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Assassination
Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: May 3rd, 2016.
Director: Peter Hunt
Cast: Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, Jan Gan Boyd, Michael Ansara
Year: 1987
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The Movie:
Director Peter Hunt's 1987 film Assassination tells the story of a Secret Service agent named Jay Killion (Charles Bronson) who gets back to work after taking some time off. He's ready to get back to business and keep the President safe but is soon assigned a different job - to keep tabs on the new First Lady, Lara Royce Craig (Jill Ireland).
Lara is a headstrong woman and before you know it, she and Killion are squabbling and bickering. She's also a woman who is clearly in a more powerful position than he, and so when she puts him down and belittles him time and time again, well, he can't do much but suck it up. However, once it becomes clear that a terrorist named Bracken (Erik Stern) is out to assassinate Lara, the tides start to turn and she realizes how valuable he really is to have around. In order to keep the First Lady truly safe, Killion knows that he'll have to eliminate that terrorist threat, so with some help from Charlotte Chong (Jan Gan Boyd), a fellow agent with whom he has a pseudo-romance going, he sets out to do just that.
And of course, as Lara, determined as she is, sets her own course the good guys find themselves in a race against time against the bad guys with the First Lady's life soon to hang in the balance.
Oddly paced and kind of dopey, Assassination is hardly a high point in Bronson's filmography. What it does offer, and what makes it watchable if never essential, is the chance to see Bronson and his wife Jill Ireland on screen together, clearly having a good time working with one another. It is, for lack of a better word, kind of cute to see them here and even when they're bickering back and forth in character there's a sense of mutual affection that viewers will pick up on. This is Bronson-lite, smiling more often than scowling and more likely to come at you with a quick, witty reply than a gun - but he still gets a few decent tough guy moments to work with. He does well in these scenes, rising to the occasion, but they're few and far between. But Bronson and Ireland do their thing and they do it well. If they never light the screen on fire, they are at least fun to watch. As to the other cast members, Erik Stern is passably amusing as the bad guy, while Jan Gan Boyd, as attractive as she may be, isn't particularly believable as Killion's all too playful partner.
The problem is the script. It takes too long to get where it eventually goes, cramming a couple of action scenes in that don't really add much or really further the plot. Character motivation is questionable throughout and yet the ending is ridiculously predictable. This could and should have been a better movie than it is. It winds up lacking tension and it's just too slow. It does, however, give you the chance to see Bronson run around with a bazooka for a few minutes.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Kino Studio Classics presents Assassination on Blu-ray in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.85.1 that, generally, looks pretty good. Detail is much improved over the DVD release from a few years ago and color reproduction feels more natural here even if some scenes look a little flat in that department. The film is as grainy as you'd want it to be but not to the point of detriment and aside from a few tiny white specks here and there, you won't find much in the way of actual print damage to complain about. Black levels are okay but not reference quality while skin tones look nice and natural, there's no evidence of any noise reduction having been applied here.
The English DTS-HD 2.0 track on this disc is also fine. The score sounds good, the dialogue is easy to understand the levels are properly balanced. There are no issues with hiss or distortion and everything comes through cleanly and clearly. As this is an older mono mix you obviously can't really expect much in the way of channel separation or fancy surround action but for what it is, this older single channel tracks sounds just fine. No alternate language options are provided although there are English subtitles offered.
Extra are limited to a (very spoilery) theatrical trailer, trailers for a few other Bronson movies (Breakhart pass, Mr. Majestyk and The White Buffalo), static menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
Assassination presents a Bronson and an Ireland clearly enjoying working with one another on this picture, but it falls flat in the pacing and action departments. There are a few set pieces that work and it's legitimately cute to see Bronson look as charming and happy as he does here, but as that novelty wants as the movie progresses, Assassination turns into a bit of a snoozer. Kino's presentation is nice, but light on extras. For the hardcore Bronson devotees, however, this will be hard to resist. If you fall into that category, enjoy, otherwise, proceed with a bit of caution.
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