The Matador

source: The Matador

Trailer—The Matador

The Matador

The people who give this anything but a 7 or 8 dont have a sense of humor and for sure dont get a great movie when they see it. This is so different from anything mr. Brosnan has done before and it required tense acting, humor, comedy timing, credible hitman persona and he nails ALL of them. The movie has twists and turns and all of them work. This is right up there with bad boys as a great action comedy. I absolutely LOVED everything about this flawless masterpiece!!! BRAVO to the WHOLE cast and crew!!!! Should have been an oscar nod for mr Brosnan and a strong shot at winning it but as usual the right ones never get nominated . The best performance of that year and in my top 20 characters of all time!!!

Absolutely terrible film dealing with a burned out assassin (Julian), played by a hard drinking, heavy smoking Pierce Brosnan and his chance meeting with a conventional business person Danny (Greg Kinnear) The two become friends as Julian tells Danny that he is burned out. He can get out of this deal by doing one more job-the job we find out is killing his boss! The gags are ridiculous. This is a very amateurish, inane comedy. Kinnear tells Julian that his son was killed in a school bus accident. Julian changes the subject and that ticks off Danny. The viewers should be ticked off with the rest of this foolishness as well.

There are a lot of laughs in "The Matador". Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear make a very good team. Their interaction is a lot of fun to watch. The movie has quite a few laugh-out-loud moments. The story moves well with only a couple of bumps in the road. "The Matador" seems like the kind of movie that improves with more viewings. That's why I plan on watching again real soon.

This film is fantastic. Finally well-written characters you can love for all their good and bad. Pierce Brosnan is flat-out hysterical in this self-effacing role. I think its the best thing he's ever done. He's done other roles that exhibited shades of being capable of this kind of fully-fledged work, but this role finally gave him the room to run with it. I almost died when he walked across the hotel lobby in his underwear and boots. And Greg Kinnear and Hope Davis are a couple to aspire too, as well as actors to aspire too. Kinnear is so goofy likable that his turn in the end is truly gratifying. You give good actors good work to play with and they give us something more back.

THE MATADOR (2005) *** _ Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Hope Davis, Philip Baker Hall, Dylan Baker. Brosnan gives one of his best non-Bondian roles as a middle-aged assassin facing a mid-life crisis while on assignment in Mexico where he befriends a square yet likable American businessman (Kinnear at his most affable) and discovers there is more to life than death. Newbie filmmaker Richard Shepard makes a solid big screen debut with a pointedly wicked black comedy with a sharp eye for visual detail and nuanced dialogue and character development that makes him a talent to watch in this breath-of-fresh-air into the 'buddy comedy' formula skewering what is anticipated of his leads and allowing Brosnan to get his ya-yas out with devilish glee. A sleeper gem indie hit.

The delivery of some very humorous rude lines by Pierce Brosnan is alone worth the price of admission. He plays a kind of "James Bond's psycho twin brother", separated at birth, no doubt. As an intense hit-man, his character is very sexual but even better, very funny. Add the kind-hearted, uber-likable American "guy next door', Greg Kinnear, to set up contrast. The myriad locations, vivid colors, and quick-witted humor provide great entertainment. Hope Davis is well cast as the "gem of a wife". But the focus of the film is on the two fellows, a new "Odd Couple", and that's the part that works very well. Have a great (probably R-rated) laugh, and look for the places where the story goes a little deeper.