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Matador, The
Pierce Brosnan is a shambolic hit man on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Greg Kinnear the traveller with whom he strikes up an unlikely friendship. Twisted black comedy written and directed by Richard Shepherd
Pierce Brosnan is the embodiment of cool charm. So when he struts through a hotel lobby dressed in nothing but Speedo swimming trunks and a pair of cowboy boots, you wonder if he can carry it off. That this standout scene in The Matador is performed with such magnificent, shambolic style is a credit to Brosnan's determination to shake off his "lovable rogue" image, recently aired in Laws Of Attraction and After The Sunset. This offbeat comedy drama (produced by Brosnan's own film company Irish DreamTime) sees him take on the kind of flamboyant, theatrical character he's rarely tried before - a foul-mouthed, permanently drunk professional assassin called Julian Noble, teetering on the edge of burnout, in desperate need of human connection. Despite claiming that "My business is my pleasure", the permanently on-the-move lifestyle of a "facilitator of fatalities" is starting to get to Julian, to the extent that he finds himself determinedly befriending Danny Wright (Kinnear), a businessman who's fallen on hard times and just happens to be staying in the same Mexico City hotel. Although an unlikely combination, Julian warms to his new friend so enthusiastically that he's soon confessing what he does for a living, and convincing the disbelieving but curious Danny by giving him a crash course in how to perform an assassination. When Danny finds that a potential business deal may be going up in smoke and Julian comes knocking at his hotel room late at night, something transpires which has major consequences. Months later, it's these repercussions that bring them back together when Julian fouls up a job, goes on the run from his employers, and turns up on Danny's doorstep, desperate for somewhere to hide. Heavily stylised with a dazzling, primary-coloured visual design, the film is imaginatively handled by first time writer-director Richard Shepherd. Making the most of the Mexico City locations and using pop music in a clever and energetic way, he also executes some highly enjoyable set-pieces, including Julian's demonstration of his abilities to Danny in the backstage area of a bullring, which gradually transforms from a humorous lark into a potentially lethal situation. Director Richard Shepherd's inexperience shows in some places - Julian's hallucinations result in self-conscious weirdness, particularly in one utterly surreal moment where it seems that Julian has just unwittingly stepped straight into a pool full of sharks. The pacing is sluggish at times, lingering in some scenes at the expense of the story's momentum, and the director can't quite get the movie's ending to play out in a pleasing fashion. While it does feature an effective twist, the climax fails to reconcile the emotional thread of the film. This is a story about a man who kills people for money. Grosse Pointe Blank, a blackly comic tale of a hit man in crisis, ran into the same difficulty, stepping around the moral problems in the story for the sake of a fun ending. With The Matador, the climax wraps up the story but leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. Thankfully, many of these weaknesses are countered by the entertaining combination of Brosnan and Kinnear. The scenes between them have an effective comic energy, with Kinnear using his nice guy persona to maximum effect. He's also not afraid to employ the slight creepiness that lurks at the heart of that persona, and this becomes more important as Danny's weird admiration for Julian grows, and the question of exactly what happened between them in Mexico City becomes more important. Brosnan himself is more energetic than he's been in years, relishing the chance to throw off the straitjacket of Bond and portray a truly appalling human being. Julian is thoughtlessly crude, self-centred and badly dressed, as well as having an unhealthy interest in teenage prostitutes, but Brosnan manages to make him a thoroughly entertaining disaster to be around, whether he's cruising for sex in Mexico City or thoroughly out-of-place in Danny's suburban home. Verdict The ending may hold some problems, but Brosnan's sleazy and conflicted hit man makes The Matador's journey worthwhile. |
