Plot Summary: Suburban dad Hutch Mansell, a former lethal assassin, is pulled back into his violent past after thwarting a home invasion, setting off a chain of events.

Director: Timothy Tjahjanto

Writers: Derek Kilstad, Aaron Rabin

Runtime: 1 hour 29 min

Main Cast:

• Bob Odenkirk as Hutch Mansell
• Connie Nielsen as Becca Mansell
• Christopher Lloyd as David Mansell
• John Ortiz as Wyatt Martin
• RZA as Harry Mansell
• Sharon Stone as Ledina
• Colin Hanks as Sheriff Abel

Review by: Samuel

What I Liked:

I will say this movie did a good job of brining you up to speed (not that you need much), but through some quick exposition you learn why Hutch (Odenkirk) is working as an assassin for hire even though he really wants to be more of a family man. Having said that, I’ll narrow down my favorite aspects of the film into  three things: 

1. The movie is short. It knows what it is, and what it needs to do. No bloviating. 
2. The action- the main reason you are there. Fantastic. The interesting thing is the action actually starts off pretty mild- so the first scene doesn’t hook you…but the second one does. Then the third one, and pretty soon you are jumping for joy when you feel a beatdown is coming. The camera work is excellent too, making sure you see EVERYTHING so when teeth fly and bones break you get a close up view to understand just how much it hurts- I loved it. The movie also does a great job of making the people on the receiving end of these beatdowns absolute jerks so you can’t wait for Hutch to lose his mind and break their faces. 
3. Bob Odenkirk. What a guy. You can tell he cares about the role just by looking at the shape he got into for it, but if that’s not enough he puts it all on screen. I’m not going to pretend it’s the greatest performance I’ve seen, but I just love that he is clearly a fan of this franchise and wants to make it work. So the choreography, stunts , and acting are all taken seriously and done quite well. A major theme of this film is that Hutch has this innate desire for violence in him. SO much so that his employer basically laughs at the notion of him taking a vacation. Hutch can’t sit still in this world- he will always try to correct something that’s wrong or fix an injustice. Very noble…it’s just that his solution usually involves hospitals and morgues. In any case, Odenkirk really does sell this man who’s heart and mind are set on being a regular father/husband but who’s every instinct is to hurt bad people. 

What I Didn’t Like:

I thought this would be longer but thankfully I only have a few petty gripes and then one real gripe. First the petty – the comedy and the one-liners didn’t work for me. They weren’t the corniest thing you’ve heard, but the most it got out of me was a smile when I acknowledged the levity the script was trying to bring to certain scenes. 

However, the biggest problem with this movie is that when Hutch isn’t stomping on faces or hanging guys from rafters, he just a being a normal dad. Those moments with his family when he’s riding a water slide eating carnival food, or a merry-go-round ….are really boring. I think maybe the movie is trying to show that he appreciates the mundane, but we are there for the action -no one wants to see him getting tickets for a boat ride with his family.

Images Courtesy of IMDB