The plot isn't much to write home about, but it holds itself solidly for the first hour Spencer (Ashton Kutcher) is a spy/assassin for the CIA; but when he meets Jen (Katherine Heigl) who is on vacation with her parents The Kornfeldts (Tom Selleck & Catherine O'Hara) in Nice, France, Spencer decides to give up his spy life after one last mission and be with Jen. Jump to three years later where Spencer and Jen are married and living the suburban dream and suddenly Spencer is called back into the game by his handler. When Spencer hesitates about being called back in he finds that his friends, co-workers and neighbours are suddenly all trying to kill him for a 20 million dollar bounty. Spencer must juggle trying to keep himself and Jen alive, finding out who set the bounty as well as handling the erratic Jen who had no idea about his past life.
Like I said, the first hour was actually half decent; it was a good action flick with witty moments and Tom Selleck was fantastic... what a mustache. The only other memorable acting moment in this film was a stellar performance by Rob Riggle; which was surprising because normally I hate Rob Riggle. I don't think he's funny one bit; but he managed to pull off a character that was slightly different for him and was entertaining. Kutcher and Heigl were nothing to write home about, their 'shining' moments were more dull and boring than actually exciting. Heigl is actually not funny at all - and she plays herself off as a rich-snob, which is what I imagine her being in real life. We all know her Grey's Anatomy drama off-set and her unrealistic financial demands show her true colours as an actor, one who isn't it for the art but purely the money. It was the supporting cast that made the actual characters plausible and less painful to watch.
Director Robert Luketic's niche is rom-com's like his previous films Legally Blond, Monster-in-Law, Win a Date with Ted Hamilton! & The Ugly Truth. I would personally suggest that his best film to date is 21 but he has definitely become a hit-and-miss director with Killers falling in the miss category. The script, written by Ted Griffen and Bob DeRosa, wasn't half bad until the end, it was obvious though that the end was the product of novice screenwriter Bob DeRosa whose claim to fame include films like: Taco! & King Pathetic Creep.
I'm gonna get down to brass tax about why I did not like this film and it really comes down to the ending. First off, you see the twist within the first 25 minutes of the film. You know what's coming, when it's coming and how it's going to play out. However, it's how the writers tried to make a twist on the twist at the end that royally pissed me off. The following contains spoilers and will be written in black type, so highlight over the dark spaces to read the rest if you don't care about spoilers:
In the end, it's Jen's father who places the 20 million dollar bounty on Spencer's head. It's placed because Spencer's last mission was to kill him, but he failed. So, Jen's father placed a group of hit men around Spencer and had them become his co-workers, neighbours, and friends and then when he gave the word they were to kill him. When this story comes out and Spencer and Jen find out suddenly everything just becomes hunky-dory. There is no reasoning given for why Spencer was supposed to assassinate Jen's father or why after he finds out about it suddenly all is forgiven and the family is able to sit down for a 'trust circle' and tell each other all their deep and dark secrets. The two 'killers' are suddenly complacent with each other and just let everything go.
The story has no real resolution and ends up being a groan fest for the last half an hour, a decent flick is ruined in its ending and I quickly realized why critics were not allowed to review this film for release day. I have a fear that people are going to forgive this film for its ending because it does hold you captive for 2/3rds of the film; but the cliched, anti-climatic, boring and unrealistic ending made me HATE this film. As the film progressed I was thinking to myself; this is a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars... however, I must warn you - skip this film... the ending really ruined it that much for me. I am only giving it:
1.5 out of 5 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment