7.5 out of 10
REVIEW COMING SOON
Release Date: 20th July 2012 (DVD Premiere)
Director: Perry Bhandal
Cast: Luke Goss, Caroline Tillette, Danny Midwinter, Stephen Marcus, Patrick Lyster, Phillip Whitchurch, Elliott Greene with Ray Panthaki and Rene Zagger
Writer: Perry Bhandal
Trailer: INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN
WHAT HAVE I SEEN THAT ACTOR IN BEFORE?
- Luke Goss: War Pigs, Death Race 3, Inside (2013), 7 Below, Blood Out, Witchville, Cold and Dark, Death Race 2, Hellboy 2, The Man, Charlie, Blade 2
- Danny Midwinter: The Rise of the Krays, It’s a Lot, The Magnificent Eleven, Freight, Dead Cert (2010)
- Stephen Marcus: AB Negative, Gridiron UK, The Smoke, It’s a Lot, Fast and The Furious 6, Gridiron UK, Ninja Assassin, Kinky Boots, Stage Beauty, Quills, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Hear My Song, My Beautiful Laundrette
- Patrick Lyster: Black Sails (TV), Death Race 2, Invictus, Goodbye Bafana
- Phillip Whitchurch: Holby City (TV), Wondrous Oblivion, The English Patient, The Bill (TV), The Brothers McGregor (TV)
- Ray Panthaki: Convenience, Cryptic, War of the Dead, Jadoo, The Man Inside (2012), Screwed (2011), It’s a Wonderful Afterlife, City Rats, Kidulthood, Ali G Inda House, 28 Days Later, Eastenders (TV)
- Rene Zagger: Dragonfly, Hardboiled Sweets, The Bill (TV)
RISE OF THE ZOMBIE HOOLIGAN FILMS 
7.5 out of 10
Dope review by Joe Pesci II…
The portents are gloomy: Luke Goss takes the lead as a Romanian hitman working in Britain (coming over here taking hitman jobs off of perfectly qualified British assassins no doubt, thank you EU), who has decided to take part in an interview with a disgraced film-maker to whom he tells the story of his life so far. But is it as simple as that? Are there any dark secrets lurking in dark, secret lurky places? (Certainly there is no mention of Goss’s previous life as a pop star.) (Honestly, that will be the only time I mention that unfortunate period in the 1980s when Bros ruled the airwaves.)
The plot unfolds slowly but we soon find that Goss is one of those ultra-cool, ultra-efficient hitmen that just have to look at their opponent to kill them (and sometimes not even that). Oh how I wish for a hitman who runs into a bit of difficulty from time to time. But he’s not a bad lad, not really, he just got in with the wrong crowd (namely Danny Midwinter as a Romanian gangland father-figure and murderous mentor), and started killing people when he was about ten. There could have been a nature/nurture debate here, but there isn’t. Throw in the usual gangster turf wars, betrayals, damsel in distress, and almost certainly a paedophile (I can’t quite remember but it would be weird if there wasn’t one), and you have a fairly standard killer thriller. But INTERVIEW WITH A HITMAN is a bit more interesting than that might suggest.
One of the things in the film’s favour is its style. It doesn’t fetishize the killings and succeeds in being both gritty and dispassionate. What I mean is, if you like watching people shooting other people and blood spurting and heads exploding and all the rest of it in some sort of safe, entertaining way with nice music and quips a-flying along with the bullets, then don’t bother with this. This film is honest enough to suggest that getting killed might be, you know, nasty and painful and something to try to avoid.
Goss is convincing and watchable, and, rightly, unsympathetic – he isn’t one of those cuddly witty hitmen that might be played by George Clooney or Brad Pitt in a Tarantino film; and although he is the tedious killing machine that these low budget films generally like, there is more to Goss’s performance. It’s as if he really is concentrating on his job rather than just wandering around thinking he looks cool. In short, this is proof that Goss may well be a decent actor. Elsewhere, very few characters last long enough to make an impression. I had seen Danny Midwinter in only one other film (as far as I recall) and that was the monumentally abysmal DEAD CERT in which he was very poor. Here, he is excellent, giving real life to a character hewn out of cliché.
Ultimately, although the film is a creditable calling-card for all concerned, it isn’t a film which I’d want to watch. The film has many good qualities: some original ideas, decent acting, tight plotting, it’s moodily shot, and has a bleak outlook which doesn’t feel bolted on. But on the down side there is nothing that screams out ‘this film needed to be made’. It treads the line between being a serious film about the corruption of innocence, and being a standard violent thriller, and falls on the wrong side once too often. So, a better, more impressive film than the title and subject matter might suggest but with not quite enough to say.