clog

Watch this for the climax and the after taste. This is a movie I watched 16 years too late, or may be not. It is quite possible that I would have hated this movie when it came out, partly because I wouldn't have understood it, thanks to my limited exposure to English during my growing years :-)

If someone is bored of watching the new movies or has exhausted everything else around, here is one movie you can try out.

Its a movie about a killer and it is as unglamorous as it could get for an assassin. Usually hit-man movies glorify the killer, show him as an agile, kick-ass and powerful shooter who goes on killing men like no other.

This one is different. This is about a weak and old killer well beyond his prime, who comes out of retirement because he needs money and sees a cause justified enough to kill. The most of the movie seemed like a drag until it reaches the climax. The movie labors on the point that being a good killer isn't about being faster, but about keeping your head steady in the face of a life-death situation.

The setting is old American, cowboy era with a brown and dusty look. The characters are all realistic, to the extent that the protagonist is shown to have difficulty riding his horse, and falls many times. He had a bout of illness and then a sound beating to boast of.

The last fifteen minutes of the movie however makes up for the lack of excitement throughout. What makes this movie is the memorable role by Clint Eastwood, as a killer who doesn't glorify killing a bit and goes about it as casually as you would go to your office. The complete disregard for everything else (things like not killing an unarmed man) when he is going for the kill is what gives it a realistic air.

It has a certain heaviness throughout that may stay with you even after it's over and don't miss the last 5 minutes when the credits roll for you will miss the superb, simple and serene background score.