I was fortunate to see Contract Killers when it opened at 20th Century Fox earlier this year. Unlike other lower-budget movies, many of which I have seen, the film didn't try to compete with typical big budget action films, nor attempt to suspend our intelligence for 90 minutes with an implausible story or impossible action sequences. Contract Killers tries to be -- successfully! -- what it is meant to be -- the story of a woman trying to return to her pre-assassin identity. It's obvious the previous IMDb reviewer missed this most central point, as well as many others that I will not spend time revealing here. When you have an intelligent film to view, sometimes it helps to watch it more than once before you rip into it. The action sequences are cut crisp and sharp, guns are used only when necessary, and crashed cars stop running, as they would in real life. That in and of itself told me this director was not here to insult his audience.
I think what gives Contract Killers the edge that you don't usually see in this genre is the seamless melding of score, cinematography, directing, and acting. You can usually sense when a producer and director are on the same page and the vision all meshes together. In this regard, Contract Killers delivers.
The quality of the film and its actors delivers mainly because they all seem real -- grounded in their unique director-created realities. When shot, they got hurt; when in a car chase they looked genuinely concerned. I feel that Lead actress Frida Farrell showed exceptional vulnerability and what some may call star quality. But this can be said for many of the other actors involved, including Nick Mancuso, who surprised me as not being over the top this time around (a break from his norm over the last several years, after his Under Siege success). But this just goes to show how important a good director is to a project; I strongly suspect that the consistently solid, reality-based performances can be accredited to director Justin Rhodes. This is a producer / director relationship to watch out for and I look forward to whatever maybe in the pipeline for this production team.
I think what gives Contract Killers the edge that you don't usually see in this genre is the seamless melding of score, cinematography, directing, and acting. You can usually sense when a producer and director are on the same page and the vision all meshes together. In this regard, Contract Killers delivers.
The quality of the film and its actors delivers mainly because they all seem real -- grounded in their unique director-created realities. When shot, they got hurt; when in a car chase they looked genuinely concerned. I feel that Lead actress Frida Farrell showed exceptional vulnerability and what some may call star quality. But this can be said for many of the other actors involved, including Nick Mancuso, who surprised me as not being over the top this time around (a break from his norm over the last several years, after his Under Siege success). But this just goes to show how important a good director is to a project; I strongly suspect that the consistently solid, reality-based performances can be accredited to director Justin Rhodes. This is a producer / director relationship to watch out for and I look forward to whatever maybe in the pipeline for this production team.