Killshot Reviews

This starts of looking like a great hitman flick with an ice cool looking Rourke and a possible gun totting plot brooding...but alas. Enter Joseph Gordon Levitt with a massively over the top performance as a loose cannon southern hick and trying his best to do what Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp have done before, be a cool, sexy and charismatic villain.

Instead he comes across as rather embarrassing and annoying with way too much eyebrow movement. The film itself is pretty disconnected with plot holes and jumps making you wonder why and how until you later realise but then don't really care. You watch this really hoping for some cool gun play from Rourke or something, just to confirm his cool looking character but again alas....

Nothing much happens until the predictable end which is helped along by the predictable Thomas Jane haha can read that guy like a book. Filler for Rourke until some big flicks get made.

Novelist Elmore Leonard's writing is always sharp with snappy dialogue and well drawn characters. His stories are so descriptive that he's practically already written the script, making his books easy to adapt to the screen. This was one that had all the ingredients for being another successful transfer from page to screen, but for the fact that it's mediocre and lifeless.
Wayne Colson (Thomas Jane) and his estranged wife Carmen (Diane Lane) are placed in the Federal Witness Protection program after witnessing an extortion scheme go wrong. Under the protection of the F.B.I isnt enough though, when experienced hit-man Armand "Blackbird" Degas (Mickey Rourke) and psychopathic young upstart killer Richie Nix (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are determined to track them down.
Notable successful adaptations of Leonard's novels have been Steven Soderbergh's "Out of Sight", Barry Sonnenfeld's "Get Shorty" and Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown" but this actually achieves something that none of them managed to do and something thats not easy to do either... making Elmore Leonard's writing seem dull. This is devoid of any excitement at all. They have taken any form of suspense out and made a slow, lethargic excuse for a thriller. Rourke (as usual) is great in his brooding role and Gordon-Levitt adds some edge to the film as his pyschotic sidekick - roles that were originally intended for Robert DeNiro and Quentin Tarantino - but "Shakespeare in Love" director John Madden gets it all wrong. His treatment is flat, but I'm assuming that the fact the screenplay went through uncredited rewrites and the film itself was held back from release due to extensive cuts (Johnny Knoxville playing a crazy sheriff being a major one) that the whole troubled production has not been kind to its director. It all shows in the end result.
If it wasn't for Rourke and Gordon-Levitt, this would be a complete waste of time. A wasted opportunity and an example of how a good story can be wasted in the wrong hands.

Short and bizarre. Diane Lane still looking good like Reggie Miller. Mickey Rourke is robotic Native American. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a Detroit redneck which is arguably the most annoying performance since Al Jolson in the Jazz Singer. Thomas Jane is a shoe in for the bronze medal in Hollywood's Driest Actor Ever, he peaked early in Boogie Nights. Vin Diesel wins the gold, Bill Pullman wins the silver.

A tortured hitman teams up with a loose cannon to stalk witnesses, a husband and wife who are undergoing marital strife.
With Elmore Leonard penning the novel and a cast that includes some real talent, most notably Mickey Rourke and Diane Lane, I got my hopes up, but this film is ultimately a disappointment. It reminds me of another Leonard work, Out of Sight. Both films are equally slow and amount to predictable conclusions. The only difference is that for some reason Out of Sight was critically acclaimed and Killshot was panned.
Regardless, the film takes an awful long time to unfold, and the only character who is able to hold our attention is Levitt's psychopath. Rourke's Armand is moody, and in response to his partner's shenanigans, he groans like Al Gore did during the 2004 debate; both performances were not representative of their abilities. And Lane and Mickey Mantle are stuck in a plot that goes nowhere and magically resolves, then just as magically, "un-resolves."
Overall, the film probably deserves two stars, but my disappointment in this capable cast and writer knock it down one.

Just ok...great cast,dull story. But man do I loooooove diane lane,yummy!

Mickey Rourke takes the place of Charles Bronson in Deathwish as the bad guy killer I would want coming after me. Plays an excellent part in this movie, And Joseph Levitt plays the pain in the ass partner, he was so much a pain I wanted to shoot him. Nothing but awesome. 5 Stars.

