The Hit List

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I got to sit down and watch this film last night and I must say I was very surprised. I just happened to see it in the bargain bin at the local big box store and have always like Cuba so I bought it. Cuba did a great job in the movie. Once the movie got started I realized Cole Hauser was in it, hes the cop from Pitch Black and dad from Paparazzi. About the film, it is shot very well with some very solid acting. The story itself was good and maintained well through the film. Some of the scenes don't make a lot of since later in the film, like the scene with Mike and Sydney. All in all it was worth 7stars and should be on your watch list.

With all the production values of a 4th grade Thanksgiving play, the word "hit" has no place in connection with this movie. Stilted performances, poor lighting, and phony dialog makes it a candidate for MST3000. Cuba Gooding Jr. could have sent in a cardboard cutout and his performance would have been improved. All the actors came from the rejects of "My Mother the Car School of Acting." Show this movie to your kids if they want to be actors and tell them this is everything they should not do. Avoid at all costs. The fly on the wall has more redeeming qualities than this stinker.

This is one of the worst films I've ever seen. Full of clichés, non sense plot, implausible story. The acting is poor, not even Cuba Gooding, which is becoming a B film actor worth it, but the entire cast, starting with the main leading role, the detective leading the investigation, is boss (the police captain), they are all so weak in acting that you better save your time. Save your time and don't even bother to see the movie. This is the lowest rate I ever gave to a movie, not because is the worst but because the expectations you have when you see the marketing and the leading name are reasonable and you should be entitled to a decent amount of good entertainment. It's not!

Just a few weeks after picking up Gooding's last film "Sacrifice", "The Hit List" was released. I picked it up because I am a pretty big fan of his. The film turned out to be pretty well done for a DTV thriller but just like "Sacrifice" it has it's flaws. Jonas Arbor(Gooding) is a hit man and decides to go rouge. His reason unfolds throughout the movie but in doing this he runs into Allen(Cole Hauser) in a bar. Allen is having his own bad day by losing his promotion to a younger partner in his film and problems with his wife come to surface. Arbor and Allen meet in a bar and get drunk together. Jonas explains to Allen that he is a hit man and will kill five people for Allen free of charge. Thinking it is a joke Allen writes down names and laughs it off. It isn't long before he realizes its a joke and has to stop Jonas from completing the list. The film has been compared to "Collateral" and while it is a fair comparison, the film does stand on its own. Its flaws lie in editing and lack of budget which is the same thing "Sacrifice" suffered from. The opening credits are done in almost a comedic or even a James Bond type of way and really turns the viewer away from what the tone is trying to be. The budget shows in the camera set ups and how rarely other angles are used. The DP obviously did not have the time or money to make the film look bigger. There is a car chase in the film that could have been much more exciting if the editing was better. All in all what saves the film is the performances by Hauser and Gooding. They do not play down to the budget level and they treat the film as if it is a big budget hit. Gooding assures the audience that he has still got it and reminds us of why he is capable of an award winning performance. He is deep and scary and really gets into the role more than he has in the last few years. The quality lies in the performances which is why this is an above average DTV Thriller. Acting 9/10 Editing 5/10 Music 5/10 Directing 7/10 Fans of Gooding and Hauser should be pleased with this film.

Terrible, horrible, no-good very bad movie. From the unsuspenseful opening scene & overdone James Bond opening credits I knew this would suck, but i hate killing movies prematurely so i rallied. Cole Hauser has previously been THE MAN and he was tolerable = 1 star. Wife actress very doable, another star. LaPaglia was also good... I'm getting soft here. 3 stars it is. Cuba was a vacuum, deadpan delivery was so overplayed and cheese-ball lines so predictable. I had my remote in hand the ENTIRE MOVIE so i could go from volume 55 for the whispering and then drop to 25 for the overdone crap gunshots and BS suspense sound effects. Every cop shot smeared blood down a wall; Cuba follows 100 gallons of blood through 4 stories chasing the couple, BLEECCCH. Horrible movie - enough so to prompt me to write my first review. At least he dies in the end. PS WHO IS THE GUY DRINKING SCOTCH BEFORE ROLL CREDITS? Garbage.

I always respect Cuba Jr, even in this lousy movie he gave everything that he could. The story is good, but honestly? The movie is bad. The makeup, the action scenes, the camera movement, but.. but the worse part is the interpretation of some actors, and the winner in this context is Cole Hauser. He is not in the movie sometimes, really not convincing, you can feel and see insecurity, some looks he gives, body movement. I have to say some lines are corny, and some events too much cliché. In the end, there are better Cuba Gooding Jr movies to watch. I remember other movie somehow like this, Collateral with Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx.