Angel of Death (2009)

A career assassin becomes haunted by one of her victims following a near fatal injury to her brain. Becoming a rogue assassin settling the score with her former mob employers, chaos and power struggles ensue.

Director:

Paul Etheredge

Writer:

Ed Brubaker (created and written by)

Stars:

Zoë Bell, Jake Abel, Vail Bloom

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Zoë Bell	...	Eve
Jake Abel	...	Cameron Downes
Vail Bloom	...	Regina Downes
Justin Huen	...	Franklin
Doug Jones	...	Dr. Rankin
Lucy Lawless	...	Vera
Brian Poth	...	Graham
Ted Raimi	...	Norton
Ingrid Rogers	...	Agent Danielle Taylor
John Serge	...	Arthur Max
Pat Asanti	...	Lyman
Kaela Crawford	...	Marie Anderton
Robert Lewis Stephenson	...	Keller
Paige Orr	...	Rich Woman on Phone
Michael Dunn	...	Downes Lobby Security

Storyline

A career assassin becomes haunted by one of her victims following a near fatal injury to her brain. Becoming a rogue assassin settling the score with her former mob employers, chaos and power struggles ensue.

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Plot Keywords:

assassin | mob | female protagonist | x rayed skeleton | wheelchair | 

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Taglines:

People die... Get over it.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Crackle

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 July 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ed Brubaker's Angel of Death

Filming Locations:

Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

White Rock Lake Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was specifically devised as a vehicle for Zoë Bell.

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Goofs

In the bathroom fight. The stall door is knocked off the wall. Later it is on.

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Quotes

Franklin: Don't you think maybe... just maybe she's going after the bad guys for a change... technically

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Connections

References Let's Make a Deal (1963)

User Reviews

a neo-noir/action flick treat for fans of Brubaker and Bell

Ed Brubaker is a name to know in comics, but it should also be known in movies. Hopefully this will be a good calling card for him to get more work, or for more of his comics to reach the screen. While he's usually known for his spin on Captain America, he also has a series of hard-hitting hard-boiled comics called 'Criminal' (at the moment, I think, there's three volumes in all). Angel of Death follows along on the heels of those latter comics, and what he delivers here with this script is like an updating of a pulpy story that might have been found back in the 1950s put to film - only, of course, far less violent and expletive or on occasion trippy. It's like a Sin City yarn if it took itself not quite as much as a parody. And it works, mostly.

And another good thing about it, with its story about a hit-woman (Zoe Bell) who after getting a knife stabbed in her head and surviving- and becoming a loose cannon and seeing visions of a young girl she accidentally killed "telling her" to hit the entire mob organization around her- is that it leads on tough-movie dialog, kick-ass fight scenes and a really superb leading lady. Previously one could see Bell as a stunt-woman in Kill Bill or as herself, sorta, in Death Proof. But here she proves she can hold her own in dramatic scenes (maybe not quite her Uma Thurman counterpart but close enough) and seeing her fight is really extraordinary.

In fact, if you're just looking for a better-than-average direct-to-DVD action flick that chalks up a load of mob-movie/detective clichés, and don't know or care about Brubaker's name on the DVD, it's still worth watching. The fights are gritty and realistic, and the direction compliments these moments of torrid psycho-drama with Bell's knack for knocking someone's head in or any other kind of clever way of killing at a moment's notice. The film sometimes goes into a comic-book-panel kind of mis-en-scene, like if Zoe Bell's character is in a room walking around we'll see three different 'panels' of this. It's creative, if a little overused (and not so original if one's seen Ang Lee's Hulk). And, as a more obvious complaint, with the exception of Doug Jones and Lucy Lawless most of the cast is just 'meh', not terrible but nothing special.

But pick it up if you're roving around your video rental or if netflix gives the recommendation. You'll be surprised how much 78 minutes can go in delivering a hard-knock story of hard kills and harder consequences.