Assassins (1995)
Director: Richard Donner
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Banderas, Julian Moore
Primary genre: Action
Secondary genre: Thriller
Stallone had a lot going for him after the success of Renny Harlin’s Cliffhanger (1993) and his own Demolition Man (1993) both released in the same year. The man was a box office magnet pumping out not one but three films which centered around stoic leads: The Specialist (1994) where he blows Miami up, Judge Dredd (1995) where he killed several goons in a dystopian future, and Assassins (1995) that saw him facing off against a young Antonio Banderas, the latest and hottest Hollywood hunk who enjoyed a tremendous breakthrough in Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado the same year.
“I beat you to the buyers, and now I’ve beat you to the mark. I’m sorry, but I think I picked the wrong guy to be my hero”
Penned by the now one-trick pony that was the Wachowskis (The Matrix (1999)), Assassins is unnecessarily complex when it comes to Sly’s emotionless contract killer. Unevenly paced, Richard Donner’s direction tries to save the proceedings that ultimately do not have any meat in them. There are talks about Stallone’s protagonist being the best in the business but we really do not see him doing something extravagant or superbly efficient. Show, don’t tell is a great advice which is not followed here. While hinting at a larger shadowy world in display, the script does not make anything out of the rivalry with Banderas’ number 2 despite the iconic Latino devouring the scenery in his OTT acting. The skirmishes between him and Sly are not particularly exciting even if they seem to enjoy each’s others on-screen presence.
The action is limited, the body count low and when the miscast Moore comes into play as a damsel in distress, it all falls apart. There are some nice shots courtesy of Vilmos Zsigmond (The Deer Hunter (1978), The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)) that give the movie a cinematic brush. Yet the flick is an expensive nothing burger wasting the talents of everyone involved through a remarkably long running time. Director and main lead have a greater selection of action entries under their belt than Assassins. For a film featuring in theory murky and morally grey individuals whose business is to off others, it is surprisingly boring and that amigos, is its biggest sin.
Sly can’t save this one
+Good cast
+Cinematography
+Sly’s cinematic presence
-Small and banal
-Lack of action or suspense
-Boring
-Too long