The plot: After a bad day, a man meets someone claiming to be a hit-man. Amused, he decides to play along and give the hit-man a list of people to kill.
The Hit List has a great premise, but, like Chad and Evan Law's previous collaboration with Cuba Gooding, Jr (Hero Wanted), the script doesn't quite live up to the promise. Regardless, it's still a fun movie, especially for long-time Cuba fans who haven't abandoned him through his run of direct-to-video movies.
Cole Hauser plays Allan Campbell, a pathetic loser who lets people walk all over him. His passive personality intrigues his new friend, a stone-cold hit-man who calls himself Jonas, played by Cuba Gooding, Jr. His mysterious new friend decides that he's going to force Campbell to assertively take control of his life, while also giving Campbell a degree of vicarious revenge. Campbell quickly realizes that Jonas isn't playing games. He has to stop Jonas from quickly running through the hit list, despite his disconnected, passive attitude toward life.
Sound familiar? Yeah, it's basically just Michael Mann's Collateral. There are also some very strong influences from The Terminator and Terminator 2. In fact, Jonas even pretends to be a cop, assaults a police station, and tries to assassinate a woman taken in protective custody. Obviously, the influences on this movie are not very subtle. If extended scenes of "homage" tend to annoy you, you're going to really hate this movie. There's very little to it that's actually original.
I think that the Law brothers have some good ideas, compared to typical direct-to-video thrillers, but they need a lot more practice writing screenplays. Good ideas alone don't make for good scripts. I think they have some real potential to break out of these low budget, direct-to-video thrillers, if they can just figure out how to translate their admittedly interesting premise into a good screenplay. The director also shows some promise, though I think his reliance on homage is a bit off-putting at times.
Cole Hauser and Cuba Gooding, Jr may never hit the A list again, but both are enjoyable actors, and I think there's a lot of potential for them to become cult B movie actors. Screw the A list. Who needs it?
The Hit List has a great premise, but, like Chad and Evan Law's previous collaboration with Cuba Gooding, Jr (Hero Wanted), the script doesn't quite live up to the promise. Regardless, it's still a fun movie, especially for long-time Cuba fans who haven't abandoned him through his run of direct-to-video movies.
Cole Hauser plays Allan Campbell, a pathetic loser who lets people walk all over him. His passive personality intrigues his new friend, a stone-cold hit-man who calls himself Jonas, played by Cuba Gooding, Jr. His mysterious new friend decides that he's going to force Campbell to assertively take control of his life, while also giving Campbell a degree of vicarious revenge. Campbell quickly realizes that Jonas isn't playing games. He has to stop Jonas from quickly running through the hit list, despite his disconnected, passive attitude toward life.
Sound familiar? Yeah, it's basically just Michael Mann's Collateral. There are also some very strong influences from The Terminator and Terminator 2. In fact, Jonas even pretends to be a cop, assaults a police station, and tries to assassinate a woman taken in protective custody. Obviously, the influences on this movie are not very subtle. If extended scenes of "homage" tend to annoy you, you're going to really hate this movie. There's very little to it that's actually original.
I think that the Law brothers have some good ideas, compared to typical direct-to-video thrillers, but they need a lot more practice writing screenplays. Good ideas alone don't make for good scripts. I think they have some real potential to break out of these low budget, direct-to-video thrillers, if they can just figure out how to translate their admittedly interesting premise into a good screenplay. The director also shows some promise, though I think his reliance on homage is a bit off-putting at times.
Cole Hauser and Cuba Gooding, Jr may never hit the A list again, but both are enjoyable actors, and I think there's a lot of potential for them to become cult B movie actors. Screw the A list. Who needs it?