Killshot Movie Review

*repost from 04/14/2009

Directed by John Madden

Starring Mickey Rourke, Diane Ladd, Thomas Jane, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Available on dvd May 26, 2009
Boom! (Lame joke based on the director's name) This is a pretty effective crime drama in the vein of No Country or History of Violence. Now its not as good as those but it has the same type of vibe and feel to it. Its an Elmore Leonard adaption so you might have an idea just from that alone. Im really surprised its not getting more attention or a wide theatrical release with all the acting talent involved. Mickey Rourke once again does a terrific job playing a ruthless hitman. Probably the highlight of the movie was the awesome job done by Thomas Jane as a resourceful husband getting a divorce and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a batshit crazy, white trash robber and murderer.
The movie is about this hit man Black Bird (Mickey Rourke) that is on the verge of retiring. By chance he meets up with this young outlaw Richie Nix(Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and decides to partner up with him on a real estate extortion job. When they go to collect the money from the real estate office they mistakenly encounter Wayne Colson (Thomas Jane) and his soon to be exwife Carmen Colson (Diane Lane). Wayne narrowly avoids getting killed, he kicks Richie's ass and fends off the killers. Once the duo escape, they vow to get revenge and kill the eyewitnesses. Wayne and Carmen get new identities and are relocated under the FBI's witness protection program.
Without getting into deep spoiler territory thats the gist of the story. What really works is the dialogue between the characters. Thomas Jane does a great job portraying a dude thats still in love with his wife but dealing with the whole divorce issue. On the other hand I dont know if I really buy that a dude of Black Bird's expertise would actually deal with a dipshit like Richie but I went it anyways. Joseph Gordon Levitt is on a roll with interesting roles (that sounded cool) from the highly underrated Brick movie to this fucking a-hole character Richie Nix. The whole time I was watching him I wanted to reach through the tv and punch the fucker out. While there are a few decent action scenes the movie highlights to me are the more intimate scenes with conversations such as Wayne and Carmen's interactions and also the relationship between Richie's g/f Donna (Rosario Dawson) and Black Bird. The ending wasnt totally original but the little ending twist still had me satisfied. Now it may lack something that superior crime dramas have but I was still entertained throughout and recommend it to any fans of this genre. On a scale of 1-10 I give this a fucking Elvis, 7.5 out of 10.
Trailer