Writer: Gilles Gambino (Screenplay)
Starring: Jimena Gala, Ben Vinnicombe, James Giblin, Nicholas Stojanovic, Maarten Swann, Alika Del Sol, Gilles Gambino
Plot: Rosa, a master assassin with a knack for poisons sets out on a search and destroy mission against a spiritual leader, but conflicts within her own organization may spell disaster for her long before she ever closes in on her target.
Runtime: 1 Hour 28 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Slow Mystery
Story: Assassin’s Target starts as we see the master assassin Rosa (Gala) complete her latest poison based kill, wanting to walk away from this world, her employees need her to get a new threat complete, after a television broadcast was interrupted by a mysterious man.
Rosa travels to Barcelona for this latest job, where she works with Will Gray (Vinnicombe) as her guide around town, being watched over by Gregor (Stojanovic), as she learns more about her boss Henry Crowford (Giblin).
Thoughts on Assassin’s Target
Characters – Rosa is the master assassin that uses poison as her weapon of choice, she has been doing this for years and looking to get out of the business, until one more job gets thrown her way. She must look for a mysterious hacker, which sees her needing to look into who this will be, mostly looking just to escape, she knows how to stay ahead of the game. Henry Crowford is the man that assigns the jobs, he listens to somebody above him and like any boss in the business, he will do what he needs to keep the business secret. Will Gray is the connection in Barcelona, he will fill in blanks and show Rosa around, while having his own agenda. Gregor is the former partner of Rosa, that is sent to follow her around on the mission, while having his own plan.
Performances – The film does struggle to get the best performances from the actors, as we are never convinced about how deadly Jimena Gala, makes her assassin character, though we do feel the pain her character has been through, when it comes to the male performances, they don’t breakout to give them enough identity.
Story – The story here follows an assassin on their final job, which involved investigating a mysterious hacker that is seen to have terrorised Spanish television, only not everything is adding up the way she though it would. This story does manage to put a spin on the last job idea, with us focusing more of Rosa, wanting to make sure she can get a clean getaway over, the job which is slightly harder than normal trait we are used to seeing. The problem comes with the story not feeling like a job that an assassin would be involved with, rather one that a private investigator would be looking into, which doesn’t give us enough of a feel of peril, despite the fact she doesn’t know who to trust. The story does wrap up nicely which will hold everything together, but never gets out of the building something bigger up idea.
Mystery – The mystery in this film comes from us wonder just who the mysterious man on the television and why he is considered such a threat to the people involved.
Settings – The film is set in Barcelona which will give us a beautiful backdrop for the movie, though most of the scenes feel like we are in luxury apartments over anything else.
Scene of the Movie – My name is Rosa.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not enough suspense.
Final Thoughts – This is an interesting mystery thriller, that doesn’t seem to get out of first gear, it does the basics right and does spin the last job for an assassin well, only to not have enough suspense for what is meant to be going on.
Overall: Suspenseless Thriller.