The Hit List (2011)

Tagline:

Who's on your list?

Movie Review:

This one came out of left field. One day it was just sitting on store shelves and available online to buy. Out here in Australia we don't always get DTV films on time. Cuba Gooding Jr.'s 2009 movie Wrong Turn at Tahoe only came out in the second half of 2010 for us. Dolph Lundgren's Direct Contact took 18 months longer than the US to come out domestically and at one point we were at least two Seagal movies behind the UK. With The Hit List, the US only got a month head start on us.

Allan Campbell (Cole Hauser) is having a real bad day. He's in deep with a loan shark who has already given him a black eye and he has one more day to pay his debt, which he can do when he gets his promotion at work. Unfortunately he is passed over by the new kid Brian Felzner (Sean Cook) who has brown-nosed his way to the top. Going home depressed, Allan is hit with a double whammy when he discovers his wife sleeping with his best friend Mike (Drew Waters). Realising his day is turning into an episode of The Bold and the Beautiful, Allan goes to a bar to get drunk. After a few too many straight Jack Daniels, Allan meets Jonas Arbor (Cuba Gooding Jr.), a sick man with a bad cough who doesn't sympathise with Allan's predicament but is instead brutally honest about how he arrived there. He then tells Allan that he is a contract killer.

Allan laughs it off but Jonas insists it's true, and asks Allan to write a list of five people he would like killed if it were possible in a scene that somewhat echoes Strangers on a Train or The Designated Victim. Playing along with the game, Allan fills the list with all the obvious candidates - his boss (for passing over the promotion), the new kid (for stealing the promotion), the loan shark (for the black eye), his best friend who slept with his wife... and at number one on the list his wife Sydney (Ginny Weirick) for cheating on him. The next day Allan goes to work with a bad hangover and learns from colleagues that his boss was murdered the night before. Allan freaks and tries to find number four on the list before anything happens to him... and then find his wife.

This was really, really good. Probably one of my favourite DTV films of recent times. I really enjoyed being able to know the plot early on. Some people complain that a story like this is too obvious; following a too generic formula. I tend to complain when a movie is too complex for its own good. You know from the time that Allan and Jonas meet that Jonas has five people to kill on his list and it's just a matter of time before he makes it to number one. This plot device is refreshing to me in a way, and as the production on the film was relatively high it made for an exciting ride to an inevitable conclusion. Instead of wondering what will happen next, you know what will happen, but are left to wonder just how it will be carried out.

Cuba Gooding Jr. really proves that at one time he was worth an Academy Award here. Jonas is cold-blooded, calculated and crazy, and a great example of what a man could do when he no longer has any fear left. It's also a superb demonstration of twisted loyalties. I think Jonas actually believes he is helping Allan, even saying after knowing him for two hours that he is the best friend Allan will ever have. I guess that's true to an extent; killing for a friend is a pretty big deal. But really, Jonas has just gone a little nuts and is taking his frustrations out on the world, justifying himself by making the kills serve a purpose in someone else's life.

I'm not familiar with Cole Hauser but he was good in this too. Apparently I've seen him before as I've seen Pitch Black, but not since it came out. He does a really good job playing the ultimate man down on his luck sad case applied to a guy that's too nice to get angry (even his wife says they don't fight with passion anymore) and tries to reason with Jonas before he kills again and again. Also worth mentioning is Detective Neil McKay (Jonathan LaPaglia), the officer who is trying to put together all the pieces of the case and work out if Allan is actually the killer.

The action is pretty solid throughout as well. Obviously people get killed on the journey to the primary target, but not always as straight forward as could be imagined. There's a pretty sweet car chase that sees a cop car explode and the ending scene is very reminiscent of The Terminator. Cuba Gooding Jr. is no martial artist so it's guns and cars here only folks.

I read a review that said The Hit List was a poor man's Collateral. Now I've not seen that movie (it is a Tom Cruise movie after all, an actor I've never liked - no, not even Top Gun) but I don't see why a $6 million dollar budget action movie has to be compared as 'poor man's' to a movie that cost $65 million. I mean yeah I get it, technically it is the poor man's alternative being one-tenth of the cost of the Hollywood blockbuster but to use the term in a negative light isn't really needed when the film, in my opinion, is actually really good. You can say that Bloodfist is the poor man's Bloodsport, but don't compare DTV action to Tom Freaking Cruise.

This is good fun and worth your time, definitely. I wasn't even annoyed by the cinematography as there weren't any jump-cuts or speed ups to my knowledge (just a couple of flash backs). One of Cuba Gooding's upcoming movies is alongside none other than action hero Dolph Lundgren in the explosively titled "One in the Chamber", by the same director as the Hit List William Kaufman. Can't wait to see how those two get along in a movie together!

The Video:

Just like most modern DTV action, sharp and clear HD sourced video and a thumping, explosive soundtrack. All good. Runtime approx. 90 minutes.

Sourced From:

Region 4 DVD bought in store.

Trailer:

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Hardwired (2009)

Tagline:

They stole his past, now he's taking back his future.

Back of DVD:

After losing his wife in a horrific car accident, Luke Gibson (Academy Award Winner Cuba Gooding, Jr., Best actor in a supporting role for Jerry Maguire, 1996) wakes up in the hospital to find his once idyllic life on the brink of destruction. Implanted with a lethal microchip and monitored closely by a Hope Industries executive (Val Kilmer), Gibson is plagued by strange visions and haunted by a past he cannot remember. If he wants to survive, his only chance lies with a group of renegade hackers who may be the only ones who know how to stop the dangerous corporation before it's too late. Also starring Michael Ironside (Terminator Salvation).

