Asher (2018)

An aging hitman's last job goes sideways, forcing him to redeem himself.

Director:

Michael Caton-Jones

Writer:

Jay Zaretsky (screenplay by)

Stars:

Ron Perlman, Famke Janssen, Jacqueline Bisset

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ron Perlman	...	Asher
Famke Janssen	...	Sophie
Jacqueline Bisset	...	Dora
Marta Milans	...	Marina
Guy Burnet	...	Lyor
Ned Eisenberg	...	Abram
David Wohl	...	Dr. Green
Peter Facinelli	...	Uziel
Richard Dreyfuss	...	Avi
Blake Perlman	...	Hannah
Joseph Siprut	...	Craig
Micah Hauptman	...	Reuben
Hannah Viederman	...	Chia Girl
Alton Fitzgerald White	...	Berenger
Henry Yuk	...	Khan

Storyline

Asher (Ron Perlman) is a contract killer who's spent the better part of his life ending other lives, taking orders from Avi (Richard Dreyfuss). He lives a lonely existence, making friends out of fine wine and good food, resenting his apprentice, Uzi (Peter Facinelli), who's taking jobs from him due to youth. When Avi hands Asher three contracts for a revenge scheme, the hitman takes the job, only to lose consciousness due to health issues, making accidental contact with Sophie (Famke Janssen), a ballet teacher distraught over mother Dora (Jacqueline Bisset), who's losing her battle with dementia. Asher and Sophie make a connection, embarking on a tentative courtship where the murderer can't share anything about his life. As the pair work out their flirtations, Asher is forced to pair with Uzi on a group hit, and when that goes bad for a moment, the veteran soon becomes marked for death, threatening all the good that's come into his world.

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Plot Keywords:

aging | 

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Taglines:

Some Things Get Better With Age

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ron Perlman, in an interview with Collider, said this is a passion project he has been trying to get off the ground for 10-13 years.

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Goofs

A little after the 48 minute mark Asher (Ron Perlman) is shooting at some bottles, there is no muzzle flash on his first shot, also after his first shot he cycles the bolt on his rifle but no spent cartridge is ejected and no fresh round loaded from the magazine, on his subsequent three shots it also appears there are no cartridges ejected when he cycles the bolt.

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Quotes

Asher: [his latest hit is going into cardiac arrest] Saves Me A Bullet
Dora: Saves Me A Blow Job

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Connections

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

User Reviews

If the writing was better, this film would've been a hit.

It was good to see such great performances from Ron Perlman and Famke Janssen, but Richard Dreyfuss was about as convincing as his fake accent. The directing was right on point, as was the score. But the writing from amateur Jay Zaretsky is what killed this film. This was only his 2nd (first being a short) writing attempt, and although the story premise in itself was decent, the screenplay was terrible. This film needed a seasoned screenwriter to edit/cut out and speed up the overly slow paced and too long 117 min length down to 80-90 mins, as well as fix some of the poor dialogue. Had this film been played at 1.2x faster speed, it may have held my attention better. The entire last 15-20 mins only needed to be 5 min. Great to see Ron Perlman back on the big screen, need to see more of him in these type of roles, and hopefully we will. It's a 7/10 from me - would have been 8 or 9/10 had the screenplay been edited down and tighter.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Chinese French

Release Date:

7 December 2018 (USA)

Also Known As:

Asher

Filming Locations:

Syracuse, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Wing and a Prayer Pictures, Mensch Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1