This is a very bad film that nonetheless manages for the most part to make you interested enough to carry on watching. Basically, as befittingly since the Damien Lewis' hitman main character is called Milo Shakespeare it's probably best thought of as a comedy of errors, of the kind where misunderstandings create characters as cross-purposes with hilarious or in this case not so hilarious results. Here, the scenario is that a hitman with a heart (we never actually see him kill anyone) seeks to retire from his profession by starting a new life as a baker in a pretty Welsh village, but unbeknownst to him his cover is blown by the locals who then decide to secure his 'professional' services using the codewords of the baker/hitman profession.
At the best of times your comedy of errors tends to be fairly unfunny, and to descend into farce. That's probably not the main problem with this film. The problem here is that the film just isn't smart or well written enough. It takes skill to negotiate believalbe misunderstandings and the script just doesn't have what it takes. More than that it is incomprehensibly lazy in its presentation of that the above situation. There are serious continuiity issues, and complete failures to establish the kind of character development that might make such misunderstandings believable.
Occasionally the film descends into cartoon like silliness while still trying to present itself as a believable drama. The only actual kill in the film for instance occurs when the rival hitman pops his head through a hole in bathroom ceiling, only for both hitman to emerge seconds later in an underground car park. Milo's introduction to his love interest comes seconds after meeting another main character who blows up a sheep whose head then knocks him unconscious. She appears for no apparent reason to rescue (well, retrieve) him from the situation, and takes him to her cottage. She is actually a vet but the script doesn't make this clear until to later, so it could have been made to make sense, but the writing is so bad it's just a succession of absurd events.
The scenario that plays out is not without its charm, and while I don't like the film, I almost understand how some are able to enjoy it to the extent they can enter into the spirit of slightly inept comedy drama silliness. There's also the fact that the main cast is good if incredibly wasted on such a poorly written and directed film, and it's mostly watchable just for that reason.
Overall, provided I can complain about just how bad it is I'm almost glad I watched it. But not quite. I'm still frustrated by the ridiculous denouement, - I have no problem with traditional tropes etc, but the whole tied up to be rescued love interest while hitman lover foxy boxes with bad hitman (who used to love him?) was just too silly and badly executed for words. I hate woke films, but stuff like this almost makes me feel sympathy for where they're coming from.
As for the supporting cast, they're funny but not particularly good, much of the time.
Watch if you must, but please understand that even if you enjoy it, this is not a good film.
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