The Hit List (2011)

A disgruntled man creates a hit list with a stranger during a drunken night out and must then race to try to save those he marked for extermination as the bodies begin to pile up and all fingers point to him.

Director:

William Kaufman

Writers:

Chad Law, Evan Law

Stars:

Cuba Gooding Jr., Cole Hauser, Jonathan LaPaglia

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Jonas Arbor
Cole Hauser	...	Allan Campbell
Jonathan LaPaglia	...	Detective Neil McKay
Ginny Weirick	...	Sydney Campbell
Drew Waters	...	Mike Dodd
Sean Cook	...	Brian Felzner
Michael Papajohn	...	Special Agent Drake Ford
J.P. O'Shaughnessy	...	Lieutenant Ben Harp
David Andriole	...	Detective Ray Lowery
Brandon O'Neill	...	Dom Estacado
Daniel Brockley	...	Drew McAllister
Katarzyna Wolejnio	...	Victor Rosen's Secretary (as Kasia Wolejnio)
Tracy Schornick	...	Bartender
Holt Boggs	...	Officer Turnkey
Stephanie Vigil	...	TV News Reporter #1

Storyline

In Spokane, an elite government killer goes rogue on the day that engineer Allen Campbell loses a promotion and finds his best man with his wife. Allen goes drinking that night and chats up a stranger who turns out to be Jonas, the hit man. Jonas asks Allen to give him a list of five people he'd like to see dead, so a drunk Allen lists his boss, the guy who got the promotion, a nasty bookie, the best man, and his wife. By the next morning, the boss is dead, and Allen realizes Jonas is for real. Can he stop Jonas?

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Plot Keywords:

scene of the crime | engineer | die hard scenario | held at gunpoint | race against time | 

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Taglines:

Who's on your list?

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Genres:

Action | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Wilhelm Scream: When Jonas hits one of the cops with a shotgun blast in the police station.

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Goofs

Between scenes, Allan's bruise changes in size and color.

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Quotes

Jonas Arbor: I am your friend, Allan. Because I got the balls to be brutally honest with you. Complete and total openness, no skipping paragraphs. Everybody else in your life is full of shit.

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Connections

References Shaft (1971)

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Soundtracks

47 Ways To Die
Written by Steve Blaze
Performed by Lillian Axe
From the album "Deep Red Shadows"
Lillian Axe appears courtesy of Love & War Records

User Reviews

Uneven, but watchable as entertainment

The idea is peculiar, but logically and well founded, so the events following the meeting in the bar could actually happen. The value of the movie is diminished by the hit-man's past employers (another conspiracy theory?) and trivial/expected ending. However, the scenes around the people on the list are catchy to follow.

An Oscar winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. (as Jonas Arbor) gives another great performance. As for the leading actor Cole Hauser (as Allan Campbell), he was good as well, although it was my first real experience with him (I realized that I have seen many movies with his participation, but never distinguished him). Other performances were nothing special or even mediocre.

Nevertheless, The Hit List is recommended as a good and short (less than 1,5 hours) action. And, perhaps, the occurrence of bad jokes declines after seeing this...

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 April 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

The List

Filming Locations:

Riverfront Park, Spokane, Washington, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Stage 6 Films, RCR Media Group, March On Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (5.1 surround)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1