Movie Review:

The Matrix has influenced a lot of movies. Although it itself was influenced by everything from Wargames to Tron and probably even Dark City, The Matrix really pushed the whole 'cyber' culture down the masses throats in a big way. There was a failed attempt before that with The Lawnmower Man, but that was quickly forgotten (though it's a guilty favourite of mine). Hardwired is another movie that owes its existence to both of those movies. I think Gooding Jr. has been having some acting classes form the school of Keanu as well.

Luke (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and his wife get into their car and start driving away. Only seconds later their car is hit side on by a four wheel drive (figures) and his wife dies from sustained injuries. Luke is hospitalised and not expected to live. The Doctor sees that his medical insurance has expired and is about to send him to take his chances in the public waiting rooms, when a couple of black-suited guys turn the wall into a TV, through the magic of cyber-stuff or whatever. On the screen is second-in-charge of the massive corporation Hope Industries, Virgil (Val Kilmer). Virgil tells the doctor they will pick up the bill, in return for performing some experimental surgery on Luke that will save his life.

After a bit of dodgy CG animation of some sort of CPU being installed into his head, Luke wakes up in his hospital bed, with no memory of who he is. He sees a guy trying to sell him a watch and freaks out a bit. Honestly if you woke up in hospital and some dude tried to sell you a Rolex you'd probably do the same. His sister (Teyla from Stargate: Atlantis) says that no-one else was in the room and takes him home. She shows him around his house but nothing jogs his memory, though he is told he had a wife who died. Luke sees another strange illusion, this time a hot blonde selling whiskey. He freaked out more over this than he Rolex guy and runs out into the street where we see he is being watched by the black-suited guys.

More than the black-suited guys, Luke is being watched by a couple of cyber-punk type kids in a beat up old van. You can tell they are cyber-punk because they have red and blue hair and pasty white skin. They aren't called Neo or Trinity, but they aren't far from it. They are more like that Aussie kid who was in the soapie Home and Away who went on about what Tasty Wheat tasted like, and was also the digital pimp to the girl in the red dress. The real "cool" nerd types that say LOL instead of actually laughing.

The now totally freaked-out Luke tracks down the Doctor that operated on him and demands answers. The Doctor doesn't get much out before Luke is taken over by an extreme, ringing pain in the head; it turns out questioning the implant results in pain and can even blow your head up, like Scanners. Luke sees dozens of the guy selling Rolexes and loses his shit so bad he smashes the window to a shop and steals one. A security guard tries to stop him, but (and this is when it gets weirder), Luke starts seeing giant text messages in the sky: "Safety's On. We won't let you die." Luke understood the 'safetys on' part and runs from the security guard, who tries to fire but can't (because... the safety's on). These cyber-geeks have hacked into the chip in Lukes head and sent him message overlays and directions to their car. After the awkward introductions, he is taken to see Michael Ironside (I always get a kick out of seeing him in movies. It's like seeing Lance Henriksen. By the way, keep a close watch on the final shots of this film.). Ironside and his disabled son "Keyboard" (See! Cyber-geeks) get all Blue pill/Red pill on Luke and explain what has happened to him and how they need his help to take down Hope Industries. Luke and the geek patrol proceed to find the key players in the brain-chipping game and deal with them, usually violently.

Hardwired is entertaining but, frankly, a bit crap. I will re-emphasise that I was entertained throughout, but there are many issues in this, the first being Gooding Jr's Keanu style wooden acting. When he tries to emote, he fails. He always looks like someone has slapped him in the face with a trout, which I suppose is fair enough when you keep getting harassed by Rolex salesmen. The whole "corporations run the world" thing has been done to death, though I did like the opening montage of well known company logos rendered on famous buildings and locations; the Windows logo at Stone Henge, the Statue of Liberty projecting a spinning Playboy bunny logo, the McDonalds logo emblazoned on the wall of the Hoover Dam.

Gooding Jr. I don't know too much about. I don't think I've seen many or any of his bigger movies. Like I said before, he's pretty wooden but he does get to kick a few arses. There's a nice roundhouse kick early on, and he shoots a few guys. He holds his gun like Seagal which was pretty amusing. Gooding has done a whole stack of DTV movies in recent years. I'll check out a few more in the future.

I have to give special mention to the best actor in this movie, Val Kilmers hair. Don't go looking at the cover up the top, I have no idea what was going on in that photo because it NEVER happens in the movie. It looks like it was taken ten years prior. Val Kilmer has an awesome blond hairpiece that combined with his nanna glasses (complete with chain) and his inability to drink a glass of water without looking ridiculous make for spectacular entertainment on its own. Kilmer himself never leaves his office building and is filmed against green-screen most of the time. Actually he reminds me a lot of a long haired Lumbergh from Office Space. Scroll to the bottom of the screen to see what I mean.

Hardwired isn't really that bad, it's just pretty stupid. I didn't look at the clock once so that's a good thing. It's quite pretty and the Hollywood OS makes plenty of appearances, along with much stock bleeping and blooping. At least no-one says "I've hacked into the mainframe" or "It's a UNIX system! I know this!". So, no space hovercrafts, Sentinel robots or Oracles but plenty of geeks with handles for names and computers with fifty screens like the one from Swordfish (hey, another bad hackers movie) but still worth watching. I could probably stand to watch it again even. Just don't expect anything new. Hey, it's DTV - why would you want to expect that anyway?

The Video:

The video is excellent overall, but this is a new release, reasonably budgeted (for DTV) movie so you would expect it. The picture is very sharp and the colours vibrant, particularly all the computery whatsits. Sound clear as a whistle and quite dynamic. Reviewed the dual-layer R4 disc in 16:9 widescreen. Runtime 94 minutes.

Sourced From:

Big W for $8.94

Trailer:

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