Director: Taran Killam
Writer: Taran Killam (Screenplay)
Starring: Taran Killam, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cobie Smulders, Bobby Moynihan, Hannah Simone, Aaron Yoo
Plot: A group of eccentric assassins are fed up with Gunther, the world’s greatest hitman, and decide to kill him, but their plan turns into a series of bungled encounters as Gunther seems to always be one step ahead.
Tagline – They’re Out to Change the Killing Business
Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Silly Fun
Story: Killing Gunther starts as assassin Blake (Killam) hires a documentary crew to film himself putting a team together to hunt down the most famous assassin Gunther (Schwarzenegger). Blake’s team includes Donnie (Moynihan), Sanaa (Simone), Gabe (Brittain) Izzat (Talai) Young (Yoo), Mia (Tolman) and Barold (Gaul), each has their own reason to go after Gunther.
It doesn’t take long before things go terribly wrong as Gunther learns of the hit on him and starts picking off the members of the team, until they are left whether to continue on this mission or walk away.
Thoughts on Killing Gunther
Characters – Blake is the hitman that wants the title of the best in the world, one that Gunther has, he believes that if he can take out Gunther, he will get that position and he puts together the team. It is his plan even though it does have personal motivation for this too, which he doesn’t let the rest of the team know about. Donnie is the explosives expert that tends to be part of an on running joke going through the film. Sanaa is the daughter of a previous deadliest assassin, he still follows her around trying to protect her, she wants to prove herself to be better than him and does seem to be the deadliest of the group. Gunther is the assassin that has the biggest reputation within the world, he has become the target and has decided to have some fun at their expense.
Performances – Taran Killam directs and stars in the leading role, the best way to judge the performances go down to just how you read the comedy, if you make sure this is just a bit of fun style, you will like the performances. This film revolves around just how committed Arnold Schwarzenegger was willing to be poking fun at himself, he isn’t afraid making this work with the final acts being the funniest.
Story – The story follows a group of assassins that go on the hunt for the most legendary assassin in the business, things don’t go well for the team as the learn the hard way just how dangerous Gunther is. This story is sent in documentary style which sees the camera crew following the team around with interviews going on between scenes. This does add to the comedy in the story and prepares us not to take anything too seriously. We do get foreshadowing leading up to certain deaths too which works out well.
Action/Comedy – The action comes from the different situations where Gunther is almost caught and the explosions going on through the film. the comedy works because we get to poke fun first at assassins we have seen in films before and then at Schwarzenegger can laugh at his previous roles.
Settings – The film takes our team to different cities in the search for Gunther, this leads to different moments through the film which again adds to the comedy.
Scene of the Movie – Meeting Gunther.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Slightly hard to see these assassins being considered the best let alone good.
Final Thoughts – This is a silly fun comedy that will get the laughs required as long as you don’t go in looking for anything serious.
Overall: Simple and silly fun.
Rating
