Crosshairs (2013)

Just perfect...

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Jack (Robert Seay) is an ex-Iraqi war vet, which we know from the movies all become hired killers. His latest request to murder a porn producer (Jeffrey Vincent Parise) who disfigured an eastern European woman brought to America to make adult film. There is a subplot which involves his ex-GF and former sister-in-law (same person, Kodi Kitchen) who shows up at his door one day needing a place to crash. Meanwhile there is a guy named Brill (Mark Rolston) who wants to recruit Jack.The action scenes are quick which allows the film to move slow. Jack doesn't really have any character and its stone faced the entire film. The subplots don't come together in a clever fashion as one would expect which leaves you wondering, "what's the point?" There are better indie action films out there. Poorly conceived and poorly executed.Parental Guide: F-bomb, sex talk, off screen sex, nude painting on wall.

I spent almost two hours watching Crosshairs with a cast that I barely know anything about and a film I had to watch in stages as it bored me to tears. As it was when I finally finished the film I still wasn't sure about what I had watched so incoherent was the story.Robert Seay is hired to exact some revenge payment on a man who abused a Russian débutante whom we discover later is a high priced call girl. But he gets persistently bothered by Mark Rolston who wants to offer him a new and challenging career, the specifics of which are never really spelled out. What can I say, the direction is lifeless, the players sleepwalk through their roles and the script is incoherent. Pass this by.

At first, the movie seemed to be going nowhere and the acting appeared shaky. I decided to give it a chance, and I got slowly involved in this slow burn of a movie. It's a good movie to have on in the background while you're doing other things. Basically, I would summarize this movie as a "day in the life" of a hired assassin. It follows him through his regular life and it makes you feel like you are living in it. The cool thing is that he isn't driving BMWs and living in expensive places. He drives a really old beat-up car and lives in a normal-looking house. He yawns a lot on the train and falls asleep. At first it seemed kind of weird, but after a while you could see the director's style. It was like he wanted you to see how average an assassin can be. Not like this terminator with no weaknesses, but just a guy who gets tired like everyone else and falls asleep on the train.The music is also really well-done.

I may have had different expectations had I not gone to watch this thinking it was an action movie. As far as action, other than what's in the trailer, nothing else really happens. Unfortunately, the story is muddled and the lead actor doesn't give me anything to keep my attention. His performance lacks any objective. I'm all for a slower paced film, but there still needs to be a clear action/objective within every inaction, or else you lose the tension and the audience. I feel like this could've been a better film just by a better casting of Jack Verlaine. Mark Rolston did bring the energy up some. I found myself much more engaged with his scenes and some with Kodi Kitchen, as well.