Not really exciting suspense-thriller with Mickey Rourke, but his latest film, The Wrestler was the best film of 2008. The performances are wooden, the scripting is clumsy, and much of the plot just doesn't make sense. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is entertaining as the psychotic madman, although by staying on 10 the whole time, the effect does dull after a while. Thomas Jane, too, is a pleasant enough screen presence, and believable as the blue-collar worker looking for a way back into Diane Lane's heart.

Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke, Thomas Jane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson

Beautiful Carmen Colson (Lane) and her ironworker husband Wayne (Jane) are placed in the Federal Witness Protection program after witnessing an "incident". Thinking they are at last safe, they are targeted by an experienced hit man (Rourke) and a psychopathic young upstart killer (Gordon Levitt). The ensuing struggle will test Carmen to the limit.
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Thought it was an OK movie. Worth the watch. All of the actors have done better work. Just kinda feel like the movie could have been better. JGL character got on my last nerve with all his non-stop talking about the most random shit. But all in all a decent movie. =)

After going through four years of being delayed, shelved, reshot, and reedited, it's hard not to notice how Killshot has been affected by its troubled production. It clocks in at under 95 minutes in length, and it feels like many pieces of the puzzle, character arks, and important subplots have been omitted in favour of a sleek, quick, and harmless action thriller.
However, this is based on an Elmore Leonard novel, and no amount of reassembly can take away from the colourful and richly thought out characters that are always present in Leonard's work. Mickey Rourke, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Diane Lane, and Thomas Jane all give top notch performances. There is a lot of great tension in the film's more suspenseful moments. The drama does work. But ultimately, it feels rushed.
Carmen Colson and her husband Wayne are placed in a Witness Protection Program as a result of being hunted by a ruthless assassin. But we never fully understand why they come out of Witness Protection. This subplot is somewhere on the cutting room floor as our Johnny Knoxville and Rosario Dawson's performances. In fact, much of what could have made this film great is left on that same floor. Ultimately, Killshot is a decent thriller that was neglected by the Weinstein brothers and left to suffer a straight-to-DVD fate.

A decent suspense thriller featuring three outstanding performances from Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke, and the heavily underrated Joseph Gordon-Levitt (one of the best young actors out there right now). Although some gaping plot holes weigh the movie down to a degree, the suspense and sympathy for the chief characters are there, thanks in large part to careful direction by John Madden. While the ending is a bit of a letdown due to its inability to close on an appropriate note, the bad guy combo of Rourke and Gordon-Levitt is as intimidating as it is totally mismatched. The rifle scenes are pretty excellent.

Very underrated and effective little thriller from John Madden who is better known as a director of films like Shakespeare in Love and Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Those films were fogettable entertainment, but Killshot marks the first notably good work from him. Orginal story by Elmore Leonard is one nasty piece of work and in the hands of writer Hossein Amini it turns out to be gritty story about hitman and his out of control partner in crime. Mickey Rourke and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are both outstanding in their roles, but Diane Lane and Thomas Jane are a bit lost as a couple who are marked to death. This is by all means not a perfect film, but it turns out be very positive surprise. Recommended.

A stylish, gripping and relentlessly exciting thriller that packs a wallop of crisp action and explosive tension. A sizzeling, thrilling, adreniline-fuelled and razor-sharp film with great character development and wonderful direction Director, John Madden's most interesting film in years. A pure shot of pulse-pounding fun. Top notch performances from it's outstanding all-star cast. Slick, tense and well-crafted. Not the best adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel, but worthy enough to be a entertaining film. Mickey Rourke is a knockout, a compelling and riveting performance. Diane Lane is electrifying. Thomas Jane is teriffic. Josepth Gordan Levitt is excellent, delivering lots of energy.

I was highly disappointed that this movie took forever to come out. It was suppose to be out in theaters last year and now I know why it didn't come out to video until now. Although it had great actors in it, this film somehow flopped for me. Oh well, still watchable though, give it a shot. It has Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Thomas Jane, and Rosario Dawson.

Sadly, I can see why this never made it to theaters. A strong cast is given hardly anything to do with a flimsy storyline and lax execution.

"Yesterday she was a witness. Today she's a target."

Beautiful Carmen Colson and her ironworker husband Wayne are placed in the Federal Witness Protection program after witnessing an "incident". Thinking they are at last safe, they are targeted by an experienced hit man and a psychopathic young upstart killer. The ensuing struggle will test Carmen to the limit.

