Contract Killers (2008) Reviews

• I liked it.

  geneita2010-04-23

  Sorry guys, but I liked this film. I liked the characters and I especially liked the action scenes, they were believable. Unlike the current spate of action films where the car, if not the hero is defying gravity, jumping through buildings, knowing exactly where to go, without any planning and in total defiance of the law of gravity. Our heroine escapes using plausible means. When trapped in the parking garage, she doesn't suddenly go airborne, jump three cars, fly into the next door office building, into the elevator, down to the 3rd floor, out the other window, landing on conveniently passing semi-trailer. She knows there is no way out, so she surrenders. While it may not be plausible that the FBI guy, Targonsky, would give her opportunity to escape by taking her out of the car, it's at least possible. While in Hollywood terms all the combatants are lousy shots, but when you think of it that's real too, in combat, most shots miss. It's an action film, but the director kept it real throughout the film and I, for one, thank him for it as I gave up Saturday morning cartoons a long time ago.

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• Pretty good for what it is

  twopointfour2008-11-05

  Saw this at a festival and I'm not sure what the other commenters are confused by -- the audience seemed to think it was pretty good for what it was. The plot is maybe a little on the formulaic side, but I don't see how you could feel lost by it. The CIA is using one of their people as a scapegoat for a scheme to wreck the Federal Reserve, and then tries to kill her to protect themselves. What part of that is confusing? The pacing is great, especially in the second half. A low-budget BOURNE movie with a chick is a good comparison. I guess if you come looking for a hundred-million dollar experience you won't find it here, but the budget on this was supposedly less than half a mil, so that isn't really fair. Don't listen to the other posters and check it out.

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• What was he thinking?

  yosefsloan2008-10-26

  When I saw this movie, I thought to myself 'wow, this movie sucked. Why don't I write a review to let people know not to see it?'. And so I am. The beginning of the movie sets the mood for the rest of the movie: confusing. That's basically the only word I can use to describe it. I'm not going to write any spoilers, so I'll keep it simple. This action/conspiracy (or whatever you want to call it) movie is a combination of scenes having little to do with each other. Justin Rhodes adds some implausible romance to the movie to make it more enjoyable, but fails miserably. Maybe it'd be more pragmatic if it was between lovers, but I was thrown off by the lunacy of a captor-captive relationship. This, coupled with other blatant impossibilities, produced a movie that was unbearable. I really hope you choose something else for your one and a half hour movie time slot. Try Stand By Me, although it's in a different genre.

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• Not What I Expected

  bobcoughlin2008-11-08

  Simply put, this film is not what I expected. There was mediocre acting, mediocre directing, and obviously a very mediocre budget. And as far as the director rant in the comments, the comments are designed for people with an opinion ABOUT THE FILM, not about how people are watching it. Your personal bias is one that none of us are interested in. Additionally, your logical fallacy of comparing downloading a movie over the internet to stealing a car and returning it is one of the dumbest, most less thought out comparisons I have ever heard. Not only is there no logic to that statement but I actual give you less credit as a producer and human being for having floated that comment out there in the first place. If you want a "seen it a million times" film, check it out.

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• A movie that delivers

  jennifer-kay002008-11-11

  I was fortunate to see Contract Killers when it opened at 20th Century Fox earlier this year. Unlike other lower-budget movies, many of which I have seen, the film didn't try to compete with typical big budget action films, nor attempt to suspend our intelligence for 90 minutes with an implausible story or impossible action sequences. Contract Killers tries to be -- successfully! -- what it is meant to be -- the story of a woman trying to return to her pre-assassin identity. It's obvious the previous IMDb reviewer missed this most central point, as well as many others that I will not spend time revealing here. When you have an intelligent film to view, sometimes it helps to watch it more than once before you rip into it. The action sequences are cut crisp and sharp, guns are used only when necessary, and crashed cars stop running, as they would in real life. That in and of itself told me this director was not here to insult his audience. I think what gives Contract Killers the edge that you don't usually see in this genre is the seamless melding of score, cinematography, directing, and acting. You can usually sense when a producer and director are on the same page and the vision all meshes together. In this regard, Contract Killers delivers. The quality of the film and its actors delivers mainly because they all seem real -- grounded in their unique director-created realities. When shot, they got hurt; when in a car chase they looked genuinely concerned. I feel that Lead actress Frida Farrell showed exceptional vulnerability and what some may call star quality. But this can be said for many of the other actors involved, including Nick Mancuso, who surprised me as not being over the top this time around (a break from his norm over the last several years, after his Under Siege success). But this just goes to show how important a good director is to a project; I strongly suspect that the consistently solid, reality-based performances can be accredited to director Justin Rhodes. This is a producer / director relationship to watch out for and I look forward to whatever maybe in the pipeline for this production team.

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