Movie Reviews

‘Assassin Club’ review: One last shot becomes missed opportunity

The talent is there.

May 15, 2023

Assassin Club has a premise that is on generic that it cannot help but be interesting. Morgan (Henry Golding, Crazy Rich Asians) is a highly skilled international hitman who is looking to get out of the business. He is offered to chance out if he takes one last job. He must kill seven other top assassins. As with all final assignments, there is a catch. Those same trained killed have been tasked to take Morgan out.

There is no shortage of talent in the film. Along with Golding, Sam Neill (Hunt for the Wilderpeople), Daniela Melchior (James Gunn’s The Suicide Sqaud), and Noomi Rapace (the Swedish adaptions of the Millennium series) all make appearances. The cast alone seems to guarantee a fun watch.

Regrettably, Assassin Club is never able to live up to the star power. The performances are surprisingly sporadic, though this could be a result of the writing. The film is content to rely on cliched dialogue and action movie cliches. This is not necessarily a huge problem with this type of film. Still, it is hard not feel disappointed to see such a strong good of actors underused to this extent.

There are some serviceable action sequences, with a car chase scene being the highlight. The question often becomes, are these moments good enough to carry the rest of Assassin Club. Since the movie runs almost two hours, it is something audiences will be asking themselves often.

The pacing does not help as clunky narrative fill like little more than placeholders before the next big shootout. Instead of using these moments to allow the audience to catch their breaths while learning more about the characters, it feels like the script is just spinning its wheels. Assassin Club is never aggressively bad – there are even times when it exceeds expectations. But it also feels like a missed opportunity.