The Re-Visit: Assassins
By Steve Wood
I was only 11 when this movie came out, way back in 1995. Back when action/thriller movies were filled with practical stunts/effects, rather than actors jumping around in front of a green screen and using CGI for everything.
Directed by Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon series, among other things), and written by the then Wachowski Brothers, starring Sly Stallone and Antonio Banderas. While Sly was in a bit of a slump around this time, Antonio was fresh off Desperado, which released just a few months earlier than Assassins.
The story was pretty basic; Robert Rath(Stallone) is a veteran hitman, while Miguel Bain(Banderas) is the hot shot new guy out to prove himself by taking out the number one – Rath. Then you have a woman who goes by Electra(Julianne Moore), who was supposed to be a contract for Rath, but Bain shows up which causes Rath and Electra to team up. This starts a whole series of events which finally culminates in a not so exciting finale.
I didn’t remember much about the movie before going into it, which was good because I forgot just how boring the middle of it was, not to mention the glaring plot holes. Also Assassins doesn’t stand the test of time very well, at least not to me. The entire cat and mouse game between these two was because of a 3 ½” floppy disk, or maybe it was a Zip drive, either way it was funny seeing laptops equipped with a 3 ½” floppy drive.
If you’re a fan of either Stallone or Banderas, 90’s action/thriller movies, or assassins, I would easily recommend this movie. The acting all around is solid, the action is great, the dialogue is awesome, and Banderas’ character steals the show. The pros outweigh the cons, sure, but there are two major things that fault this movie: it’s too long and there isn’t enough scenes with both Banderas and Stallone.
Re-Visit Rating: 7/10