Customer Reviews

Contract Killers

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

"Contract Killers" is an allright movie,there are lots of action scenes throughtout, but I didn't see the intensity that "Point of No Return" has. The movie had too many location scenes for me, but the shoot out in the old factory was great. The Amazon price is good and you do get your money's worth with this movie.

Contract Killers is definitely an ordinary action movie with a fairly weak storyline, but the storytelling aspect hardly matters when the main focus is on nonstop shooting/killing action.

It's about a woman (a pretty darn attractive woman, might I add!) who's framed for murder, so she has to spend the entire movie running from the cops and CIA agents.

I like how RIGHT from the very beginning the storyline and the action kicks in. Don't miss the introduction segment!

Of course the movie isn't without its faults, many of which occur during the action segments themselves. A lot of scenes focus on what I like to call "camera aimlessness". You experience lots of shooting taking place on screen, but the camera then immediately darts in another direction so quickly that you don't actually get to see the shooting scenes themselves, so you end up feeling cheated by them.

Also the storytelling has its faults as well, such as the one segment when the woman breaks into a guys room, points a gun directly to his head, and then actually tells the guy not to move because she has to use the bathroom! She then gets a shower! They become friends later however. Still, the guy should have taken off running at that point instead of sitting in bed and actually waiting for the woman to come back out.

Anyway, it's a fun little action flick. These faults don't really hurt the film overall.

If the weather is bad and you can't get out then this is an okay time waster, but do not pay more than $2 for it. The film is murky and the action is fair. You can tell this is not a high budget movie because the opening scenes are done in the dark and not lit well. This is to hide the lack of budget. When the movie goes to the Bahamas, the action picks up and we have a cheap car chase. Prices are cheaper here so they can film in the day, but it is still muted colors. There is gun play but no shots of the bullets hiting anyone, that would cost money. There is a "sex" scene but no nudity[damn it]. However this was filmed in a strange way, you see the main cahracter lost her husband about two days before and now she is going to bed with a stranger. All this is happening while she is remembering how her husband died. There is nothing new here in the way of plot and the acting is not bad, so it it an okay movie. Nothing more, nothing less. So if you have $2 and time to waste be my guest.

Solid action flick. Good acting and moving plot. Must have for any true action fan. I haven't heard of the actors but am impressed by Frida Farrel. She plays a bad a** CIA assasin trying to break out of the killing business and live a regular life. As suits continue to follow her around, suspense ensues. The only thing about this movie is that it will make you paranoid by the end, sorta like the BOURNE movies or an ENEMY OF THE STATE.

If you are into Action Thrillers then this is for you, otherwise don't even bother with this DVD. The Story is nothing special, but also not a run of the mill type that would bore the audience. What distinguishes this film are the fast paced action parts which are well dispersed throughout the film. The protagonist is a young woman that has been set up by "her" own intelligence agency that she's working for as a contract killer. When her job is done she was supposed to be killed in order to get rid of any lose ends for her contractors who are in the highest positions of that intelligence agency. She, however, manages to escape her henchmen and turns the tables on the contrators once she discovers that they have been into some very illeagle schemes. Enough said, its worth watching, especially for the action scenes and the thrills that go along with them.

The plot for "Contract Killers" is pretty standard and you've seen it 100 times before. Highly experienced agent is betrayed by his group and fights his way out. Jason Bourne comes to mind immediately, but this film has more to owe to La Femme Nikita. What sets this film apart from the plethora of action spy thrillers is the poor production values and the relatively unknown cast. Don't get me wrong, unknown casts can add a real sparkle to a film as you can't be sure who will live and who won't, but this assumes that the producers bring something more to the table (e.g., a great script). Unfortunately this film has little to recommend it, apart from the chance to see Nick Mancuso once again.

Mancuso is a veteran of more than 100 films and TV movies, including some decent roles in films like 1992s "Under Siege" (he plays the sleazy CIA guy), "Marquis de Sade" (1996) and "A Young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" (1996). I remember him best from his 1986-7 series "Sting Ray". Mancuso plays a sleazy CIA agent out to get a disk from the fleeing female agent played by Frida Farrell.

Farrel is a European actress who came to the US in the mid 90s. For her role in this film she won an award as "Breakthrough Performance" from the Action on Film International Film festival.

Some good supporting work is put in by Rhett Giles, G. Anthony Joseph, and Steve Boergadine, but all their efforts are undercut by the cheap settings and poor production values. Note - anytime a film has 13 people listed as "producer", "co producer", co executive producer" and/or "chief poo bah" you know you are going to be in trouble.

The film is written, directed, and edited by 28 year old Justin Rhodes. This was his first time working on a feature film in any of these capacities, although he had worked on several shorts.

This "action film" starts off incredibly cool. The editing is so amazing, a technique used to show the viewer what will happen and then flashes back to the events leading up to what happens. It's a small moment, maybe 10 minutes worth of film. Then the movie just spirals farther and farther out of control. Nothing makes any sense, the sets are pitiful conference rooms, the acting goes bad, the action scenes are poor, the film is badly exposed and grainy. Just after the first murder, our lead character escapes from a Swat team outside her house, races down the streets and finally decides to drive up a parking garage. Once inside the parking garage she ends up on the roof or top level and is trapped. Well like nobody could have figured out there aren't two exits to a parking garage. It just gets worse and worse from here.

The real problem with this film is 24, a television series does infinitely better than this movie. The production values, acting, and intrigue are so much better.

Just don't waste your time on this movie, watch 24 or any Jason Statham movie.

It's good to watch a film like this every so often. It's so very bad that it reminds you of what it takes to make a good movie, and that there are a lot of things that can go wrong on the way to a good movie.
This one reminds you that you need a good script for starters, or you get nothing but a pile of non sequiturs, sloppy plotting, and action that makes no sense. Then you need characters you actually care about, who grow or develope or disclose something about themselves that's interesting and tied to the plot; not stick figures who recite back stories that are silly and irrelevant and who pretend to chemistry where there is none. And then you need real acting, not robots reciting lines and trying to hit the spots that have been taped down for them too many times. And of course, it helps to have some scenery, lighting and costumes too, but that's not likely in this nickel budget film that tries to pretend it has dollars. The only good thing you can say about it is that the Bond/Bourne character is a woman who orders men around, which is nice for a change. But she could do with a little less stretch in the skin to cover the bones. Ah well --- bad stuff like this makes you appreciate what's good. I seldom see something that is this unbelievably putrid --- it may make it to cult status if it is pumped up as so baaaaaad it's good.....

Virtually all the reviews that I read about this film found fault with it, and I agree. If viewers are interested in action, this film has it, plenty of it, but unfortunately much of what occurs during the action is unclear and viewers may feel that they do not know exactly what is occurring. The plot, as many reviewers point out, is typical Jason Bourne, but very lite. In fact, the action also fits that category. A female contract CIA killer is framed for a murder and uses her well-developed skills to escape capture. While on the run, she discovers that a CIA operative wants to destroy the US government, and gets a disc to prove it. While others may know the answer, I was unable to figure out why the CIA wanted to kill her. I read that some reviewers thought that it was because she "wanted out." I don't know if this is true. I was also unable to discover why she handed over the harmful information to another bad CIA operative. In short, the film has a lot of action and a simple, over-used, and unclear plot.

I can count on one hand the movies I watch more than once. This movie has that certain somthing that begs to watched over and over