233. Assassin Club; movie review

 

ASSASSIN CLUB

Cert 15

111 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong bloody violence, language, brief sexual threat

The quality of cinema releases is so poor that I feel as if the days of everyfilm.co.uk may be numbered.

When I began the quest in 2011, I would have avoided pictures such as Assassin Club because they would have gone straight to DVD.

But nowadays mindless movies such as this provide the filler around the big studio releases.

There was even a suggestion at the end of Camille Delamarre's ghastly film that there could be a sequel.

The plot focuses on an ex-Marine sniper (Henry Golding) who wants to retire to begin a less hectic life with his girlfriend (Daniela Melchior).

He realises he is losing his sharpness so puts his ticket in to his boss and mentor (Sam Neill).

However, the latter won't take no for an answer and tries to keep him in the game with one last job - to kill six villains for a million dollars each.

It takes him next to no time to realise that the targets are hired killers and that he is also on the hit list.

The most surprising element to Assassin Club is the complete lack of tension.

This is despite the huge number of scrapes that Golding's chracter finds hiumself in and the potential threats towards his loved ones.

And one would have imagined that major stars such as Neill and Noomi Rapace, who plays one of the assassins, would keep the audience entertained.

Not a bit of it. This is a great slab of daft from the opening salvos.

Reasons to watch: Action scenes

Reasons to avoid: Lamentable plot

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 3/10

Did you know? A 2014 British investigation scoured 39 years of evidence about hired killers. The authors found hitmen range in age from 15 to 63, with the average being 38. A gun is their weapon of choice and the most common setting is a suburban streetscape with the target walking a dog or shopping. The authors found only one case of a female assassin-for-hire.

The final word. Camille Delamarre: "My real challenge was to shoot this movie on a very short schedule and without a lot of money. When you have one day to shoot a huge car chase scene and no backup, it’s working from sunrise into the night to shoot it and give it the maximum production value to get everything done." Cinema Daily

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