Assassin

It is no secret that my initial thoughts when I sat down to watch the 2023 crime thriller "Assassin" were: 'great, another dubious Bruce Willis movie'. Yet, I still opted to give the movie a fair chance, if not actually the benefit of the doubt.

I will say that the concept idea behind the movie, as written by Jesse Atlas and Aaron Wolfe definitely had some interesting aspects to it. However, the execution of the movie and transition from script to screen just wasn't overwhelmingly enjoyable.

What went wrong here was the pacing of the movie, which felt somewhat cluttered, and the fact that the character gallery had zero appeal or interest. I have to admit that I cared nothing about any of the characters that pranced around on the screen delivering half-hearted and lukewarm dialogue, whilst performing equally lukewarm action sequences.

And I have to admit that I have never been a fan of Dominic Purcell and his monotonous acting and way of portraying every single character in the same manner. So seeing his face and name on the cover wasn't exactly something that hyped me up. And as for Bruce Willis, then yeah, "Assassin" was another run-of-the-mill-and-the-lights-are-on-but-nobody's-home performance here; you know, as it has been for the past couple of years and numerous movies that he popped up in prior to retiring.

I am sure that there is a audience of hardcore fans of either Willis or Purcell out there that will take some kind of enjoyment from watching director Jesse Atlas's 2023 movie "Assassin". I just wasn't a part of that particular target audience.

"Assassin" is not a movie that I would recommend you to waste your time, money or effort on. As a crime thriller then writers Jesse Atlas and Aaron Wolfe just didn't deliver. And should you make it through the movie once, I doubt you'll ever return to watch it a second time, as the storyline simply barely had enough contents for the first viewing.

My rating of "Assassin" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

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.

Bruce Willis only has some 20 minutes of screentime. He does act well. But the rest of this movie is a big flop.

The bad: this story is nonsensical gibbledigook ridiculous. Dont even try to understand it (although I did try), it wont matter.

More bad: there are lots of B-movie actors starring, that aint terrible, but completely lacking in charisma.

It's a proven tactic to put Bruce Willis' his face on the poster, so this movie will garner some attention or even sell some tickets to folks (mistakingly) expecting to see a Bruce Willis movie. Which it is not.

Not any good? I have seen ALL of Bruce Willis' movies, even the many lesser ones, but this one does compete for the prize of one of the worst movies Willis has ever starred in.

Alexa (Nomzamo Mbatha) is angry that her drone pilot husband is somehow in a coma after a mission. Valmora (Bruce Willis) reveals that he leads a secret experimental program which commandeers unsuspecting victims and turning them into assassins. They are being hunted by a rival group with the same tech. Alexa has to take the place of her husband in order to take down Adrian (Dominic Purcell).

Apparently, this is the last Bruce Willis film. The character isn't doing much other than be the mercurial boss. The camera is able to fake it well enough. The idea is fine sci-fi material. The execution could be better and it fades over time. It's a B-movie of limited ability. It's actually better than I expected, but that's not saying much.

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.