Z/Web

I haven’t seen the original film, though I’ve heard good things about it, and I can’t compare the two. But being a remake, I was leery of this, and that proved justified as this feels like a by-the-numbers remake with little originality brought to the new version. Other than a new cast and a modern setting, there’s not much too this movie. The premise is interesting: a hit man is hired to kill his old friend and then takes on his friend’s angry son as an apprentice. That opens all sorts of moral quandaries, but they aren’t really explored as the hit man character is little more than a robot. The feeling I got is this tries to be Unforgiven but without the intelligence and depth. The beginning is slow, without much action, and the latter half of the film is too much action. The film thus has inconsistent pacing. It has an inconsistent feel, too, sometimes gritty and at times too slick and cool. We’re also not given much in the way of character development. The old mentor is killed off so early we don’t really understand his relationship with the killer, and the young new guy, while interestingly morose, hated his father so his revenge motivation feels ill-fitting. It’s not a terrible film by any stretch. It’s well-done and pretty good, but it’s just not great. I am skeptical it could be an improvement over the original (I plan to see that soon and find out). A fun rental.