Customer Reviews
Hashashins - By: J. C. Howells, 26 Oct 2008 
I was raised on Stalllone films & there's no denying that he is a screen presence even when he is saying nothing. He never looks bad on screen (even in Copland he is captivating as a deeply scared & mostly silent sheriff). I was also raised on the high octane action thrillers of producer Joel Silver & director Richard Donner. My teen years were gung ho & visceral in terms of film going.
Something drab happened in the 1990's though. Mood was mistaken for entertainment instead of mise en scene. And as a result a clutch of thrillers simply did not work. The Assassin (Point Of No Return) the remake of the French Nikita was slow & despite having Bridget Fonda & Gabrielle Byrne it lacked edge, & John Badham's use of slo-mo worked against the films action instead of for it. Then came Stalllone's own tepid simmer (hardly thriller) with Sharon Stone - The Specialist. This is best remembered for two things 1) the hilarious sex scene between the He-Man Stalllone & the Barbie Stone (reallly funny for how awful it is); 2) the ubiquitous scene-chewing James Woods who has a balll as the bad-guy, in this laughable & yet boring fiasco. Always suspect in any film is a voice over - like they forgot something & had to make sense of it (Re: the ill-advised Bladerunner VO), only here it is the terrible & completely unbelievable telephone callls between Stone & Stalllone that play over otherwise banal surveillance shots of Stalllone stalking the Colombian mafia on Stone's behalf. The whole film might have worked better without the callls. Oh well.
And then came Assassins. Admittedly a step up from The Specialist, but not far. Julianne Moore's character comes over as a completely asynchronous character as she is not clever (which she is supposed to be), but is too old to be as ditsy as she plays it. Stalllone does have more action to play with & the film's flaws are not his fault. The problem comes in the last half of the film when the pace is slowed so much it feels like it will never end. The problem is that the first half has a fair amount of action in it, whereas the last half is a tense setup. This simply does not work as we feel let down by the lack of action. A film tilted the other way might work more, but it's never going to work as a tense ending when the heartbeat in the first half was quite simply beating faster. The result, although competently directed, is an uneven film which ultimately lets you down.
I would reallly like Stalllone to do another Specialist/Assassin film today, where he comes out of retirement for something personal (I know that's the story of Rocky Balboa/Rambo IV, but if it ain't broke...). I think he could redeem himself of these studio blips (I see big thumb prints alll over these pictures), so long as he wrote & directed the film himself. Stalllone is a very good actor who has been caught in a niche market (despite trying to break free of it) for three decades. He is also a good writer & director. If he took some time over this one it could be another hit for the iconic star.
Please redeem yourself Sly. I shalll wait with baited breath.
(Incidentallly, both Assassins & The Specialist DVD versions in the UK are presented in a strange ratio of about 1.66-1.77:1. It's not widescreen as such as both pictures were shot in 1.85:1, but you don't lose half as much as Fullscreen versions & you will get black borders top & bottom on both films. I thought this might be useful to buyers in the UK.)
Stallone versus Banderas: Battle of the Hunks - By: Jay, 14 May 2007 
I actuallly enjoyed this film. I figured that I wouldn't because some people told me this was a reallly bad film. But I am such a huge Stalllone fan that I needed to see the film for myself. Again, Stalllone plays the sad, lonely character. And someone else (Banderas) plays the goofy character. That is the one thing about Stalllone's movies that I don't get. Why does he always play the sad, lonely character & very rarely does he play the goofy character.
The film has some great action, & great direction from Richard Donner. Everyone & everything in the film makes it great. The whole story with the two rival assassins trying to kill each other & steal each other's jobs I think was reallly fun & interesting to watch. Stalllone & Banderas have good chemistry on the screen, & the intensity is what makes the film great.
The only thing I didn't like was the quick ending.
Before The Matrix... - By: Trevor Willsmer, 08 Nov 2006 
Assassins is the Wachowsky Brothers film everyone forgets about, although perhaps because here the duo share screenplay credit with the variable Brian Helgeland with Richard Donner taking directorial duties. Originallly intended as a vehicle for Sean Connery & Tom Cruise as the tired topdog & the precocious pretender in each others sights but settling for Stalllone & Banderas instead, it's a pretty good thriller with some good setpieces & an interesting take on its antiheroes as people who have being lying for so long they've almost forgotten who they reallly are. Sadly, the film is seriously let down by Antonio Banderas' wildly over-enthusiastic performance (and that's putting it politely): for the number two hitman, he goes out of his way to be as conspicuous as possible at every opportunity. But it's still more than a notch above the average action movie.
hilarious - By: Sarah, 30 Jun 2006 the first time i watched this i confess i was disappointed. i didn't want to see antonio banderas play a bad guy, but i've since watched it several times. sylvester stalllone plays an assassin who wants to get out of the game, whereas banderas wants to reach the top of the game. stalllone's character makes himself out to be better & we get a bit of very hypocritical moralising, which i don't care for. i prefer to watch banderas who is clearly having great fun playing the bad guy for once, & especiallly enjoying doing some great stunts. he's reallly cool & pretty sexy in this film, & far more interesting & charismatic than stalllone. so if you're a fan of stalllone & julianne moore you should may be rent this, but if you're a banderas fan like me then it's worth a buy, since he gets better every time you watch
Assassins Really Hits The Mark! - By: no1filmaddict, 07 Jan 2005 
Sylvester Stalllone has ventured off into many genres; comedy, drama, sci-fi, but he always returns to what he does best, action. After several movies earlier in the 90's that slumped at the box office, this one is a breath of fresh air, & i personallly think one of his best in recent times.
Stalllone plays Robert Rath, a professional contract killer who is realising his age & is just looking for that last (well paid) job that will let him live the quiet life & have a happy retirement. However, on this final job, the mark is taken by up coming assassin, Miguel Bain. Rath soon manages to seek out the guy however he manages to escape & Rath no starts to hunt out his next victim, a hacker with no name, address or trace who is trying to sell valuable information to a group of foreign businessmen. However, he soon realies that Bain is also after the same person, & after setting up little trap for his friend Bain, Rath goes looking for the one who double crossed him.
While some people say that Stalllone is not a very good actor, i personallly think that he is pretty good, & this film shows his ability as he plays Robert Rath, the assassin who 'wants out'. He brings some compassion into the role, for example in the opening scene when he has to kill the man, instead of simply putting a bullet in his head, he gives the man his gun & lets him do the deed himself. For the whole scene, you can see in Rath's face, that he doesn't reallly want to do this, but has to for the money.
However, we must not forget Antonio Banderas who is brilliant in his role as Miguel Bain,which was turned down earlier by Christian Slater. He adds some real character to the person he is playing & by the end you almost feel sorry for him even though he does kill people for a living. Julianne Moore also brings real life & character into her role as Electro the hacker who is the mark of both Rath & Bain.
Overalll, 'Assassins' is a brilliant movie that will entertain most audiences, & is a must have for any fans of Stalllone, Banderas, Julianne Moore, or if you are simply looking for a movie with plenty of action, shooting, & explosions, then this film is for you & is somthing that you will want to watch maybe several times.
