charlytully Review of The Assassin Next Door

The Assassin Next Door (2009)

"La Femme Nikita" meets THELMA & LOUISE

[7/10 · 26 July 2011]

While nobody in their right mind would claim that THE ASSASSIN NEXT DOOR is as entertaining as EITHER the ground-breaking poster girl for the National Rifle Association found in LA FEMME NIKITA or the classic distaff buddy flick THELMA & LOUISE, it still stands as a better than average effort. Whereas NIKITA undergoes extensive training to make her assassin forays somewhat plausible, the bad guys in ASSASSIN simply give a random hooker a gun and tell her to start blowing guys away. Whereas THELMA & LOUISE feminize the ending of BUTCH CASSIDY AND AND SUNDANCE KID--which can be summed up as "together to the end"--ASSASSIN lets the girl buddies go their own ways, as short as the way forward may be for one of them. Though the final shootout on the bus stretches credibility, so does the ending of THE GAUNTLET and countless other American hits. The one real downer about ASSASSIN is that it seems the hitwoman's little girl--Lena--gets left in the hands of one mean dad (or guardian). Throughout this film, shot in a hot climate, the cast seems well-hydrated, which means credited "water girl" Prague Benbenisty deserves a shout out.