Killshot

Based on the novel by Elmore Leonard, Killshot follows a pair of thugs (Mickey Rourke’s Blackbird and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Richie Nix) as they terrorize an estranged married couple (Thomas Jane’s Wayne and Diane Lane’s Carmen) that witnessed their violent efforts at shaking down a prominent real estate mogul (Don McManus’ Nelson Davies). It’s not surprisingly to note that Killshot has been languishing on the shelf for several years, as the film, though far from the all-out disaster one might’ve expected, suffers from an increasingly uneven sensibility that ultimately renders its few positive attributes moot. Rourke’s decision to employ a Native American accent certainly ranks high on the movie’s list of problems, as the actor’s exceedingly ostentatious performance proves a consistent distraction and effectively prevents the viewer from accepting the character as a fully-realized figure (ie we’re never not aware we’re watching Mickey Rourke struggle to become this guy). It subsequently goes without saying that Killshot slowly-but-surely squanders its admittedly promising (and surprisingly stripped-down) premise, with the film’s stirring opening half hour inevitably giving way to an atmosphere of pointlessness that becomes almost impossible to overlook. And although it’s hard not to derive some enjoyment out of Gordon-Levitt’s go-for-broke, unapologetically over-the-top turn as the trigger-happy Richie Nix, Killshot finally establishes itself as a thoroughly misguided endeavor that certainly deserves a place alongside such other ill-fated Leonard adaptations as The Big Bounce and Be Cool.

** out of ****