Assassins (1995 film)

Assassins
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard Donner
Produced by	Richard Donner Joel Silver Bruce A. Evans Andrew Lazar Raynold Gideon Jim Van Wyck Dino De Laurentiis
Screenplay by	Andy Wachowski Larry Wachowski Brian Helgeland
Story by	Andy Wachowski Larry Wachowski
Starring	Sylvester Stallone Antonio Banderas Julianne Moore
Music by	Mark Mancina
Cinematography	Vilmos Zsigmond
Editing by	Lawrence Jordan Richard Marks
Studio	Silver Pictures Canal+
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	October 6, 1995 (1995-10-06) (United States) November 1, 1995 (1995-11-01) (France)
Running time	132 minutes
Country	United States France
Language	English Spanish Dutch
Budget	$50 million
Box office	$30,303,072

Assassins is a 1995 action thriller film written by Andy and Larry Wachowski and Brian Helgeland, directed by Richard Donner, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Banderas, and Julianne Moore.

Plot

Robert Rath is a paid assassin who wants nothing more than to get out of 'the business', haunted by the memory of murdering his own mentor Nicolai years ago. Rath is a quiet, morose professional who is on an assignment to kill someone when someone else gets to the 'mark' (the target) before he does. That person turns out to be Miguel Bain, a fellow assassin and a competitive psychopath. Rath then has the trouble of trying to figure out who sent Bain, the contractor offers him one last job that could financially allow him to retire - killing the four Dutch buyers and the computer hacker named Electra and retrieve a disk that contains sensitive information. Electra has set up cameras in all the rooms of the apartment block where she lives and watches them like watching television.

The problem is that Bain is assigned to kill Electra as well. Bain kills the four Dutch buyers which turn out to be Interpol agents and Rath comes to kill Electra but for the first time has a change of heart. His pay for the job is given to him in a briefcase in exchange for the disk. The briefcase actually contains a bomb placed by his own contractor in an attempt to kill him. Luckily Electra had swapped the disk, not sure if Rath was coming back or not. The contractor takes the chance and hires Bain to terminate him; now having become a target along with Electra he must try and extract enough money out of his contractor so he can disappear for good, while avoiding the bloodthirsty Bain. Rath's contractor turns out to be none other than Nicolai himself. He hired both Rath and Bain to track down Electra and the disk.

Cast

• Sylvester Stallone as Robert Rath
• Antonio Banderas as Miguel Bain
• Julianne Moore as Electra
• Anatoly Davydov as Nicolai Tashlinkov
• Muse Watson as Ketcham
• Steve Kahan as Alan Branch
• Kai Wulff as Remy
• Mark Coates as Jereme Kyle
• Kelly Rowan as Jennifer

Production

The original spec screenplay was written by Larry and Andy Wachowski and sold for a million dollars to producer Joel Silver around the same time he bought their script for The Matrix, also for a million dollars. The script was similar to the final product, but with a more developed love story between Rath and Electra and a briefer ending without the character of Nicolai. Joel Silver offered Richard Donner $10 million to direct, but Donner insisted the script be rewritten to tone down the violence and make the central character more sympathetic and brought in Brian Helgeland, who did a page-one rewrite and earned a co-screenwriter credit. The Wachowskis attempted to remove their name from the film but were refused by the Writers Guild of America. Later, after watching Bound, Joel Silver apologized to the brothers over Assassins and offered them the chance to direct their script The Matrix.

Casting

Sean Connery, Michael Douglas and Arnold Schwarzenegger were all considered for the part of Robert Rath. Christian Slater, Woody Harrelson and Tom Cruise were offered the part of Miguel Bain.

Filming

The film was shot entirely in the Seattle-Tacoma-Everett metropolitan area (the Puget Sound region) of Washington State except the ending scenes in which the movie is shot in Puerto Rico. It features a Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) procession crossing the streets of San Juan. This procession is mainly a Mexican tradition and is not celebrated in Puerto Rico. The movie also featured several local actors, such as Axel Anderson and Juan Manuel Lebron playing bit parts.

The Banco de Puerto Rico building featured in the movie is actually a historic casino which was previously featured in the film La Gran Fiesta.

Release

A few years after release, Richard Donner admitted that if he had to make the film again, he would have stuck closer to the Wachowskis' original script and swapped the main leads, so that Stallone would be the reckless killer and Banderas would star as the experienced pro.

Critical reception

The film received mostly negative press, and currently holds a 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 3.7/10. the script was heavly criticized for being confusing and dull. However, the actors' performances were praised.

Box office

Assassins debuted at No.2 at the box office. The film grossed $30,303,072 domestically on a $50 million budget.

External links

• Assassins at the Internet Movie Database
• Assassins at Box Office Mojo
• Original screenplay by Andy and Larry Wachowski
• Screenplay revised by Brian Helgeland