Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8851 in DVD
• Released on: 1998-10-26
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Arabic
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 127 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
If Sylvester Stallone plays the world's number one assassin in this thriller, that must make Antonio Banderas, well, number two. The two are competing to hit the same target for a $20-million payoff and their challenge takes them from explosion to explosion on a cat-and-mouse chase from Seattle to Mexico. Julianne Moore plays the cagey cat fancier and computer hacker who possesses a stolen computer disc that makes her a prime target for bad guys, and Robert Rath (Stallone)is only too happy to come to her defense. Director Richard Donner handles action sequences with adequate flair and has a good time blowing things up. Banderas has fun with the nonsensical plot, and Moore is enjoyable in one of her big-budget mainstream roles. --Jeff Shannon

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

Interactive Menus
Production Notes
Scene Access
Language in Dolby Digital 5.1: English
Subtitles: English, Arabic, English for the hearing impaired

Synopsis
An aging professional assassin who's looking to get out of the business becomes prey for his psychotic, up-and-coming protege, mirroring the hit-man's own ascension fifteen years earlier.

Customer Reviews

Assassins Really Hits The Mark!
Sylvester Stallone has ventured off into many genres; comedy, drama, sci-fi, but he always returns to what he does best, action. After several movies earlier in the 90's that slumped at the box office, this one is a breath of fresh air, and i personally think one of his best in recent times.

Stallone plays Robert Rath, a professional contract killer who is realising his age and is just looking for that last (well paid) job that will let him live the quiet life and have a happy retirement. However, on this final job, the mark is taken by up coming assassin, Miguel Bain. Rath soon manages to seek out the guy however he manages to escape and Rath no starts to hunt out his next victim, a hacker with no name, address or trace who is trying to sell valuable information to a group of foreign businessmen. However, he soon realies that Bain is also after the same person, and after setting up little trap for his friend Bain, Rath goes looking for the one who double crossed him.

While some people say that Stallone is not a very good actor, i personally think that he is pretty good, and this film shows his ability as he plays Robert Rath, the assassin who 'wants out'. He brings some compassion into the role, for example in the opening scene when he has to kill the man, instead of simply putting a bullet in his head, he gives the man his gun and lets him do the deed himself. For the whole scene, you can see in Rath's face, that he doesn't really want to do this, but has to for the money.

However, we must not forget Antonio Banderas who is brilliant in his role as Miguel Bain,which was turned down earlier by Christian Slater. He adds some real character to the person he is playing and by the end you almost feel sorry for him even though he does kill people for a living. Julianne Moore also brings real life and character into her role as Electro the hacker who is the mark of both Rath and Bain.

Overall, 'Assassins' is a brilliant movie that will entertain most audiences, and is a must have for any fans of Stallone, Banderas, Julianne Moore, or if you are simply looking for a movie with plenty of action, shooting, and explosions, then this film is for you and is somthing that you will want to watch maybe several times.

hilarious
the first time i watched this i confess i was disappointed. i didn't want to see antonio banderas play a bad guy, but i've since watched it several times. sylvester stallone plays an assassin who wants to get out of the game, whereas banderas wants to reach the top of the game. stallone's character makes himself out to be better and we get a bit of very hypocritical moralising, which i don't care for. i prefer to watch banderas who is clearly having great fun playing the bad guy for once, and especially enjoying doing some great stunts. he's really cool and pretty sexy in this film, and far more interesting and charismatic than stallone. so if you're a fan of stallone and julianne moore you should may be rent this, but if you're a banderas fan like me then it's worth a buy, since he gets better every time you watch

Number One with a Bullet
After his initial successes on screen with his Rocky and his Rambo series of films, Stallone has sometimes had a hard time of it, trying to keep up his standing in the 1990s with a whole string of hit and miss releases, from the cringe-inducing "Judge Dredd" to films like... this one. I can happily say that "Assassins" is one of his better efforts, and is well worth owning for yourself - and certainly on DVD format.

As the title would suggest, Stallone plays as Robert Rath, a professional contract killer starting to get old. He's looking for one last job before retirement, the big contract that will let him live a quiet life and let him hang up his gun knowing he's number one. But when another killer, Miguel Bain (Antonio Banderas) takes down one of Rath's targets before he can complete the contact he wastes no time in trying to get even, and it is only Bain's wily instincts that keep him from falling prey to Rath's trap. Both men look toward their next encounter... Now Rath has a new job - to kill a "ghost" - a hacker with no name, address or trace who is trying to sell valuable information to a group of foreign businessmen. But Bain is also offered the job, and when the two realise that they are up against each other again, Rath makes a decision - stop Bain killing the target, who turns out to be a young woman called Electra (Julianne Moore), and find out who double-crossed him.

This is a very well made film; locations are dark and gloomy, and even when there are lots of people around and lots of things happening in the area there is still a feeling of menace, that our protagonists can't let their guard down. There are no awful one-liners that I can recall, the action is well-paced and the script is well-written. This is not a corny film by any means.

The actors themselves have to take much of the credit for the quality of the production. Stallone of course takes top billing, and he manages to prove that he is able to take serious roles without lapsing into "buddy" style ("Tango and Cash" being a prime example of this) or carbon-copy action hero mode. In itself this is quite an achievement, especially when he already has an image. Julianne Moore is, in this film, starting to cut her teeth in the business and really brings life to Electra. She gives Electra real character and you actually give a damn what happen to her, unlike most female leads who just seem to be there to scream, cling to the hero character or just have horrible things happen to them.

But the real star of this film is Antonio Banderas. His character Bain is a real nutter, and I can see elements taken from his role in "Desperado" and perhaps even some elements of Toshiro Mifune ("Seven Samurai") in his performance, and you never know what this crazy guy is going to do next. To be honest, I reckon that Banderas' character Bain would have made an excellent anti-hero in any other film, and you actually feel a bit sorry for him at the end of the fim because you just can't help but like him, even though he kills people. If you had to showcase this actor's work, Assassins would be in in there, no two ways about it.

If you prefer a harder edge to your action films or thrillers, then Assassins is one to watch. However, when ranged against films such as "Leon", "Nikita" and "Ronin" (the very best of the genre, recommended viewing) I'm afraid it doesn't quite cut it, so I can only give it four stars. An excellent film none the less.