A globetrotting hitman and a crestfallen businessman meet in a hotel bar in Mexico City in an encounter that draws them together in a way neither expected.
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A masochistic cop, who hides her predilection from her cop husband, gets involved in pursuing a kidnapper nicknamed Harry for Harry Houdini, who has kidnapped a rich woman and has buried ... See full summary »
Director:
Richard Shepard
Stars:
Maura Tierney,
Adrien Brody,
James Naughton
A young journalist, a seasoned cameraman and a discredited war correspondent embark on an unauthorized mission to find the No.1 war criminal in Bosnia. However, their extremely dangerous target decides to come after them.
Director:
Richard Shepard
Stars:
Richard Gere,
Terrence Howard,
Jesse Eisenberg
The story of what happens after a master thief achieves his last big score, when the F.B.I. Agent who promised he'd capture him, is about to do just that.
A couple of people steal the daughter of a famous lawyer. Now they want money to give her back, but it's not just the money they want. They want revenge.
A chance encounter between a travelling salesman and a lonely hitman triggers a strangely profound relationship which provokes each to act in ways neither would have imagined possible. Fate steps in to form a friendship between two men from irreconcilable worlds that will alter the lives of both forever.Written by
Arclight Films
When Pierce Brosnan, Richard Shepard, and Catherine Marie Thomas (Cat), all met to discuss the look of Brosnan's hitman Julian Noble, all agreed the character would depart completely from Brosnan's James Bond persona, and his Thomas Crown character, in The Thomas Crown Affair (1999). Thomas said: "I looked at a lot of old pictures of Pierce, stuff from the eighties, where he actually did have a mustache, and there was just something so different about it. It fit this man who was past his prime, holding onto something he doesn't have anymore. Maybe, a little sleazy." Shepard said: "From the beginning, I wanted Pierce to have a mustache and a crew cut, and in Cat's first meeting with me, she said, 'I think he should have a mustache' and I jumped, 'you're hired'. The best part was when we had a rehearsal in Los Angeles two weeks before shooting, and I had not seen Pierce in months, and he shows up with a crew cut and mustache. If you could have seen my smile that day, 'cause I knew he was totally going to go for it'." See more »
Goofs
When Danny meets Julian in the bar, in the close-up, he's holding his drink by the glass; in the wider shot, he's suddenly holding it by the stem. See more »
Quotes
Danny Wright:
[after just learning Julian lied about having a wife]
I mean, what else is a lie?
Bean:
Are you even an assassin?
See more »
A hit-man who is The Dude and Bad Santa both at once.
Pierce Brosnan is at his best and most hilarious in Richard Sherpherd's The Matador (2005), as a booze-drenched over the hill hit-man who loves bullfights, tacky clothes and teenage girls. It is his unapologetic lust for the latter that provide some great laughs in the film.. There is nothing funnier than hearing a sleazy, broken-down version of James Bond exclaim after ogling some Catholic schoolgirls, "God I hate these Catholic countries; it's all blushy blushy, no suckie fuckie."
So Brosnan has a terrifically dirty mouth in The Matador and this is juxtaposed with Greg Kinnear's goody-goody family man character in their newfound, unlikely friendship. Both these characters elicit real sympathy, but especially Brosnan who should be a very unlikable character, a man desperate for a meaningful relationship in his life but just can't stop himself from saying the wrong things. We follow these two very different men as they learn from each other and start changing their lives, projecting equal doses of heart and humour.
The Matador effective in the sense that it mixes absurdity and quirkiness just right and glazes it with a dark comedy coating feel. It is also quite funny thanks to its Brosnan performance, but it does not have much in the way of a plot and no other characters or detours are even worth mentioning - so it is sadly very forgettable. Still, if you are even a slight fan of Brosnan's I urge you to see this film which is easily his greatest performance, and it's a crime he wasn't showered with awards for it.
6.5/10
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A hit-man who is The Dude and Bad Santa both at once.
Pierce Brosnan is at his best and most hilarious in Richard Sherpherd's The Matador (2005), as a booze-drenched over the hill hit-man who loves bullfights, tacky clothes and teenage girls. It is his unapologetic lust for the latter that provide some great laughs in the film.. There is nothing funnier than hearing a sleazy, broken-down version of James Bond exclaim after ogling some Catholic schoolgirls, "God I hate these Catholic countries; it's all blushy blushy, no suckie fuckie."
So Brosnan has a terrifically dirty mouth in The Matador and this is juxtaposed with Greg Kinnear's goody-goody family man character in their newfound, unlikely friendship. Both these characters elicit real sympathy, but especially Brosnan who should be a very unlikable character, a man desperate for a meaningful relationship in his life but just can't stop himself from saying the wrong things. We follow these two very different men as they learn from each other and start changing their lives, projecting equal doses of heart and humour.
The Matador effective in the sense that it mixes absurdity and quirkiness just right and glazes it with a dark comedy coating feel. It is also quite funny thanks to its Brosnan performance, but it does not have much in the way of a plot and no other characters or detours are even worth mentioning - so it is sadly very forgettable. Still, if you are even a slight fan of Brosnan's I urge you to see this film which is easily his greatest performance, and it's a crime he wasn't showered with awards for it.
6.5/10