Killshot (2008)

Beautiful Carmen Colson and her ironworker husband Wayne are placed in the Federal Witness Protection program after witnessing an "incident". Thinking they are at last safe, they are targeted by an experienced hit man and a psychopathic young upstart killer. The ensuing struggle will test Carmen to the limit.

Director:

John Madden

Writers:

Hossein Amini (screenplay), Elmore Leonard (novel)

Stars:

Thomas Jane, Diane Lane, Mickey Rourke

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mickey Rourke	...	Blackbird
Brandon McGibbon	...	Blackbird's Kid Brother
Peter Kelly Gaudreault	...	Blackbird's Brother
Michelle Arvizu	...	Nurse
Richard Zeppieri	...	Son-in-Law / Mafia Boss
Alexis Butler	...	Girl in Hotel Room
Hal Holbrook	...	Papa
Diane Lane	...	Carmen
Robert Gow	...	Prospective Buyer
Catherine Hayos	...	Prospective Buyer
Thomas Jane	...	Wayne Colson
Craig Blair	...	Construction Site Foreman
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	...	Richie
Lynne Deragon	...	Mrs. Palino
Rosario Dawson	...	Donna

Storyline

When the professional killer Armand 'Blackbird' Degas falls in disgrace with the Mafia, he flees to another city in Canada. He stumbles upon the psychopath Richie Nix, who lives with his girlfriend Donna. Armand teams up with him and moves to his house. Richie summons Armand to participate in a scheme to take money from a wealthy real estate agent, but he commits a mistake and the couple Wayne Colson and Carmen Colson witness their action. They are forced to join the Witness Protection Program by the FBI and they move to another town. But Armand and Ritchie are hunting them down since they are a threat.

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Plot Keywords:

witness protection | witness protection program | female nudity | motorboat | white panties | 

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Taglines:

Yesterday she was a witness. Today she's a target.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and brief nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's history traces back to when the project was originally at Miramax under Disney's banner around 1995, when the Weinsteins were running that division. This is one of several projects that they took with them when they sold their stake of Miramax to Disney outright in 2005 and then announced a distribution deal with MGM soon after that this film was among those such as Lucky Number Slevin (2006), Clerks II (2006) and 1408 (2007) to name a few.

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Goofs

After Richie Nix's shooting rampage in the gas station, a close up reveals that his shotgun is an obvious cheap plastic replica.

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Quotes

[towards end of film]
Wayne Colson: Look, honey, just hear me out. I drove 400 miles. And 15 years to think about this. And a lot about what you've said lately. You're right, five's not a good number. It's terrible. So let's try six. And if we can make it to six, then we can try for seven.

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Connections

Referenced in Unikal'noe pozdravlenie (2014)

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Soundtracks

What About Now
Written by Elizabeth Cook and James Hardie McGehee
Courtesy of Carlin America Inc.
On behalf of Bro n'Sis Music Inc. and Bro n'Sis Music Co.

User Reviews

Excellent cast + Terrible scenario = Mediocre result

I've watched this film after getting suggested by a friend of mine. First of all, I did take a look at the cast: Mickey Rourke, Rosario Dawson, Diane Lane, Tom Jane... I thought that I couldn't go wrong even with Rourke and Dawson alone like in Sin City, but I was mistaken.

Rourke pretends to be a Native Indian, and does his job real good, but he is no Native Indian even nearly. The character of Rosario Dawson is wasted totally, you can cut it off and forget easily. Diane Lane did her part just fine. Tom Jane tried to perform like a super-man from The Punisher, but he was clearly no supposed to.

The story line is predictable extremely. Even though the whole thing starts up pretty promising, it degrades in quality quickly and leads to a dumb, really dumb end. I cannot believe that a professional hit-man can do so many mistakes one after another. And I do know for sure what a close shot of Remington 870 means.

So, we have a mediocre thriller to watch once upon a time and never return. Without Rourke and Lane it wouldn't even score 6/10 in my opinion.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 November 2008 (Israel)

Also Known As:

Killshot

Filming Locations:

Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,741, 25 January 2009

Gross USA:

$18,643

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,961,647

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Weinstein Company, FilmColony, Lawrence Bender Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1