Kill Chain was directed and written by Ken Sanzel and stars Nicolas Cage, Anabelle Acosta, Enrico Colantoni, Eddie Martinez, Ryan Kwanten, Alimi Ballard, and Angie Cepeda. It's about a bunch of hitmen who face off in a hotel over rewards they've all been promised by their clients.
Plotting is anthological, with each character having a job to do that segues into the next character. Interesting concept, but the blunt delivery and odd spacing of said stories is the downfall. In a seedy hotel, sniper Markham (Colantoni) is waiting on a target, only to find out that Sanchez (Martinez), a fellow hitman, is hunting him; set on him by his intel guy. After Sanchez does his job he's paid in diamonds and is robbed by a cop, Ericson (Kwanten). Ericson intends to take the diamonds and use them for his lover, Renata (Acosta), who faces off with Gabrielle (Cepeda). In due time she ends up at the hotel, owned by Arana (Cage), who is talking to another hitman (Ballard). They battle it out for the prize.
Characters are solid at best, but the median are subpar. While a relatively similar amount of time is spent with each major character, only a couple of them are worth said time. Arana is a man with a troubled history that ranges from mercenary work to driving trucks to bartending, his past has caught up to him and he's fine with that. He's given quite the backstory that mostly sticks, and is nimble in his wording. It's good stuff. The others are mediocre: Markham is a sniper with a daughter, Sanchez likes killing, Ericson is corrupt, and Renata is a criminal. Some relations get hazy with a massive exposition dump towards the end which doesn't help things. Cage and Colantoni are the only performers who bring anything to the table; the others are fine but can't compete.
Criminal behavior is shown in heaps, and while in some "chapters" is well done, it can get sloppy in others. A whole host of things, from blood diamonds to human trafficking, are touched on and it's all meant to convey the cyclical nature of violence. The point is made in a blunt fashion and begins to get unbelievable the deeper the rabbit hole goes. Most of what's shown is entirely predictable and just as largely forgettable since the film never picks something or someone to focus in on, and because this message loses its clarity by the end; it doesn't impress.
Technically, Kill Chain is alright. Production values don't exactly leap off the screen, but for the setting it chose, they don't need to. What does stick out is the bad cinematography, whenever anyone does literally anything the camera goes handheld, after the first 20 minutes it just becomes a bother. Editing could have been much better too, the movie opens with Cage (who is definitely the best part of the movie) which gives some core details out way too early; effectively making at least a third of the journey a moot point. Cutting out the first 7ish minutes would have allowed for intrigue to snowball instead of blueball.
Kill Chain has a few things going for it: Cage, Colantoni, and some good dialogue; but the movie seems content to introduce uninteresting characters and vaguely interesting scenarios, only to abandon them in mere minutes. Each chapter could be fleshed out in their own movies and been all the better for it.
53/100
