Available now on Blu-ray and DVD
[Rating: Minor Rock Fist Down]
I hate when I see it coming. This is one of those times.
After a killer opening, The Virtuoso became one of those underwhelming movies where I figured out the ending way too soon. Heavily relying on his voiceover, a professional assassin (Anson Mount) takes a cryptic job in a countryside town after a distraction on a previous one went fatal. Assigned by his boss and mentor (Oscar® winner Anthony Hopkins), the job turns interesting as he encounters the town folk, including an alluring waitress (Abbie Cornish) and a mysterious local sheriff (David Morse). As his mission complicates, the question becomes figuring out “who is the target?”
Mount plays his character brazen enough to border on caricature without going over the edge. He is meticulous and brooding at times, yet kind enough to care for a stray dog. Hopkins is Hopkins in his scenes, which boils down to a monologue and a few calls. He plays his character cold and void of emotion, although you can tell there’s some fondness for The Assassin somewhere deep in him.
Despite the advertising, this is not Hopkins’ movie. His face and name will be used to sell it but his character is supporting if anything. Cornish plays her part with inviting warmth and plays off Mount’s assassin very well.
At an almost two-hour runtime, this movie suffers from too much dialogue and not enough action. For a thriller noir about someone who kills people for a living, I expected the work of an assassin to be shown more. As weird as it sounds, with the heavy use of voiceover, there were points where the heavy dialogue script played like a video game. I started feeling like I was in a role-playing game with a monotonous guide reading my thoughts. But this was writer James C. Wolf’s attempt at giving us the inner voice of our hitman.
Director/Producer Nick Stagliano has a great concept for a story but the execution is limited, dull, and with Hopkins in the cast, a bit exploitative.
KB is a native New Yorker/Midwest transplant who’s into tech, sports, and the arts, especially film and music. He still aspires to be a DJ in his other life. You can frequently catch him watching Hitchcock classics, film noir, and anything Star Wars.
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