Assassin

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.

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.

Assassin is the last Bruce Willis movie sadly due to his aphasia and dementia. A sad way to end his career. This is a confused, sloppy and poorly directed film about private operation led by Bruce Willis that puts bug like microchips in people and by using an assassin host (Nomzamo Mbatha) she can poses that person and perform a murder. Her target is Dominic Purcell. Bruce Willis is fine here though hes not given much to do. He mainly just gives order but he does get to shoot a lady in one scene so theres that. Best to remember Bruce for the Die Hard films, Pulp Fiction or The Sixth Sense and not his later career.

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.