Product Details

• Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Banderas, Julianne Moore, Anatoli Davydov, Muse Watson
• Directors: Richard Donner
• Writers: Andy Wachowski, Brian Helgeland, Lana Wachowski
• Producers: Alexander B. Collett, Andrew Lazar, Bruce A. Evans, Cynthia Neber
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English, German, Spanish
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• VHS Release Date: May 20, 1997
• Run Time: 132 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303954227
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #193,463 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If Sylvester Stallone plays the world's number one assassin in this thriller, that must make Antonio Banderas, well, number two. The two are competing to hit the same target for a $20-million payoff, and their challenge takes them from explosion to explosion on a cat-and-mouse chase from Seattle to Mexico. Julianne Moore plays the cagey cat fancier and computer hacker who possesses a stolen computer disc that makes her a prime target for bad guys, and Robert Rath (Stallone) is only too happy to come to her defense. Director Richard Donner handles action sequences with adequate flair and has a good time blowing things up. Banderas has fun with the nonsensical plot, and Moore is enjoyable in one of her big-budget mainstream roles. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

What made Richard Donner's "Lethal Weapon" movies so enjoyable was the over-the-top hysteria of the action scenes. Here Donner goes for a more subdued, artistic pitch, and though the film is well crafted it's a rather drab thriller. Sylvester Stallone plays a hit man who wants to retire (he broods nicely), Antonio Banderas is his up-and-coming rival, and Julianne Moore is a surveillance expert who loves her cat and spies on her neighbors. The plot concerns a computer disk that she is selling, but it's just an excuse for everyone to pick up guns and start shooting. (Since this is an art film, silencers are used most of the time.) A cool languor develops between Stallone and Moore, and Banderas gives a cackling, exuberant performance, but the glum, pensive mood never lifts. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Exciting Movie!, February 5, 2001

By 

Melvin Hunt (Cleveland,, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Assassins [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This was a very exciting movie. There was action from start to finish. Stallone,the top hit man in the world suddenly finds that he has competition. He battles all over the landscape against his new competitor Antonio Banderas. A woman comes into possesion of an article that the bad guys want. She then becomes a target for Banderas. It falls upon Stallone to defend her. Stallone has to fight for his life against his new younger competition. The battle is ruthless. Stallone and Banderas have a final showdown that is top notch. Be sure to see this movie.It is top of the line. You will not be dissapointed.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Action start to finish, May 31, 2007

By 

Brenda Budziszewski "Turle Fan" (E.Brady, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Assassins (DVD)

When I put this DVD in, and hit play, action started. The whole way through the 2 hour movie, there is action non stop, clear up to the end in the "No Goodbyes" scene. This is a great movie. My favorite part was in the taxi when Robert Rath (Stallone) And Miguel Bain (Banderas) meet.

If youre a fan of either Banderas or Stallone, then I strongly suggest this movie to you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Before the Matrix, December 11, 2006

By 

Trevor Willsmer (London, England) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Assassins (DVD)

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. Originally intended as a vehicle for Sean Connery and Tom Cruise as the tired topdog and the precocious pretender in each others sights but settling for Stallone and Banderas instead, it's a pretty good thriller with some good setpieces and an interesting take on its antiheroes as people who have being lying for so long they've almost forgotten who they really 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.