Dynamixor
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Arianna Moses
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Zlatica
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
jimbo-53-186511
Jamie (Danny Dyer) is an assassin for hire who does a job for brothers John & Lee Alberts (Gary & Martin Kemp respectively). The brothers bought a plot of land to build a club on and were given the assurance from council big-wig Tony Boyd (Robert Kavanagh) that there would be no issues in getting the required planning permission that they needed. When they learn that Boyd is not willing to complete his end of the bargain (after the brothers have already paid him £100,000) they decide that he needs to be taken care of and hires Jamie to complete the task. Complications ensue when Jamie falls in love with the daughter of the man that he's killed and he takes it upon himself to protect her from the brothers who will do everything they can to silence her.Assassin makes the bold claim on its poster that it is by 'The Makers of Goodfellas' and indeed this film does share one thing in common with Goodfellas and that is that both film share the same executive producer (Barbara De Fina). I suspect that this was a marketing tool employed to try to sucker more people into watching the film or buying the DVD. All I'll say is that Assassin & Goodfellas may share the same producer, but they are worlds apart in terms of quality....The problems really start with Danny Dyer and to say that his acting is weak would be putting it kindly, but even for him this was bad. He is lifeless and unenthusiastic here and looked as bored as I was through the entirety of the film. It isn't all Dyer's fault though - the script is rather weak and has very little drive to it. It was one of those films that seemed to establish story arcs, but then decided not to follow them through (such as the money held in the dodgy offshore account). The film also features The Kemp brothers who are basically just playing the Krays twins all over again. In itself this doesn't sound too bad and had the film had the brutality and the engaging narrative that The Krays offered then it probably would have made for a much better film. As it is screenwriter J.K Amalou fails to develop John and Lee as characters and gives the Kemps very little to work which results in them almost resorting to self-parody. I also thought it was interesting that a big deal seemed to made about the fact that John was ill only then to find that we're not told what illness he was suffering from or how he injured his leg? These things aren't really important to the story, but it would have been nice if some background had been afforded just to flesh the characters out a bit. In terms of performances, no-one else really made much of an impression on me here although Holly Weston was quite effective in some scenes.I think the worst thing about this film is that it fails to actually have one strong or effective scene; it's a thriller without thrills and really is just a boring non-event film. Although it's a terrible film the only saving grace is that I only wasted 80 minutes of my life watching this film. Please don't waste any of your own time watching it.
ajscent-87741
Yes Danny - crackin film. One the best action films this year my son. The bomb, see my boy going off all nuclear on the TV set, ha made me smile. No one does a better villain than Dan , no one , yeah you can have your Statham , your Neeson , your al pacino , but when it comes to the original gangster whos really lived the estate life .... well its only Dan whos been in those shoes for real. He really gets stuck in , shows them how he runs things, kicks butt after butt. You see, the wrong uns in this film should never have crossed him , he wanted the quiet life , keep his head down and live a new life. But they went over the line, and when you step over the line you know you got to get some lessons taught to you , keep you in line , naughty boy , he was a very naughty boy and he got a spankin. Strong filmwork ,good soundtrack. Great film , great action , top class acting from Danny , well done my son , cant wait to see the next one , class.
film_andy
Danny Dyer plays a hit-man called 'Jamie'... alright, I suppose there must be some hit men in the world called 'Jamie' - but for conjuring up a hard man character, let's just call him 'Marion'.Marion kills people. And looks very sleepy whilst he does it. He might be moody. He's possibly hung over. Who knows? He doesn't like talking much. Because he tells his 'bird' "I ain't one for talking" (or words to that effect. Presumably to add to his moodiness?) At one point, he senses imminent danger. How? A seagull flies overhead. Perhaps part of his moodiness is talking to animals and birds? Anyone, before this seagull can shout "Watch it you mugs!", a spray of bullets. And old Daniel's stood there like he's just remembered he's left his front door key at home.Meanwhile, The not-really-the Krays Brothers seem to think they're in the British answer to Michael Mann's 'Heat'. Maybe even 'Leon'. Unfortunately they come across as two blokes in a self-build borrowed from Grand Designs.Some scenes have bad audio. (For example, there's a 'confrontation' on a street at night. The ambiance would have you believe it was chucking out time on a Friday night - yet for all this drunken cavorting noise, there's hardly a person to be seen. Anywhere.) Some have bad camera work/direction. Every scene is poor translation of an even worse screenplay. Seriously: 'Marion' kills some bloke with a plastic bag (The police believe it's some nonce engaging in a bit of auto-erotic asphyxiation - and the way Dyer does it, it might as well be. And we know the police think he died due to auto-erotic asphyxiation because they tell us about 4 times).Dead bag man turns out to be the dad of some topless dancer who Dyer takes home for a bit of how's one's father. I've lost count the number of times this has happened to me. Assassinate someone. Pick up a tart. Oh no: They're related.And then the two brothers in the Grand Designs house start getting wobbly because SOMEONE might find out. But Dyer - the professional assassin that he is - can't kill the tart, because he's getting his leg over. (Presumably he's not had much recently) It's easy to poke at Dyer - he is miscast, relying on some 'smell the fart' acting, but he's not the weakest link here. The script is just a cut 'n paste from every crap gangster/hit-man movie there ever was. The direction, supporting cast... all not very good at all.
christianeverett
After years of using IMDb, this will be my first review, and I'm gonna keep it short. I only wanted to review this because of the misleading 7.1 rating it somehow has, I honestly don't know how that's possible. This has to be in my top 5 of worst movies I've ever seen. I'm a big fan of Danny Dyer, but I'm sorry Danny, you were dyer. The acting was terrible from the whole cast, poorly written dialogue and totally predictable. There wasn't one moment in the film I thought was good, avoid wasting an hour and twenty minutes of your life and instead, go clean the kitchen, it will be much more enjoyable and rewarding when you finish.
