2023 Vertical Entertainment
Rated: R
Length: 1 hr 30min
Action ~ Crime ~ Drama ~ Romance ~ Thriller
Directed by: Phillip Noyce
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Morena Baccarin and James Caan.
Keep your friends close and your enemies dead.
Charlie Swift (Pierce Brosnan), aka Fast Charlie, is an experienced hitman working for a longtime mob boss named Stan (James Caan). Charlie is sent on a job with newbie Blade to take out a man named Rollo. Blade has planted a bomb in a box of doughnuts thinking it a genius idea, but things go wrong when the box detonates and blows Rollo’s head to smithereens. Without Rolo’s head it is impossible for Charlie to prove to the sanction of the hit, Beggar Mercado, that the hit was successful. To solve this problem, Charlie enlists the help of Marcie Kramer (Morena Baccarin), who is Rollo’s tough and calm ex-wife. She confirms the body by recognizing a tattoo, and now he has to figure out a way to convince Beggar that Rollo is dead.
Meanwhile, the young and reckless new hitman named Blade has decided to turn on Charlie and take the body and blackmail Beggar with it. When Blade dies in a chaotic accident trying to get away in Charlie’s car, Charlie cuts off Blade’s head and works with Marcie to transfer the tattoo onto Blade’s body so they can pass it off as Rollo’s, faking the proof Beggar needs. When Charlie meets Beggar with the body, he takes the bait convinced it is Rollo, and promptly chucks the body into the swamp and the alligators. He tells Charlie that he wants to meet with his boss Stan, and discuss business. When Charlie tells Stan, he tells Charlie that he wants nothing to do with Beggar…….
Which starts off a chain reaction of action and violence as Beggar tries to dominate Stan’s turf and business. Charlie is apparently the only man standing as Beggar tries to wipe out Stan’s crew, but Fast Charlie and Marcie team up to outwit Beggar and his crew. And what follows is non stop action, violence, dark comedy and romance as Charlie and Marcie fight for their lives and fall in love with each other. It is a bit of Pulp Fiction, The Equalizer and The Mechanic all rolled into one. Not too surprising since Richard Wenk wrote this as well as the screenplay for The Mechanic and The Equalizer Movies.
James Caan plays the part of aging Crime Boss Stan very well. Too well, this was James Caan’s last acting role before he passed away several months later on July 6, 2022. He was 82 years old. Pierce Brosnan did a fantastic job of playing Fast Charlie right down to the accent. Brilliant work! The chemistry between Pierce and Morena felt very natural and engaging, and made the obvious age gap between them seem like nothing t’all. I really liked Morena in this, she is quickly becoming a Streaming Movie Night favorite! She also appears in 2020’s Greenland, the upcoming Sequel Greenland: Migration and Elevation.
I thought this movie was a great little gem! It checks all the boxes for me personally and it was good to see James Caan in his last role. Pierce Brosnan and Morena Baccarin make a fantastic team on screen, and it was a great ride watching them battle it out and fall in love.
STREAMING MOVIE NIGHT 