by Sebastian Kluth
Stating that Assassin's Revenge is an odd movie is quite an understatement. I expected the film to be a trashy action b-movie starring actresses and actors whose best years are far behind them like Patrick Bergin and Bai Ling but I certainly wasn't prepared for such a weird experience. Despite its numerous flaws, the film managed to be so unique that it's ultimately still entertaining and a purchase I didn't regret.
Assassin's Revenge is a title that doesn't make any sense in the first place as there is neither an assassin nor a credible tale of revenge. The movie tells the story of an old and disillusioned police officer who retires when his partner gets killed. Even though the protagonist had a secret relationship with his partner's wife, he suddenly seems to care about him now that he is dead. He decides to become a masked vigilante who arrests, chases and kills criminals at night. He doesn't have any specific powers or talents and is only guided by emotions and guts. The masked vigilante tries to arrest an influential serial killer who commits random acts of violence simply because he is a sadist. This psychopathic serial killer is responsible for the masked vigilante's colleague's death and protagonist and antagonist soon start provoking each other.
The movie is extremely odd for numerous reasons. Large parts of the film are shot in black and white with a few coloured elements in form of blood. Assassin's Revenge basically looks like a very poor copy of the Sin City franchise. Numerous scenes include comic book stylistics that are used as a poor excuse to keep the film's budget as low as possible. Whenever there is an action scene, the real life sequences cut to comic book stylistics where limbs are torn and twisted in any possible way. The dialogues are often off camera and mostly focus on narrative parts. Sometimes two characters meet but instead of talking to each other, the dialogue takes place off camera or is simulated through long narrative monologues. The few actual dialogues are poorly scripted and quite simplistic. Our masked vigilante meets a woman who helped the serial killer escape and asks her if she helped the wanted criminal to which she replies that this is the case and that the masked vigilante should admit that he feels like having sexual intercourse with her. If this example seems odd to you, you can find plenty of this in this trainwreck.
The worst offender however is the movie's ending. Without the credits, the film only has a length slightly above one hour but instead of offering a proper conclusion, there simply isn't any and the viewer is informed that this story will continue at a certain point. The story simply ends with the serial killer being on the loose again and the masked vigilante swearing to track him down. The movie concludes before it actually starts. It rather feels like the pilot episode to a series that might or might not see the light of day.
Despite all these terrible elements, the movie is still somehow entertaining. The visual effects look stylish, the narrative style is quite original, the comic style action sequences are brutal, there are numerous cameos by more or less known trash flick legends, the soundtrack mixes ambient sounds, electronic music and rock tunes and the film certainly doesn't overstay its welcome which makes it easy to digest and somewhat entertaining.
One has to wonder what the purpose of this unfinished low-budget film was. Even the genre isn't quite clear. It's like a fantasy movie without phantastic elements. It could be a science-fiction film without any science or common sense. Maybe it's a particularly mellow horror movie that just isn't scary at all. Perhaps it's a crime flick where the committed murders are so random that they become unimportant. Another theory is that this is an action film with most action scenes being shown through comic sequences or taking place off camera. I believe the man behind this project, director Richard Driscoll, doesn't even know what this movie is supposed to be himself. Maybe he just tries to be the next Tommy Wiseau.
In the end, you will enjoy Assassin's Revenge if you look for an odd but original film that is all over the place which you can watch with your friends between Sharknado 5 and Titanic II. This movie actually has the potential to become a cult movie because it's so particularly odd. Only time will tell whether I predicted this movie's status before anyone else or whether this film will soon be forgotten.