Assassination

Directed by Peter R. Hunt, Assassination follows Secret Service agent Jay Killian (Charles Bronson) as he’s assigned to lead the incoming First Lady’s (Jill Ireland’s Lara Royce Craig) security detail – with problems ensuing after Lara is targeted by a mysterious killer. Filmmaker Peter R. Hunt delivers a sluggish and hopelessly low-rent thriller that boasts little in the way of compelling attributes, as Assassination, which progresses at an often distressingly deliberate pace, is riddled with nonsensical elements that cumulatively transform it into a trying, nigh interminable piece of work – with the less-than-captivating atmosphere compounded by a paucity of exciting action sequences. (There are one or two exceptions to this, including a relatively engaging interlude wherein a motorcycle-riding Killian attempts to shoot down a pursuing foe, but the movie is generally devoid of attention-grabbing set-pieces.) Bronson’s ongoing efforts at breathing some life into the mostly stale and static proceedings fall completely flat, and it doesn’t help, certainly, that he remains unable to generate even a sliver of chemistry with his palpably mismatched love interest (Jan Gan Boyd’s Charlotte). By the time the predictably anti-climactic third act rolls around, Assassination has certainly cemented its place as an obvious low point within Bronson’s already-spotty filmography.

*1/2 out of ****

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