REVIEW
'Killshot' surprised me with its decent story, not totally original but still very refreshing comparing to those usual action flick stories that can just bore you to death. Killshot is almost nothing like that, you don't quite know what will happen next or how it will end. Mickey Rourke makes good, rock solid appearance and acting is on high level. Killshot is far from being perfect though, it has clumsy and sloppy parts where it feels dumb and unrealistic. But if you're not bugged with that too much then you're gonna enjoy it like me or even more. All in all, you definitely won't feel like you wasted your time after seeing it.

From the director of Shakespeare in Love(??) comes this Elmore Leonard adaptation, delayed for years and finally arriving with a whimper. As it turns out, it's a decent premise, but loses focus and goes on unnecessary tangents. It has assembled a great cast, but half of them are terribly miscast - most notably Rosario Dawson. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a talented guy, but he's trying a lttle too hard here. What on paper should have been a great film - Leonard, Madden, Lane, Levitt, Dawson... - ends up instead more on par with most direct-to-dvd fare. I'm curious to see if the DVD will have an extended cut including Johnny Knoxville's scenes, whose role was cut entirely.

An interesting story told from two sides... a hitman and his intended victim. Some unique and colorful characters, most notable is Levitt, the guy has certainly come a long way to perfectly playing the psychopath in this movie. Though its supposed to be more of a thinking movie, this is easly forgettable, there was no real spark except fo Levitt's out-of-mind character.

watch once... and probably no reason to watch it again.

About bloody time. As a huge Rourke fan I've been waiting for this film for the last 4 years. It was completed years ago but after negative test screenings it went through the usual crap of reshoots and delayed releases. It sounds perfect on paper. Great cast, based on a book by a best selling author, from the director of an academy award winning film etc. So what has finally been released on DVD? It's an acceptable hitman movie. Nothing more and nothing less. For me, being a fan of Rourke, Lane and Levitt, I probably found it more engaging than most. Nobody stretches themselves in their roles, they all play it comfortably. Nothing of note really happens in the film. No tense scenes of the couple being hunted like prey, especially since hunting symbolism and metaphors are all over the place in this film. It's hard to know if the cuts have made this better or worse. A whole character (Johnny Knoxville) has been cut, a creepy sheriff. This sounds like the kind of injection the film needed. Their's no bonding between Rourke and Levitt, so it's hard to see why Rourke puts of with him. As I said earlier, nothing really happens. The hitmen's main plan is to wait for the couple to return home from witness protection, which doesn't make for an exciting movie really. Still, they'll be stuff to enjoy, even if it is as shallow as Diane Lane in her undergarments.

In "Killshot," Blackbird(Mickey Rourke), a hit man, is doing his best to lay low when he receives an assignment to take out the old mob boss(Hal Holbrook) which he does but the new mob boss(Richard Zeppieri) is mad at him since he also killed a woman(Alexis Butler) he considers property. Needing cash and wanting to stay off the radar, Blackbird hooks up with Richie(Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a young bank robber who reminds him of his dead brother(Brandon McGibbon), in an extortion scheme of Nelson Davies(Don McManus), a real estate developer. However, Davies hires Wayne(Thomas Jane), a laid off iron worker, to stand in for him. Wayne foils the criminals' attempt in front of his estranged wife Carmen(Diane Lane). Blackbird and Richie then decide to go duck hunting.

"Killshot" is a well-acted, violent and moody film that is set against the backdrop of economically ravaged Michigan and comprised of characters living on a precipice, both emotionally and physically. The movie is not afraid to show its lead character, a hit man, without sympathy which also has the benefit of raising the tension. Blackbird ruthlessly kills anybody who gets a look at him which might be necessary in his line of work but can he totally survive on his own, either? It is also a question that Carmen and Wayne have to answer as their fifteen year marriage is falling apart. Neither is in great financial shape, either, as Wayne is out of work and Carmen is forced back into the workplace for the first time in a long time.

You'd think a movie with Mickey Rourke as a contract killer with a supporting cast that includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Diane Lane would be more badass. Truth is, while some of the performances almost make this worthwhile, the overall finished product is dull and uninspired.