13th Jan2016

‘Guns For Hire’ Review

by Richard Axtell

Stars: Ever Carradine, Michele Hicks, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Ben Mendelsohn, Tony Shalhoub, Sarah Shahi, Orlando Jones, Ivana Milicevic, Brooke Adams, Raffaello Degruttola, Jamie Donnelly, Cullen Douglas | Written and Directed by Donna Robinson

guns-for-hire-dvd

Beatle is a quirky loner who refuses to live by society’s rules. Her only human contact is with her psychiatrist and the stripper/hooker she employs once a week. Everything changes the night she meets Athena, a suicidal blonde with a secret.

Guns for Hire is one of those films where you are absolutely sure what is going on, right up until the big reveal at the end, where you suddenly realise you did not have a clue at all what was going on. The twist within a twist within a twist is done so well, I actually did not have a clue that it was coming and was too busy enjoying Guns for Hire for what it was. Before the twists though, Guns for Hire is a dark comedy which swaps easily between touching, wacky and dark.

The start of Guns for Hire has a few pacing issues, taking a while to get off the ground, but once it gets going the story definitely builds on what could have been quite a flat experience. I found myself hooked in the romance that was developing between assassin and target: very cutesy and sweet but, like the rest of the film, with a dark undertone to it throughout. Jeffery Dean Morgan’s character Bruce delivers some of the film’s most amusing lines, while at the same time performing some of its darkest acts. I think as a whole, Guns for Hire likes to keep you guessing. You can never assume you know what is going to happen next.

Now, I know a lot of people are going to be put off by the production value. Yes, I will also admit that it discouraged me at first. Guns for Hire does look quite low budget, the visuals not as crisp as they could be, and the set feels a little bit outdated compared to modern day standards. But I am going to quote that favourite gamer mantra that a lot of us live by: “It’s not about the graphics, it’s about gameplay”, or in the case of this film, if you can look past the B-movie wrapping, you’ll find a great story hiding underneath.

Guns for Hire is definitely worth watching.

***½  3.5/5

Off

Comments are closed.