Critic Reviews
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Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
There's so much dead air floating around in this icy-cool thriller that the director, Richard Donner, seems to be trying for an art-house version of his Lethal Weapon series (The 400 Blows to Your Head?).
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Jonathan Taylor, Variety
A not-much-fun high-tech actioner.
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, Time Out
An unusually serious, almost sombre thriller from the versatile action producer Joel Silver in which Stallone's a jaded assassin haunted by the past but unable to face the future.
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Janet Maslin, New York Times
Although he lets Assassins run on too long, Mr. Donner gives it a dependably slick big-budget style.
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Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle
Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas seem as if they didn't know quite what to do to make this implausible action drama a kick.
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Hal Hinson, Washington Post
Noisy, shallow and glibly violent.
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, Film4
The plot becomes increasingly silly, and while some pleasure can be had in the improbable set pieces, this is not nearly as much fun as it should be.
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Ian Nathan, Empire Magazine
The action is stilted and infrequent, reduced to indifferent gun play, car chases and one standout explosion when a gas main ignites.
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Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
It's numbingly cold and pointless.
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John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
It's a typical DAM, dumb action movie. (Blu-ray edition)
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John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
The further into the action we get, the more ludicrous things become.
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David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...a decent 80-minute thriller that somehow manages to chug along for over two hours.
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JoBlo, JoBlo's Movie Emporium
If I had to describe this movie in two words, I'd say "long" and "boring".
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Chuck O'Leary, FulvueDrive-in.com
Suspenseless, plastic and contrived. Rent Best Seller, The Professional or The Mechanic instead, all far superior films about professional hit men.
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Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
Entirely confused and annoyingly confusing action inanity. Donner should know better.
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Rob Vaux, Flipside Movie Emporium
Face-clawingly awful; a textbook example of everything that's wrong with Hollywood.
Read all 16 critic reviews
Featured Audience Ratings
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An explosive and pulse-pounding edge of your seat action-packed thriller. It packs a full-clip of riveting suspense and fast-paced action from start to finish. It`s smart, tense, terrific and energetic. A wickedly cool and exhilerating assassin-thriller with well-drawn characters and… More
An explosive and pulse-pounding edge of your seat action-packed thriller. It packs a full-clip of riveting suspense and fast-paced action from start to finish. It`s smart, tense, terrific and energetic. A wickedly cool and exhilerating assassin-thriller with well-drawn characters and swift execution. Director, Richard Donner crafts one of his best films ever. Slyvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas are just pure dynamite. Stallone gives a strong and effective performance. Banderas gives a sensational and electrifying performance that shows a side of himself we havent seen before.
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Devoid of substance and plausibility, but for the better part a decent action flick. Altough the action bits are really good, there's too many flaws to get past for me to rate it any higher. One such defect is the absence of intelligent dialogue. Or perhaps I should say dialogue… More
Devoid of substance and plausibility, but for the better part a decent action flick. Altough the action bits are really good, there's too many flaws to get past for me to rate it any higher. One such defect is the absence of intelligent dialogue. Or perhaps I should say dialogue altogether, as the characters almost spend more time talking to themselves than to eachother. None of them are particularily relatable either, and I didn't care much for who made it out alive by the end. I suppose Stallone's characters is meant to be some kind of anti-hero, but he is too stiff and emotionless for me to feel prompted to root for him. As for Antonio Banderas, well, he overplays his character so much that he often became a mere annoyance. The only saving grace in the cast is Julianne More, who at least gives a little effort in her acting. Anyhow, I couldn't help but draw parallels to <i>Bangkok Dangerous</i>, which is like a modern equivalent to this film, that suffers from similar plot problems. Gratefully, however, this isn't as bad. In conclusion: Fairly exciting, but nothing beyond the average.
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A cool fun film, great lead characters, never tire of watching it.
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A really cool movie about assassins, there's really no way you can't find it entertaining on at least some level. Sylvester Stallone is great, as he always is, playing a very realistic and tragic character that regrets a lot of his past. Antonio Banderas and Julianne Moore… More
A really cool movie about assassins, there's really no way you can't find it entertaining on at least some level. Sylvester Stallone is great, as he always is, playing a very realistic and tragic character that regrets a lot of his past. Antonio Banderas and Julianne Moore play great supporting characters that only make this a more fun movie. The plot was really well done and has great direction from one of the greatest action directors of all time, Richard Donner.
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I've never liked any Antonio Banderas film much
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I remember seeing this in the cinema. It?s one of the worst films I?ve seen in a cinema!
