Hey gang, Valkor here. Trying to find a film with a satisfying
twist ending can truly be a pain. But when you do find one it
can go really wrong or oh so right; the last film I watched that
had a decent twist, Paradox, wasn’t totally satisfying, but it
wasn’t all that bad either. Then there’s the next film up on the
MediaView Deck, Guns for Hire... now this is a film, with a twist,
that I can get behind. Check it out!
“Guns for Hire” centers on a towing/assassin named Beatle (Michele Hicks), who is under investigation for murder and being interrogated by an officer by the name of Detective Randy Holt (Raffaello Degruttola). He’s attempting to string together a series of events that ties Beatle to a guy named Kyle Sullivan (Ben Mendelsohn) and her connection to a woman named Athena (Ever Carradine). But things aren’t going exactly as Holt had planned since he’s not quite able to pin anything on Beatle. However, he is persistent and will go over all the evidence to prove his case.
But the short of it is, Athena owed this guy Kyle some serious cash and in the midst of “paying it back”, Beatle happened upon the two "getting it on" and broke it up, giving Kyle a working over and taking Athena away to safety. Through with life, Athena goes on to hire Beatle for a job – to take her life. And although she doesn’t have the money to pay for the “hit”, she does have life insurance that she’s willing to sign over so that Beatle can be paid – but the policy won’t go into effect until after 7 days. Until that time, Athena holds up with Beatle and the two start to form a “friendship” that grows into something romantic. Back to Kyle, he hires a hitman named Bruce (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to track down and bring in both Athena and Beatle, but tracking her down requires some “finessing” on his part, towards the people that know Beatle best.
Eventually, Bruce tracks down both Beatle and Athena and it’s during this process – and afterward – that the truth comes out about Beatle’s life and how it can affect the duo's relationship going forward. And in between seeing events unfold, we also cut back to Holt continuing his interrogation. So, how it all truly ends, well you’ll have to watch to find out. But to find out how cool “Guns for Hire” is, you need to look no further than the TOV Breakdown.
The Good:
"Guns for Hire" is probably the most refreshing film I’ve seen in a long while; it tells a unique story mixing together dark comedy, drama, a bit of suspense and a steamy dose of romance all into one entertaining film. The main story is easy to follow along, though the breaks with the interrogation make things a bit rough to comprehend why they even exist. And yet when you watch the film in its entirety, it all makes perfect sense. The final, unpredictable twist is what completes the film and everything you thought you knew was happening… well, think again. The acting is on point and I enjoyed the chemistry between Hicks and Carradine; the budding romance between their two characters feels natural and at times its kinda playful, but overall the two mesh together perfectly. The remaining cast also put on stellar performances. And I gotta give kudos to the casting director for snagging such cameos as Sarah Shahi, Orland Jones, and Tony Shalhoub, to name a few. In the end “Guns for Hire” is a clever and an entertaining little dark comedy that was a pleasure viewing.
The Bad:
There were some pacing issues in the beginning, but it does pick up and runs at a smooth pace from then on.
The Ugly:
Sarah Shahi gets this one as her character goes through some stuff with acid. It’s not as graphic as one would think, but still…
“Guns for Hire” is available now on DVD and digital formats such as Amazon Instant and Google Play store. And if you’re looking for a quirky little dark comedy, with a satisfying twist, then you need to look no further. I highly recommend it. And out of TOV 5 stars, I’m giving “Guns for Hire” a 4.
