Howard Hawks allegedly said of his film "Rio Bravo" that "we enjoyed making it so much that we made it again". He was, of course, referring to "El Dorado" which although it is not officially a remake of "Rio Bravo" shares with it a very similar plot and the same leading man, John Wayne. Hawks and Wayne were later to make the same film for a third time, this time under the title "Rio Lobo".
It would appear that, with six "Rockies" and four "Rambos" under his belt, Sylvester Stallone also enjoys making the same film several times. His 1994 outing, "The Specialist", never generated a franchise in this way, possibly because it was given a deservedly hostile reception by the critics. He did, however, follow it up the following year with the very similar "Assassins" which can be regarded as an unacknowledged remake.
In both films Stallone plays hit-men who earn their living by murdering people, the main difference that Ray Quick from "The Specialist" prefers to use explosives, whereas Robert Rath, Sly's character here, uses a gun as his weapon of choice. Now you might think that this would make them the villains of the piece, but both are in fact treated as the heroes of their respective films. Hollywood has often tended to romanticise professional assassins, the more recent Bradgelina love-fest "Mr. and Mrs Smith" being a good example, and Messrs Quick and Rath can both be regarded as Good Murderers to whom falls the task of protecting the innocent from Bad Murderers. (In between "The Specialist" and "Assassins", Sly had made "Judge Dredd", in which he plays another type of Good Murderer).
In "Assassins" the Bad Murderer is Miguel Bain, a rival hit-man even more ruthless than Rath himself. When Rath discovers that both he and Bain have been assigned by their "contractor" to kill the same "mark", a computer hacker named Electra, he has a change of heart and decides to protect her from Bain. Similarly in "The Specialist" Stallone found himself trying to protect an attractive girl, played there by Sharon Stone, from the attentions of another Bad Murderer (James Woods).
Despite Rath's change of heart, the difference between him and Bain, as far as their code of ethics is concerned, is really only paper-thin. Perhaps it was for this reason that Stallone and Antonio Banderas, who plays Bain, decided to make their characters as different as possible in terms of styles of acting. Banderas plays Bain as an aggressive, cocky and hyper-active loudmouth, the sort of man the audience would loathe even if he were not a vicious killer. Rath, by contrast, is quiet, reserved and stony-faced. Rath's main motivation is financial, whereas Bain is obsessed with the psychological need to prove himself a better assassin than the older, more experienced Rath. (The idea of crime as a competitive sport is a common one in the cinema, another example being "Ocean's Twelve" which features a criminal whose motive for committing crimes is the desire to prove himself the best thief in the world).
This film is more evidence that Julianne Moore's career has been a rather chequered one. (She plays Electra here). Although she has starred in excellent films like "Far from Heaven" or "The Hours", she has also acted in her fair share of rubbish, examples being "Body of Evidence" and the dreadful Gus van Sant remake of Hitchcock's "Psycho", both of them even worse films than this one.
"Assassins" is not a truly appalling film like either of those two examples; Richard Donner, who made "The Omen", the original "Superman" and the "Lethal Weapon" series is a competent director of action movies, and at a basic technical level is not a bad film. My overall, view, however, would be similar to my opinion of "The Specialist", namely that it is an uninspired, routine thriller marred by a misguided attempt to glorify a murderer by turning him into a hero. 4/10
It would appear that, with six "Rockies" and four "Rambos" under his belt, Sylvester Stallone also enjoys making the same film several times. His 1994 outing, "The Specialist", never generated a franchise in this way, possibly because it was given a deservedly hostile reception by the critics. He did, however, follow it up the following year with the very similar "Assassins" which can be regarded as an unacknowledged remake.
In both films Stallone plays hit-men who earn their living by murdering people, the main difference that Ray Quick from "The Specialist" prefers to use explosives, whereas Robert Rath, Sly's character here, uses a gun as his weapon of choice. Now you might think that this would make them the villains of the piece, but both are in fact treated as the heroes of their respective films. Hollywood has often tended to romanticise professional assassins, the more recent Bradgelina love-fest "Mr. and Mrs Smith" being a good example, and Messrs Quick and Rath can both be regarded as Good Murderers to whom falls the task of protecting the innocent from Bad Murderers. (In between "The Specialist" and "Assassins", Sly had made "Judge Dredd", in which he plays another type of Good Murderer).
In "Assassins" the Bad Murderer is Miguel Bain, a rival hit-man even more ruthless than Rath himself. When Rath discovers that both he and Bain have been assigned by their "contractor" to kill the same "mark", a computer hacker named Electra, he has a change of heart and decides to protect her from Bain. Similarly in "The Specialist" Stallone found himself trying to protect an attractive girl, played there by Sharon Stone, from the attentions of another Bad Murderer (James Woods).
Despite Rath's change of heart, the difference between him and Bain, as far as their code of ethics is concerned, is really only paper-thin. Perhaps it was for this reason that Stallone and Antonio Banderas, who plays Bain, decided to make their characters as different as possible in terms of styles of acting. Banderas plays Bain as an aggressive, cocky and hyper-active loudmouth, the sort of man the audience would loathe even if he were not a vicious killer. Rath, by contrast, is quiet, reserved and stony-faced. Rath's main motivation is financial, whereas Bain is obsessed with the psychological need to prove himself a better assassin than the older, more experienced Rath. (The idea of crime as a competitive sport is a common one in the cinema, another example being "Ocean's Twelve" which features a criminal whose motive for committing crimes is the desire to prove himself the best thief in the world).
This film is more evidence that Julianne Moore's career has been a rather chequered one. (She plays Electra here). Although she has starred in excellent films like "Far from Heaven" or "The Hours", she has also acted in her fair share of rubbish, examples being "Body of Evidence" and the dreadful Gus van Sant remake of Hitchcock's "Psycho", both of them even worse films than this one.
"Assassins" is not a truly appalling film like either of those two examples; Richard Donner, who made "The Omen", the original "Superman" and the "Lethal Weapon" series is a competent director of action movies, and at a basic technical level is not a bad film. My overall, view, however, would be similar to my opinion of "The Specialist", namely that it is an uninspired, routine thriller marred by a misguided attempt to glorify a murderer by turning him into a hero. 4/10