Charlie Pike is an ex-Government agent turned contract killer. He kills on behalf of lawyer Peter Mahew who is part of a committee of lawyers who hand out their own version of justice. Pike takes a job from Mahew to help out a family friend, the beautiful Jordan. However when Pike completes the contract he falls for Jordan, a situation that leads him into a double crossing situation where deception leads to murder.
When the wonderfully creative people in the TVM business sit down to really push the envelope on a project they really go for it. Imagine the planning meeting for this! `hey, lets make a thriller about a hitman who is ruthless, but really a good guy who is sensitive and listens to classical music', `yeah and lets have him be kind but tough and trying to get out of the business except this one last job'. After that how else can they make it really stand out well lets shoot it all in blues and shadow of TVM noir and have the usual jazz soundtrack to add `atmosphere' and `mood'.
Nothing in the plot or film really manages to be different from any other TVM you'd see and it fails to engage simply for this reason. On top of the cliché ridden film we have an obvious bit of casting with Fahey and Butler (neither strangers to this tvm stuff). The only surprise was Coburn who I imagine has let stuff like this slip off his CV since he got his Oscar.
Overall this is so very predictable and clichéd that it really fails to inspire even a little bit of interest. We have every staple of the thriller/noir TVM soft porn, jazz music, unimaginative direction it's all here. It's not a bad film, just a very flat one that has all the appeal of a mass produced industrial production when compared to something clever or inspired.
