Assassin

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.

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.

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.

A Military outfit creates a technologically advanced chip that allows a user to take over their subject, mentally and physically, allowing them to kill their subjects and leave no trace of who's behind it.

Great idea, woeful execution, I stuck this film out through to the bitter end, and wish I hadn't, this was an absolute chore to get through, rather to endure.

I couldn't get into it, it's like they pulled the rug from under our feet, stuff was happening and I didn't have a clue why, it took so long to settle and explain, but by then this poor excuse for a sci fi thriller had lost me.

How sad to think that this was the final film for Bruce Willis, think of the many wonderful movies he's delivered, sadly this is one for fans of his to forget. He's good, but sadly doesn't get much screen time.

If I ever hear 'this is not my body again' I will scream.

One to avoid.

3/10.