Desert Saints (2002)
Banks is a hit man, the best, usually working for Latin American drug cartels. He picks up solitary women, uses them briefly for a job, then kills them. He's in the Southwest, headed toward Mexico, when he picks up Bennie, a woman leaving an abusive marriage, going to Paradise, Arizona. The film follows three tracks: Banks's slow recruitment of Bennie, the set-up for the hit at a swank resort in Mexico, and the FBI's close pursuit of Banks, whom they want alive in hopes he'll rat out his bosses. Bennie may not be who she seems, and there may be a chink in Banks's tough-guy armor. Guns, money, and a chance at Paradise.
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Truly Dreadful Film
everything you have heard about this movie is true.
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
A surprisingly entertaining movie , "Desert Saints" offers a subtle yet scary Kiefer Sutherland as a refined and resourceful hit man who fastidiously buries his kill in the desert as neatly as a teacher erasing a problem from a whiteboard. It also has more twists and turns than a sidewinder going after a kangaroo rat. Sutherland, who, by this time, could do this part in cruise control, instead turns in an edgy, sympathetic three-dimensional performance that's full-blooded while remaining cold-blooded. Come along for the ride as professional assassin Arthur Banks (Kiefer Sutherland) picks up hitchhiking Bennie Harper (Melora Walters-- "Magnolia"), a well-built waif with an interestingly irregular profile and a childishness that is not at all naïve.The car's a bit crowded because there are two more passengers -- Temptation and Treachery. This pair of backseat drivers are going to have a lot to say about how this very bumpy ride along the country's most arid landscape is going to end. On the trail of the murderous Mr. Banks is the FBI, in the person of the always welcome Jamey Sheridan (Capt. Deakins in "Law & Order -- Criminal Intent" and the very frightening good ol' boy from Hell in the TV miniseries made from Stephen King's "The Stand") as Special Agent George Scanlon, a cop with a grudge and a long memory. Riding shotgun with him is Agent Donna Marbury ( Leslie Stefanson -- 1999's "The General's Daughter"), whose violet-blue eyes see much more than she's telling. In his first film as director, long-time assistant director Richard Greenberg ("Jumpin' Jack Flash") , also credited as the writer, doesn't let up the tension for a minute and his outstanding cast never let him down. Some very nice acting, crisp, often funny dialogue, and jump-out-of-your-skin goings-on make "Desert Saints" an oasis in the too-often barren terrain of made-for-TV thrillers.
Mindlessly good fun, the usual fare for a low-budget hit man drama.While I often find flashbacks and bounce-arounds to be rather annoying and often confusing, this is not the case for this film. I found the "back-and-forth" clearly done and it built the story in a way not often done effectively in television and movies.I have a very liberal "suspension of disbelief" mindset and one area of the film prevented me from pushing this to a 7 because the challenge for my SOD was too much to overcome.Without spoiling anything, there is a scene that involves his "partner's" husband. I would consider it a turning-point scene.HOWEVER... for a guy who has been so meticulous, careful, and able to keep the authorities at bay for the entirety of his career, the circumstances that take place in that scene should absolutely have tipped him off that something was amiss. Even a crappy hit man would have been able to put two-and-two together and even for good, mindless film fun... was hard to get around for me.Of course, had he been able to figure it out, the film probably wouldn't have been able to move much further, but that doesn't change the implausibility I found for a hit man of his caliber (pun intended). And no, I wasn't looking for an Oscar effort here, but when you challenge my SOD so severely, sometimes it just doesn't work out.Despite my complaint on that *specific* issue - if you're looking to just get lost in a reasonably interesting story, this gets a recommendation from me.
Aside from the really annoying "flash forward" moments, this movie is pretty good -- better than I expected. I think the most amazing scene is when Banks reflects on what it's like to kill someone. It's like Banks is Jack Bauer's amoral twin -- Jack hates to kill but does it because it's necessary to save his country; Banks hates to kill but does it because it's necessary to pay for his expensive lifestyle.Melora Walters is miscast. I wonder if the role was originally offered to Meg Ryan, since she seems to be one of the producers.Also annoying -- Kiefer spouting Latin epigrams. Banks may have been an ivy-league educated genius, but in my experience (and, yes, I do have some experience of the type!) they don't study Latin anymore.And, the last, single gunshot at the end -- I have to wonder if there was another gunshot "after" -- or, maybe Banks lets one of the targets live? Which one?
i dunno what movie the other guy was watching, cuz first of all the movie is only an hour and a half and moves smoothly. keifer sutherland just continues to be the man (24 the best show on television, quite possibly ever) and plays a cool emotionless hitman. im really not gonna spend alot of time on this just want to see i really loved this movie and had a great ending.