Killshot
(2008/Genius DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: D Film: C+
Mickey
Rourke does his best to play another bad guy role in John Madden’s Killshot (2008), a crime thriller based
on yet another Elmore Leonard book, this time involving Rourke as a deadly
hitman who is back in the killing game and out to get a couple (Diane Lane,
Thomas Jane) for being witnesses to a crime that is connected to gangster
types. Along the way, our hitman picks
up a young, ambitious criminal (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who joins him on his
odyssey.
Despite
some good actors and good ideas, Madden can only direct the material so well;
the Hossein Amini’s screenplay adaptation is mixed and uneven, while Rourke
essentially repeats his performance in Michael Cimino’s Desperate Hours remake from 1990, but with less effectiveness. Much is predictable here and I never bought
Gordon-Levitt in his role, though he can act.
Rosario Dawson shows up as his girlfriend, but she is not given much to
do either. Except for being a profession
filmmaking job, the film is one shot that misses the mark.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image has some good color and imaging, yet the
lack of detail and is an issue and somewhat mars the often impressive work of
Director of Photography Caleb Deschanel.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is not bad, including ambient sound, but falls
short with this older codec. There are no
extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
