Hard Kill

The movie industry have changed, in many different ways. Especially in the genre of action movies, we don´t have many new action stars coming out. I would not say that the action genre is dying out, but you can clearly see that not many actors choose to make hard hitting action films ( Scott Adkins is one of the few, we are blessed to have him ). To make this genre survive, we need more actors to focus on action films. And especially make them hard, with dialogue that you will remember. There are some real legends in the action genre that we could talk about, so we have to talk about one specific actor who have had an amazing movie career so far, and that is of course Bruce Willis. Not only did he make the best Christmas action movie ever ( Die Hard of course ), but he also have delivered several classic films that you can watch over and over again, and never get tired of. One of my personal favourite Bruce Willis film actually turns 30 years this year, and that is the 1991 action film The Last Boy Scout, from director Tony Scott. A very hard hitting action comedy film with lots of violence, great characters, and most of all some really funny dialogue moments between actors Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans. The Last Boy Scout tells the story of private investigator Joe Hallenbeck ( played by Bruce Willis ), who is living one shitty life. Mike Matthews ( Bruce McGill ) gives Joe an assignment to be a bodyguard to a stripper named Cory ( Halle Berry ). She is brutally murdered by hitmen, as her boyfriend Jimmy Alexander Dix ( Marlon Wayans ) survives. The soon find out that Senator Calvin Baynard ( Chelchie Ross ) might be involved in this. The Last Boy Scout is definetely a must buy on DVD and Blu Ray, if you love 90´s action films. Bruce Willis have continued making action films for many years, where some films have been alright, while others have felt uninspired. I decided to take a look at one of his films from last year. called Hard Kill. Is this an action film with big balls, or have these balls shrunken to raisin sizes?

A billionaire known as Donavan Chalmers ( Bruce Willis ) seeks out ex-Special Forces operative turned mercenary Derek Miller ( Jesse Metcalfe ), for a mission in an abandoned factory, Derek assembles his team, including Sasha Zindell ( Natalie Eva Marie ), Harrison Zindel ( Jon Galanis ) and Dash Hawkins ( Swen Temmel ), assuring them for a generous payday for an assignment. But what seems to be a simple mission, turns out to be a bit more complicated than that.

I found out that this film have actually done pretty well on Netflix, wich is kind of a surprise, since this is not the typical film you would think people would want to see. But if people are interested in action films, than that is a good sign. However, to call Hard Kill a great action film, would not be realistic. This is a pretty basic straight to DVD release, that does not really bring anything new to the table. But let´s make one thing clear, that this is not the Bruce Willis fim that you might have hoped for. You won´t see him kicking a lot of ass, or shooting a lot of bullets as we are used to see. He does fire off a few bullets, but considering that his biggest fans watch his films to deliver action, this is not the film you are probably looking for. The lead actor in this film is actually Jesse Metcalfe ( most known for his character John Rowland in the TV series Desperate Housewives ). His character in this film known as Derek Miller, is a typical American patriot that we have seen many times before. I will say though that Jesse at least gives some kind of performance in Hard Kill, while Bruce Willis does not seem very interested in doing much at all. One of the characters that i wish we could have seen more of, is the female character Sasha Zindell ( played by female wrestler Natalie Eva Marie ). I actually wish she would be the lead in this film instead, since she actually have more balls than most of the men, and her character is kind of cool. Director Matt Eskandari ( who have directed a few films with Bruce Willis in the past ) have made an action film that you have seen so many times before, that you will not find any surprises. And when you make no big attempt to bring something different to this simple plot, you won´t really remember this film. Not the worst action film i have seen, but forgettable. I suggest you watch The Last Boy Scout again instead, and remember the good days of action.

Rating: DD