Customer Reviews

The Job

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are several positives about this film. There are also some negatives, and the two balance each other out to a reasonable three star review.

One gets a sense that the producers were aiming for something along the lines of Requiem for a Dream - a movie that had me contemplating the merits of suicide when I finished watching it (not really). The aim was definitely for such intense depravity that the viewer would be sucked into horrid despair.

Daryl Hannah (C.J.) put in a credible performance of a hit woman "gone soft". It's unlikely that she would have been in such a state if her mark weren't a husband and his pregnant wife while she was pregnant herself. There we have a positive and a negative combined. Terrific, persuasive performance, tainted by a "just so happens" type of circumstance. That's clumsy writing.

I enjoyed the flashbacks to C.J.'s childhood. We often see hardened characters on the screen without any understanding as to what steeled them. Here we know - and this explanation is not tainted. It's rather sad and moving.

Initially I thought that the introduction of a former priest (Eric Mabius as Rick) to the production was rather cheap and on the cheesy side. Why in the world would someone so wholesome and pure be so interested in such damaged goods? The answer is rather simple. He was a former priest. You can leave the frock behind, but you can't leave the desire to save people behind. He recognized someone in desperate need of salvation and refused to let go. One imagines, and must forgive, that there was an obvious physical attraction on his part; otherwise, he would not have been so interested. Still, it wasn't as unbelievable as I initially thought.

Brad Renfro, who is unfortunately losing his hair and his boyish good looks, is still a good actor, and demonstrates believably that he is a man trying to do good by his wife, who, on top of being a reformed hooker, is also self-absorbed. For example, when he comes back to the motel with a gunshot wound, her first question is, "Did you sell it?" That was, of course, in reference to the drugs. She didn't care about his physical well-being.

As with any movie fueled at least partly by action sequences, there were some rather unbelievable sequences. Could a woman who JUST gave birth to a baby really leave that baby lying on the table (is she truly that evil or selfish?) and run, full speed, trying to escape death? I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV, but I would imagine that after giving birth - a difficult birth - that such physical activities would have been improbably, if not impossible.

The ending is rather puzzling. There is a climax, and a dénouement. I had questions regarding both. Mainly, people shot in the stomach usually aren't capable of hauling themselves halfway across town. Stomach wounds are supposed to be considerably painful. Concerning the dénouement, I'll say two things: she was shot in the stomach (so how did she...??) and Rick was absent. Not only was there another physical improbability, the film didn't wrap things up as well as it could have. I suppose that if Rick were present, one could argue that the ending was cheesy, but he was a savior figure. Saviors usually see things all the way through.

THE JOB is a puzzling movie. As a character study, it succeeds mainly due to Daryl Hannah's draining performance, and Eric Mabius' interesting portrait of an ex-priest whose carnal desires still yield to his former profession. Hannah plays a hitwoman who discovers she's pregnant, and lo and behold, her latest "job" is a young couple, the wife also pregnant. Hannah's dilemma is explained with rather tragic flashbacks from her childhood, and she has the boss from hell played with venomous ferocity by the late Alex Rocco. Brad Renfro and Dominique Swain play the young couple who turn to selling drugs to purchase an ideal life. As the movie progresses, though, we begin to wonder who is worse? Hannah the hitwoman or Swain the self-centered, vicious wife?
Some of the action sequences are not very realistic; how can non-professionals like Renfro and Swain be such good shots with guns, topping a professional? The ending is also a disappointment as it plainly doesn't make much sense.
Still, THE JOB deserves credit for its unique approach to an unusual situation.

This script has several points which eventually will engage you. A young couple fascinated by the idea of making easy money; a female cold blood assassin with serious emotional conflicts never resolved from her childhood , supported by dreamingly fly backs ad finally a man who will fall in love with...

The mother instinct will work out as a fundamental device and dramatic spring ; both women practically will turn the orders and the male plains.

The greed, the violence and the redemption will blend in this dark picture with Hannah as the merciless murderer without any scruple. Twenty grand is the cipher.

Good camera work and an intriguing thriller that gets its aim.

Hands up who has heard of Daryl Hannah? Dominique Swain? Both capable of playing violent characters, agree? Here they do it well. I'm a male, a typical male, and I liked how Daryl Hannah had a conscience while trying to kill the pregnant Swain.
Hannah's character is very real and complex. She's a hit Lady on self destruction craziness.Eric Mabius is her savior. I connected to his character.
Hannah's crime boss is enjoyable too. He loves plants? Huh?
This movie offers good violent action and very soft moments with interesting thoughts on woman to woman pregnancy combat.

I have to say this was not a very good movie. Daryl Hannah is a hit woman gone soft. She can't do her job anymore because she's pregnant. It's not believable in the slightest. She has her target two feet in front of her in several scenes and she turns away because the target is also pregnant. There are some flashback scenes that delve into the Daryl character's past...abuse and such leading to her being a hit woman, I guess. Save your time and money. Daryl Hannah was marginal in terms of her acting, but the real annoyance in this movie was Dominique Swain. Her acting was horrible beyond description. Save your money and see or buy something else.

GOOD MOVIE DARRYL HANNAH IS GOOD. TO SEE HER TRANSFORMATION THRU OUT THE MOVIE IS TREMENDOUS. WORTH SEEING,MIKE JACOBSEN 9-12-2009

I think the script did not need to have CJ die. A fine man had come to love her, he wound could have been superficial instead of killing her and the baby. Whether or nor the totally greedy mother who left her infant behind got away with the drug hall is another matter. If she had been stopped and the drugs available to turn in to the police, all could have been well. O.K. rewriting the story seems like great hubris, but the given ending was so utterly tragic and such a total downer, something needed to be done.

So while watching this movie there were a lot of frustrating, boring, corny scenes. This is by far the most wimpy Hit man Movie I know. She is always crying and messing up so it was very annoying and boring. What a blah! I felt like giving the movie away because is an insult to my collection.

I recommend this simply because all movies cant be filled with over-hyped 'A' list actors who do over-rated films.


This film suits the B- list movie crowd ( which is way bigger than the 'A' list crowd.


My rating B- and recommended.

The acting by Darryl is fine although she and her young failed priest co-star have no chemistry on screen at all...


The two young actors suck.


The plot has been done before but it's still very watchable