Sometimes you come across a film that gives you more than expected. Nearly one hundred sixty thousand viewers said they have 'liked' this movie.. for a foreign film that's a lot of positive votes. Olga Kurylenko.. bit.ly/17NhB0G ..(tell me she's not a spot-on Rashida Jones twin.. bit.ly/179Bwol ) and Ninette Tayeb.. bit.ly/15WZTXw ..both perform admirably throughout the entire time. Their exceptional good looks wisely toned down for roles in this film. Don't be looking for a Nikita style film from start to finish.. it's near the end the real action kicks in. And the actual ending itself is an unresolved outcome (guess there are no emergency medics or ambulances in this town).

A Ukranian woman, Galia, is working as a prostitute in Tel Aviv, when her friend is beaten and stabbed to death. She survives the abuse by the Russian mobster and he offers her a deal to stop selling her body if she will become an assassin instead. She is given a modest apartment and follows orders. Her passport is being held, preventing her from traveling to see her daughter. Day after day, her neighbor, Elinor, is physically abused by her husband. She finally stabs him and the two run away as the mob turns on Galia after she steals money she is owed by her mafia bosses. The speaking parts alternate from English to Russian to Hebrew with subtitles. There are the usual chase scenes and shootouts and Olga Kurylenko is sexy as Galia, the lead hit woman on the run from the bad guys. A desperate woman doing anything necessary to survive in a cold, cruel world, The Assassin Next Door is depressing and in the end an average action film.

Two spoilers for the price of one!I just happened to have watched The Outfit (1973) with Robert Duval four days ago. If you like mid 70's movies, it's worth watching on a rainy afternoon.Spoiler #1:In the movie, The Outfit, Robert Duval's character kills a Mob Boss in his home, while exiting the Mob Bosses 2nd floor bedroom, a goon starts charging up the stairs. Duvall, at the top of the stairs gets the drop on the goon, the goon stops half way up on a landing.Duval calls out from the top of the stairs, "Stay out of it, he's dead, you're unemployed."Spoiler #2:In this movie, Galia is at the top of the stairs, she gets the drop on the goon, the goon stops half way up on a landing.Galia says to him, "Your Boss is dead. You are out of work. Go... (slight pause) Go.". These two scenes are nearly identical, only the dialog is different.How the camera shots are set up are pretty much the same in both movies.Seeing these two nearly identical scenes really lowered my opinion of this movie because the similarity of the two scenes was so blatant. It's one thing to pay homage to a movie but it's entirely something else to do what they did here.I assume that the writer & director think we have short memories and won't find shortcuts like this. They are wrong and I may think twice about buying tickets to, renting or collecting any of their future work because the odds are, I may have already seen it elsewhere before.Bruce

This film is really good. Although there is more than enough adrenaline , I don't think of it as an action flick. The story and the characters are very good. The human aspect of the story is very well conceived. Everything is brutally natural and realistic. Although there are some scenes with some problems, I was so grasped by the film that I didn't care. Although the story is kinda sad, it is never boring. The cast and especially Olga Kurylenko is very good too. Some may say the opposite but yes; I do believe that an ordinary woman without a specific background can be a hired gun as good as Galia. (Dont worry, this is not a spoiler) There are many things in every scene that is so familiar with everyday life but also striking. The "trivialised" woman trafficking and prostitution could not be told any better without the audience looking away once in every 10 minutes. The directing hides itself behind the natural flow of the story but silent quality of storytelling is in every scene. If you are looking for an "entertaining" action movie with a lot of bloodshed, this one is not for you (except for the bloodshed) Well done to all the crew.