the movie its story that is being its strongest aspect.

It's as if the director himself also didn't had really enough confidence in his own written script and tried to spice things up more with an over-stylized, hip, modern style that instead more often came across as too desperate and too wannabee. All of the sings of an inexperienced director but Richard Shepard actually isn't that inexperienced at all, which makes it odd that he really made some wrong choices at times with this movie.

One thing that bugged me for instance was that we never saw the Pierce Brosnan character kill anybody in this movie, even though he does supposedly kill a whole bunch of people. Again, to me this was a sign that the director just didn't had enough confidence in either his script and actors. He must had been worried that we wouldn't care or sympathize with the Pierce Brosnan character if we saw him killing people in cold blood.

And there absolutely was no reason for that, since it really are the actors that pull this movie and its story through. They do such a good job and I think I have to admit that I have never seen Pierce Brosnan act so well within a movie. He's very convincing and they also did a great job at aging him up. Yes, he of course was already in his 50's but he seems to be a guy that simply ever refuses to start to look old, until this movie came along, in which he really looks like a burned out guy, at an age when everything seems to go downhill for him from now on.

So it really is far from a perfect movie, or a must-see but it's a good movie to watch if you happen to catch it on TV when nothing else is on. You probably won't regret watching it, despite of all of its flaws and weaknesses (such as also its editing, which I forgot to mention before) that are in it.

7/10

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About Frank Veenstra

Watches movies...writes about them...and that's it for now.
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