ASSASSINS TALE is a cheap-as-anything crime story involving a trio of lead characters who are mixed up in the criminal underworld. It's one of those inconsequential low budget stories that opens with a graphic murder and goes from there. The video cover missells it as an action thriller but it's more of a talky character drama with a few violent moments. The whole thing feels tired and long-winded, let down by sub-par scripting which makes the characters themselves a real bore.

"Assassins Tale" has some good qualities. The characters are eccentric and complex. Some of the dialogue is quite clever, although there is often too much of it. The editing is impressive, although it sometimes becomes intrusive and distracting. It has a few nice touches, such as the bit with the casino chips. On the down side, it tries too hard to emulate Tarantino in stead of carving out it's own identity. Even the poster art features a putatively female assassin with a katana who has apparently wreaked considerable havoc and destruction, although the image has nothing to do with the film. We have assassins who wax poetic on life, sex and philosophy and occasionally decide to defy orders and logic by allowing their targets to live. One of the assassins is a heroin addict. The movie breaks for musical interludes, although not of the caliber of the "Cat People" segment in "Inglourious Basterds." It's passable low-budget entertainment, although it has some major flaws. The cinematography is marred by extended jiggly-cam shots that will leave the audience reaching for the Dramamine. Even the sweeping pans look as if they were shot by somebody in the midst of an epileptic seizure. The pistols often look like plastic toys. Make- up effects for wounds are basically nonexistent. The film switches between color and monochrome for no apparent reason other than to draw attention to the editing. The actors talk and emote fairly well, but acting is about action. The two words have a common root. We call people in movies actors, not emoters or talkers. There are no car chases. The only time anybody operates a vehicle is in one shot where they drive into the scene. There's a little walking. One character swims. Another carries a surfboard on to the beach. But there is no fighting , climbing, horseback riding, etc. It's pretty much limited to people sitting or standing around talking and occasionally drawing weapons and shooting one another, interrupted by long transitions and unnecessary establishing shots. The film has a lot of heart, but not much energy. The actors do as reasonably as can be expected with the material they're given, but their discourses on life and the ethics of their profession would have greater impact if they had to work at it and not simply stand there and pull a trigger, instantly dispatching their victims. Compare this to opening scenes in the most recent version of "Casino Royale," where James Bond has to work and risk his life to kill somebody who doesn't want to die.

The opening sequence grabs you. It is brilliantly executed. It's a simple scene with a professional assassin (played by Guy Garner) handing his knife over to the client named Marcus (played by John M Keating). Marcus we discover is a movie producer whose brother was murdered by a man bound to the chair in front of him.Marcus fumbles with his latex gloves as the hit-man instructs him on what to do. His calm demeanor like an older brother teaching the younger to catch a baseball. I was on the edge of my seat watching these two.Marcus can't do it. He can't even get the blade into the guy. He gets sick, vomits ...The killer looks at him and says, "That's it? That's all you got? This is the guy that killed your brother. He tortured him. He mutilated his ass & that's all you have?" A great line. It sends Marcus into a rage as he takes the man's life. Repeatedly shoving the knife into this guy's belly. The professional calmly pulls him back explaining the guy is dead to the whimpering Marcus.It's a perfect scene. It set a perfect tone.Then the music starts ... It was the wrong choice of music. Some piano rift about the "devil's due". I don't know the title. It was a little jazz/blues, but more upbeat & lighter than either. It immediately ruined the previous scene. You don't lead your audience into a dark tone and then cut to a delightful sunny helicopter ride over the city just for the opening credits. EDIT THAT OUTYou don't need that music there ... You don't even need an opening credit - no film needs credits to role at the beginning because it's like pasting "The End" at the finale of a film. We know the movie is starting. There's no need to remind us. Especially when capturing our attention so effortlessly at the start.The introduction of the character Johnny Solo provides an unnecessary bravado; I was left to assume his dialog was an introduction for an incredibly sloppy character build. Something that could be spread out over a few good scenes that define the character's accomplishments. Instead we're delivered an ego trip like some school yard punk that's never had to fight.Johnny Solo, who so far we have no reason to respect, dialogs about orphans & bad parenting until finally showing us his accomplices, Roman (played by the talented Michael Beach), "Anthony" and Grace (played by Lost Girl's Anna Silk).We segue into Roman & Grace sitting on a sofa chatting. There's some sexual tension here which makes no sense because we were just told how she was raped by a step-father. "She got raped by her step-father. She cut off his dick" ... click ... "You know if I go home with you I'll be taping that". Her rape was used as a hint to her toughness ... awesome guys ... Couldn't have made the rape joke funnier.Soon the audience realizes the duo are in their target's apartment. Such a nice touch honestly, but it was in the wrong part of the film because of bad editing. Michael Beach's character Roman is everything Johnny Solo unnecessarily explained him to be; Ruthless & Skilled. He takes down (what I believed to be) the bodyguard - while Anna Silk's character Grace is shown strangling the target with piano wire. The brief tussle with the bodyguard was amazing. Roman's stone cold expression handling this guy like he was a child being put in the corner. I loved every second of that moment ...CLICK ... Bad editing takes us back to the beginning again, as apparently that perfect opening sequence wasn't quite finished yet. It's a short dialog that should have been kept in the opening - or not - I simply know that it should NOT require anymore of that music from earlier ...(AWWW MAN) An acoustic country song takes us back on our helicopter ride again before going to some unwanted montage of drug addiction. It then becomes what must have been "comedy relief"; Some guy talking about his girlfriend's dog over the phone and then showing multiple shots of a Chihuahua with its accompanied whine. I was done.13.5 minutes into this movie and I left.I probably missed a great deal more of those perfect scenes like the opening, but I could not force myself to watch those minute episodes only to see it butchered by a failed edit.Wonderful job for the actors involved, especially the opening sequence - but "no" ... whoever pieced this film together with the music & cuts needs to stay away from the glue & scissors. They're obviously sniffing the glue.

...What a yummy movie!! With action, double-crosses, hundreds of thousands of dollars, heroin, silencers, bullets and knives, floating bodies, casino chips and other goodies, Assassins Tale really delivers the package!It seems that there are a lot of hit men - and women - operating in L.A.; some of them as lone wolves and others who team up. Many of them receive their assignments through Woody, a go-between who enjoys tea and meditation, and who kills nobody, but sets up the hit-jobs for others. As the killers go about their deadly business, there are sometimes clashes and issues of mistrust...and then there's the one or two of them who are having doubts about the wisdom of continuing in their chosen profession. Meanwhile, an unseen N.Y. mobster is pulling some strings too.Together with all this, the movie manages to touch upon some of the bigger issues also, including destiny, karma, and God's providence. 8/10.