Thursday, October 7, 2010

Killshot (2009)


Killshot is a 2009 thriller film based on the 1989 novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard. The film is directed by John Madden and stars Diane Lane and Thomas Jane as a couple who, despite being in a witness protection program, are confronted by the criminal they outed, portrayed by Mickey Rourke.

Mafia hitman Blackbird (Mickey Rourke) is hired to assassinate a mafia leader (Hal Holbrook), whom he calls "Papa". Afterwards, he meets Richie Nix (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) at a bar, where they decide to team up. Meanwhile, Wayne and Carmen Colson (Thomas Jane and Diane Lane) are living separated, with a Carmen living in the house. Wayne gets fired from his construction job and decides to try to get a job at the same place as Carmen. When Wayne shows up at the office of Carmen's boss wearing a suit he gets mistaken as the man Richie and Blackbird are shaking down. When Richie starts trashing the office and demanding the money at gunpoint Wayne tells them he has it out in the car. He then leads them out to his truck pretending to get the money and instead grabs a metal rod from the back of his truck and attacks them. After knocking the gun out of Richie's hand and knocking Blackbird down Wayne chases Richie back into the building. Richie pulls one of his boots off to get his other gun and shoots at Wayne a few times before Wayne throws the metal rod at him and tackles him, knocking him out the window and crashing into a gazebo. They flee, but the Colsons have seen Blackbird, a man that no one is supposed to see.
Blackbird and Richie track down a man Blackbird saw with Wayne earlier in the film and ask him questions about him before they kill him out in the marshes. They stay the night at the house of Nix's girlfriend Donna (Rosario Dawson). The next day they show up outside of the Colsons' house planning to kill them. Before they can move out of the woods Wayne takes off in his truck after fighting with Carmen. Richie takes off after Wayne leaving Blackbird to kill Carmen. Wayne stops at a convenience store to get some beer and gets shot at by Richie who is robbing the store at the same time. When Richie has to stop to reload Wayne runs out of the store and drives off in his truck. Richie finishes robbing the store and shoots the clerk before he leaves. Meanwhile at the house Carmen has seen Blackbird walking toward the door and so she grabs the shotgun Wayne left with her and goes outside to confront him. After talking with Blackbird a bit she shoots at a tree to scare him off before going back inside to call the cops. The next morning while they are talking to the cops an FBI agent shows up and tells them about Blackbird. Because of the situation with Blackbird and the mafia the Colsons are put in Witness Protection services.
Blackbird and Richie figure out the Colsons have gone to Missouri by tricking Carmen's mother into giving Richie their new phone number. Rather than go after them in Missouri Blackbird fakes his and Richie's death by digging up his little brother's body and burning it in a car so that the DNA test would show that the body was related to his brother in prison. With the FBI thinking Blackbird is dead the Colsons no longer need protection and are allowed to return home. Before Blackbird and Richie leave Donna's house to kill the Colsons, Richie shoots Donna out of jealousy because she and Blackbird were getting along too well. When Carmen returns ahead of Wayne she finds Richie and Blackbird waiting.
While Carmen is a hostage Richie torments her. Richie sprays Carmen with buck lure then tells her she will feel better if she goes to the bathroom, takes off her clothes, and washes herself off. When she comes out in her underwear Richie puts a bullet in her mouth and she spits it on the floor. While they wait for Wayne to come home they sit at the dinner table while Blackbird eats. Richie makes too many off color remarks including one that references Donna as being dead and Blackbird loses patience with him. Blackbird shoots Richie and says he did it because "he wasn't who I thought he was."
Wayne comes home, and realizes that his wife is being held hostage. As he runs back to his truck Blackbird bursts out the front door and starts shooting at him. Wayne manages to take cover behind his car and get his shotgun. They exchange fire for a bit before Blackbird hits Wayne with one of his shots. As Blackbird moves in for the killshot he pauses and turns around to see Carmen pointing Richie's gun at him. Blackbird thinks it is empty because he took the bullets out of it so he doesn't react to the threat, forgetting the one bullet she spit out of her mouth earlier. While Blackbird is distracted by Carmen, Wayne crawls to his shotgun and he and Carmen shoot Blackbird at the same time. Wayne and Carmen hug each other outside their house as a pool of blood forms under Blackbird.


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