Assassin

This was a multi genre mess, listed as a combination of Action, Crime, Thriller with Sci-fi. The action was cheesy, the crime was lame, there were no thrills, and an automotive disc brake, a laptop, and a bathtub may be the funniest and cheapest props ever used in the history of filmmaking to pass off as sci-fi. They may as well have used an empty shipping box and drawn-on dials with a magic-marker.

The directing - especially cast direction, was horrible, but the writing was even worse, with ideas taken from many other films that were all done much better. The story was dull, lazy, convoluted and riddled with plot and technical issues. It full of eye-rolls and cringeworthy moments, and the normally comfortable 88 min runtime dragged on endlessly with the slow pacing and lame narrative.

Can't believe such a movie was actually thought to be something. This was horrible. I can't even explain it. Nothing was gripping or intense about this movie. Total waste of money and screen time. The acting was just average. To much over dramatization from Alexa. Like really, an ice bath? It's like someone recreating the Matrix but falling short. This is even more sad because this is Willis's last movie. To go out with such a flop is appalling. This was horrible. No way to sugar coat it or give credit. Willis was only good for the marketing I guess. Anyway, we know it's hard these days to make movies because almost every idea has been put out already. But this? This was just nonsensical.

This movie is a disappointing, bewildering experience that left me scratching my head. The film's plot is an incomprehensible tangle, and its characters are so poorly developed that it's difficult to invest any emotion in their outcomes. Simply put, Willis' latest effort is a chaotic, unwatchable mess.

The movie aims to weave a complex narrative, but it fails spectacularly. The plot is so convoluted and disjointed that following it feels like trying to put together a thousand-piece puzzle with no picture on the box.

Bruce Willis, whose acting chops are usually a saving grace in even the most lackluster of films, appears to be phoning it in here. His performance is wooden and uninspired, making it impossible to become invested in his character's journey. The rest of the cast doesn't fare much better, as the underdeveloped characters are mere caricatures rather than fully realized individuals.

The dialogue is clunky and full of clichés, and it does little to clarify the convoluted plot. The characters' motivations remain murky at best, and it's hard to care about their fates when they're so poorly fleshed out. The film's pacing is another issue, as it lurches from one confusing scene to another, never giving the audience a chance to catch their breath or make sense of the chaos unfolding on screen.

In the end, Assassin is a frustrating and disorienting experience that fails to deliver any semblance of a coherent story or engaging characters. It's a sad addition to Bruce Willis' filmography and one that's best left forgotten. If you're looking for a thrilling action movie, look elsewhere - this one misses the mark by a long shot.

Jesse Atlas' Assassin is a movie that, sadly, only stands out for being the last film in which Bruce Willis appears on screen, as the actor has been struggling with aphasia and is no longer able to act convincingly. Despite the questionable ethics of Willis continuing to act in low-budget action films in this condition, the truth is that these movies are generally terrible, even if Willis were still in his prime. In his later career, Willis is reduced to standing around and delivering stilted dialogue, with the action sequences being equally uninspired and bland. Assassin tries to do things differently by using Willis as a minor supporting character and centering the story on Andy Allo's Mali, a Cameroonian-born singer and actress who tries to recover game-changing military technology from career criminal Adrian (played by Dominic Purcell). Unfortunately, the movie is a mess that doesn't even attempt to break any of its own sci-fi rules, failing to explain anything about how the military personnel in the film are able to take over some people's bodies but not others. It's also unclear why they can't just get close enough to the people they need to take over to find the device themselves, and why they need to go through the trouble of taking over someone else's consciousness. Overall, Assassin is a forgettable and dumb movie, and despite Willis' unfortunate situation, it's hard to recommend it. While the Die Hard movies serve as a reminder of Willis' past excellence, this movie is a sad end to a once-great acting career.

Unfortunately for the actors in this film, it seems the writing isn't enough to be gripping in a weird way. One would also imagine this is a film that came about after industry folks knew about Bruce Willis' aphasia (and by this time were feeding him words to repeat through an earpiece). The ethics of that don't feel hazy, they feel wrong. You can tell by the completely monotone delivery of short bursts of language, mostly while looking in a certain direction, like one does when listening, or remembering, but not usually when experiencing dynamic emotions through the scripted words. Or at least acting like it. Bruce Willis is great and I won't judge him based on him being wrung out for money after experiencing an illness specifically disabling to his career craft.

I hope I get a chance to see the other actors elsewhere to experience what art and entertainment they can provide.