Definitely more Hit than Miss —
I have seen a lot of these types of film, where the influence is clear for all to see, and the most copied of all the stylish directors being Quentin Tarantino, the master of his genre — and any other he tries his hand at. The last one I watched was the not-so-clever, Guns, Girls and Gambling, but at least Assassins Tale can stand on its own merit. It’s an ambitious indie that looks to have been made for the love of film, rather than a simple way to make money, which isn’t as easy to find as it once was. With a budget of only $1.5 million, it has been put together rather well, with the acting of a decent standard and the writing is not too bad either. I did have two movies playing in my head all through Assassins Tale — Pulp Fiction and Lucky Number Slevin (who both, coincidentally, co-star Bruce Willis), but even though I was ready to pounce, if I caught anything more than a nod to these classics, it was all done in a flattering way. Certainly enough to allow me to simply take in the movie without having it ruined by watered down scenes from any Tarantino movie in particular, though it did come close once or thrice!
Assassins Tale is basically about a trio of hit persons, all wanting different things out of life, as the job of killing people for gain wears each of them down in different ways. There’s the guy looking for a more spiritual answer to it all, Roman (Michael Beach, The Abyss and True Romance), then there’s Grace (Anna Silk, Earthstorm), who is also sick of the life. She too wants out, especially now she’s mixed up in this crises.
- Assassins Tale
- Director
Arthur Louis Fuller - Cast
Michael Beach, Anna Silk and Guy Garner - Release Date
16 July, 2013 - Ed’s Grade: C+
Last, but most definitely not least, is Rizzo (Guy Garner, Jag), a junkie hitman (the Pulp Fiction nod was a bit on the heavy side here), who enjoys having a shot between the toes, then nodding off to the land of, eh, nod. The team are sent on assignments by Woody (Kaiwi Lyman, Reel Evil), who pays them in casino chips. It’s a system they use, that once explained makes even less sense!
Rizzo is on a job. He has a man gagged and bound to a chair, with another man reluctantly holding a knife. The victim has murdered the brother of the knife holder and this was meant to be revenge. He is coaxed into stabbing the man and afterwards throws up. While this is going on, Rizzo is looking through an attache case that contains an interesting brown envelope. The very envelope that starts all the trouble our assassins end up having to deal with.
The movie had two editors working on the film and I can understand why, as the mix of styles were a bit of a task for most, but our two don’t have a great deal of experience, but still pulled it off. The dialogue was a tad cumbersome at times, but nothing that would put anyone off. In all honesty, I can’t really fault a low budget film as well made as this, and to do so would be unfair. You get what you pay for most of the time, but in the case of Assassins Tale, you get a bit extra. Well worth a gander if you’re in the mood for a thoughtful movie about killers. Not brilliant, but certainly watchable.
