Assassin Club is a 2023 American Italian action thriller film written by Thomas C. Dunn, directed by Camille Delamarre and starring Henry Golding and Noomi Rapace alongside with Daniela Melchior, Jimmy Jean-Louis and Sam Neill.[2]
| Assassin Club | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Camille Delamarre |
| Written by | Thomas C. Dunn |
| Produced by | Ellen Wander Jordan Dykstra Todd Lundbohm Emanuele Moretti Kieran Corrigan |
| Starring | |
| Edited by | Lori Ball |
| Music by | Alexandre Azaria |
Production companies | Film Bridge International 828 Media Capital |
| Distributed by | Paramount Global Content Distribution |
Release date |
|
Running time | 111 minutes |
| Countries | United States Italy |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $188,292[1] |
Assassin Club centers around Morgan Gaines, a former Royal Marines officer turned ruthless assassin who unwittingly enters a deadly game in which each of the six targets is also an assassin assigned to eliminate Morgan.
Plot
editMorgan Gaines, a former Royal Marine operative and skilled assassin, is tasked by his officer, Caldwell, with assassinating a European trafficking kingpin, Luka Lesek. As he was prepared to take the shot, he was suddenly ambushed by another sniper, causing him to miss his target and alerting Luka's men to his location. Morgan is forced to flee as the sniper later kills Luka in place of Morgan. Morgan meets with Caldwell and wants to take a break and spend time with his girlfriend, Sophie. Morgan hesitates to take on assassination contracts as he longs for a more ordinary and peaceful life. Caldwell offers him to take on six contract killings, but Morgan refuses. However, after an assassin, Alec Drakos, attempts to kill him while he is walking back home with Sophie before Morgan kills him. Morgan confronts Caldwell, and Caldwell informs him that by taking out Drakos, other assassins will come for him, so he has no choice but to complete the mission and kill five more targets.
Morgan identifies his five targets: Anaselm Ryder, Pablo Martinez, Yuko, Demir, and the mysterious Falk, whose identity is unknown. In a maximum prison in Bosnia, Falk kills Demir before sending the thumb to Leon, a French police officer who is assigned to track down the assassins. Morgan investigates the contracts and questioned Leon about the origin of the contract and the identity of the person behind it. Leon reveals that the French police have initiated the contract to catch the assassins and are working with an anonymous benefactor, Joanna, who was funding the operation in search of the assassin who killed her father, Yakov. Later, Morgan is contacted by Falk and offers to collaborate on finding the person behind the deal for killing the assassins. He learns that Caldwell hired Alec to kill him so that he can continue with the mission and ends his partnership with him. He tracks Pablo in Barcelona, who has retired and lives with his only daughter. Yuko arrives to kill Pablo, but Morgan fights and kills Yuko before severing a finger from Pablo to save his life.
Meanwhile, Falk comes to Caldwell and demands the files on Morgan. However, he also transfers Falk's files to Morgan before she kills him. Morgan learns that Falk's real name is Vos, a police officer also working with Joanna to bring in assassins. Ryder attempts to kill Sophie to draw Morgan out but is forced to flee when Morgan alerts authorities. Morgan takes Sophie away in hiding while he goes to find Ryder to kill him. Falk, under the alias of Vos, informs Joanna and Leon of Ryder and Morgan's location and sends in the GIGN to kill them. Morgan confronts Ryder, who reveals that Falk contacted him to do the hit and collaborated the same way she contacted Morgan before giving him evidence about Falk as Morgan kills him. The police arrive at Morgan's location to arrest him, but Morgan escapes by faking his death.
Learning that he used to work for Mariusz, Morgan sets out to meet Joanna. Joanna reveals that Vos planned for her agency to pit all the assassins who used to work for Mariusz against each other in exchange for Joanna's funding. Morgan informs her that Vos and Falk are the same people and that Falk is responsible for killing her father before he learns that Falk faked her own death and stole the money. Wanting to tie up loose ends, Falk kidnaps Sophie and plans to drown her to lure Morgan out so she can get the final deposit. Morgan comes to Sophie's apartment, but Falk has caught him rigged with explosives if he attempts to save Sophie's life. Leon arrives to arrest Vos for her crimes, but she shoots him and escapes. An injured Leon saves Sophie from drowning in a tub before Morgan goes after Falk. As Falk is about to leave, Morgan arrives and shoots her.
Sometime later, Morgan and Sophie live peacefully in Porto, Portugal. Meanwhile, Falk was hospitalized, having survived her gunshot wound.
Cast
edit- Henry Golding as Morgan Ganes
- Daniela Melchior as Sophie
- Jimmy Jean-Louis as Inspector Leon
- Noomi Rapace as Falk/Agent Vos
- Sam Neill as Caldwell
Release
editThe film was released in digital in the United States on May 16, 2023.[3]
Reception
editThe film received generally negative reviews, and has a 13% rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes based on 23 reviews.[4] Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com awarded the film one star, writing "While the ideal viewer of Assassin Club probably understands and accepts the limitations of this bottom-dollar time-waster, even the least choosy genre fans can do better."[5] Verdosa of Screen Rant awarded the film one and a half stars out of five.[6] Martin Unsworth of Starburst awarded the film two stars out of five.[3] John Nugent of Empire awarded the film one star out of five.[7]
Sergio Pereira of Comic Book Resources gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Assassin Club isn't about to knock John Wick off his perch, but it is an entertaining, turn-off-the-brain movie in the same vein as other '90s classics like Assassins and Hard Target."[8]
References
edit- ^ "Assassin Club (2023)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
- ^ Elfadl, Murtada (May 17, 2023). "'Assassin Club' Review: Henry Golding Looks the Part of a Globetrotting Hitman in By-the-Book Actioner". Variety. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ a b Unsworth, Martin. "ASSASSIN CLUB". Starburst. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ "Assassin Club". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ Abrams, Simon (May 18, 2023). "Assassin Club". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ Ferdosa (May 22, 2023). "Assassin Club Review: Wannabe John Wick Flick Can't Keep Up". Screen Rant. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ Nugent, John (April 14, 2023). "Assassin Club Review". Empire. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ Pereira, Sergio (May 15, 2023). "REVIEW: Assassin Club Brings the Action While Simultaneously Forgetting the Story". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved October 5, 2023.