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Another great action flick. I enjoyed it alot & would love to watch it again. Sylvester Stallone again is completely & totally awesome in this movie!!!!! :) I love Sly so much!!! Lol. :)
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An Action film with very bad action scenes and even more awful acting. This is proof that Julianne Moore wasn't always that good as a actor and that Antonio Banderas is capable of such an over the top acting that leaves you wondering that what the hell was he thinking about.… More
An Action film with very bad action scenes and even more awful acting. This is proof that Julianne Moore wasn't always that good as a actor and that Antonio Banderas is capable of such an over the top acting that leaves you wondering that what the hell was he thinking about. Somewhere at the backround there is Sylvester Stallone playing an professional hitman that gets head to head with bandera's hitman. End result is a film without anykind of passion or heart. It just does not wake anykind of feelings, except occasionally hilarious moments where Stallone looks scarily much as a Droopy the dog, but i think that they did not mean it to be that way.
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Jebus was Banderas annoying as hell.
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This exciting action film hits hard and fast when Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas square off as <i>Assassins</i>.
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A hilarious action film with Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas playing competing assassins. I loved the scene where Banderas is waiting and suffering inside a dumpy building, while Stallone is enjoying the luxuries of the hotel across the street. It's great-spirited and has… More
A hilarious action film with Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas playing competing assassins. I loved the scene where Banderas is waiting and suffering inside a dumpy building, while Stallone is enjoying the luxuries of the hotel across the street. It's great-spirited and has explosive action scenes. It's a whole lot of fun which I chuckled at.
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Dull action thriller. Not any interesting chaarcters or any likeable ones for that matter. Simplistic brain rot, but not even that entertaining.
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pretty good flick, but banderas got away about 10 times when youre like, "yea right"
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Another ridiculous Stallone vehicle in which he lumbers through some reasonably well handled set pieces (directed by Richard Donner of Superman and Lethal Weapon fame) but it's increasingly ludicrous and Banderas is awful.
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Lethal Weapon series director Richard Donner, a script about assassins from the Wachowski Brothers, John Rambo and El Mariachi all join forces to make one big shitty movie.
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In order to really enjoy this movie, you have to put your brain in a freezer for 133 minutes and just refrain from trying analyze anything in here. There are more holes in this story.
the two assassins - "Robert Rath" (Sylvester Stallone) and "Miguel Bain" (Antonio… More
In order to really enjoy this movie, you have to put your brain in a freezer for 133 minutes and just refrain from trying analyze anything in here. There are more holes in this story.
the two assassins - "Robert Rath" (Sylvester Stallone) and "Miguel Bain" (Antonio Banderas) - enough to make it a fun ride. I might even have rated it another star higher had a few things weren't confusing and left unanswered, or Banderas spoke clearer English. Still, it's not bad .
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This exciting action film hits hard and fast when Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas square off as Assassins. Very well crafted story. A must watch action flick.
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"Assassins" is another of my guilty pleasures thanks to it being a 90s action flick with my boy, Sylvester Stallone. This is a film that takes it's self too serious and the lack of balance makes it uneven. The script was written by many different talents including the… More
"Assassins" is another of my guilty pleasures thanks to it being a 90s action flick with my boy, Sylvester Stallone. This is a film that takes it's self too serious and the lack of balance makes it uneven. The script was written by many different talents including the Wachowski brothers but it fizzles out halfway through the film and meanders then on. Julianne Moore whom can do decent work, even if she isn't one of my favorite actresses, is given the role of the computer hacker and when she isn't screaming her head off she is screwing something up only to be saved from her overall cliched performance by a last minute bout of "girl power". If you are looking for a mindless action film with some pretty stylish scenes and a wild performance by Antonio Banderas then check it out. It must be said though that the script wanders on a good half hour past what it could deliver and there is no reason this shouldn't be a quick 90-100 minute action romp.
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Sylvester Stallone stars as Robert Rath an assassin who wants to retire and has principles. He ends up protecting Electra (Julianne Moore) from a rival psychopathic assassin (Antonio Banderas) who is an ambitious young rookie, wanting to be at the top and willing to take Stallone out… More
Sylvester Stallone stars as Robert Rath an assassin who wants to retire and has principles. He ends up protecting Electra (Julianne Moore) from a rival psychopathic assassin (Antonio Banderas) who is an ambitious young rookie, wanting to be at the top and willing to take Stallone out of the picture. I love action movies but whereas the first sequence is clever and thrilling; the film just couldn't keep that up. Reminds me of "The Specialist" but without the steamy bathroom scene!
Read all 20 featured audience ratings
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