Killing Season (2013) Directed by Mark Steven Johnson

This movie can be summed up very easily; a slow start, a pretty good middle part and a slightly disappointing final minutes.

The premise of this movie sound pretty good and interesting. It's made all the more interesting by the fact that it stars both Robert De Niro and John Travolta, opposite each other. Two wonderful actors, who had never been in a movie together before. And while the movie itself really isn't a bad one, I can still see how it can be disappointing to some. The premise had more potential and more fireworks also should be expected from a movie starring both De Niro and Travolta in it.

The foremost disappointing thing- or at least to me it was, was that the movie was a fairly shallow one. It had plenty of opportunities to turn into a psychological and dramatically interesting one but it just never quite goes there, or it at least never effectively succeeds at it. Hard to say what caused this, since all of the right ingredients were definitely there.

Perhaps it's because the movie never feels balanced enough. The start of the movie is needlessly slow and it takes its time to setup- and buildup its story and characters, without really telling you ever that much though. The characters aren't ever developed well enough, since the movie is lacking the right sort of emotions and drama. You can't ever truly get behind any of the characters and their motivations, also since its hard to tell who's truly the good- and bad guy in this.

At the same time, that also was something I liked about this movie. Rather than being a movie in which the one character hunts the other, both characters hunt on each other instead. And yes, when the movie turns into a cat and mouse game, it gets a pretty good and entertaining one to watch. So action-wise it's a pretty good and effective little movie to watch. Guess it's going for the "First Blood" type of approach but needless to say that this one never becomes quite as good or tense and intense to watch as that other movie.

People are probably going to complain about John Travolta's accent and performance in this movie but it in all truth isn't a bad performance by Travolta. The accent is only going to bother and distract people because you know it's John Travolta that you are watching here and he clearly isn't a real Serbian. But it never bothered me personally and I feel that it's something that's only going to bother you if you choose to let it bother you.

For a movie that's mostly starring just two characters, it's a pretty decent one and despite some slower moments, it never becomes a dull or too repetitive one. It has some pretty good action and of course acting as well. However if you're looking for a movie with some more substance and emotions, this just isn't the right one for you.

6/10

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