The Virtuoso

5/11/2021

Has some interesting elements but "The Virtuoso" (how Anson Mount's character is credited) is kind of an idiot for being some kind of world-class hitman (not sure why he'd take an assignment to some tiny town with no name or picture of his target), plus his monotone narration can lull you to sleep if you're not careful. Anthony Hopkins was mailing it in as most stars of his ilk tend to do with these direct-to-video films (and majority of scenes take place in a dark office), but nice to see Abbie Cornish in all her glory... IDK, it's not at all terrible but doesn't make a whole lot of sense either. I can see what the writers and director was going for, just didn't work all that well. **2.5/5**

11/15/2021

_**“Are you an assassin?” “I’m a soldier.” “You’re neither.”**_ A professional assassin (Anson Mount) is given an ambiguous gig in a small town in the Poconos. Can he get the job done with as little collateral damage as possible? Anthony Hopkins plays his boss, Abbie Cornish a waitress and David Morse a deputy. "The Virtuoso" (2021) is a neo-noir crime drama/thriller with a Tarantino bent. Films with criminal protagonists don’t usually interest me unless there’s angle of redemption or some other intriguing aspect. “Death Wish,” “The Punisher” and “Taken” are exceptions because the central character isn’t really a criminal, but rather a (anti)hero on a mission of justice denied by the system. This is a well-made neo-noir with an interesting second person narration. It doesn’t focus

8/28/2022

There isn't the slightest trace of virtuosity here — or, for that matter, of competence —, whether in front of or behind the camera, except for what Anthony Hopkins brings from his own unlimited personal reserve. Contrary to what one might believe, the title does not refer to Hopkins’s character, but to Anson Mount (The Virtuoso ends up coming across as a nickname the character is too dumb to realize is ironic), a professional assassin who offsets the laconic nature of his profession with an endless and soporific narration that sounds as if he were reading long passages from Murder for Dummies; even a hypothetical viewer who has never seen a Hitman Movie like this would find this excess of exposure overwhelming. Perhaps the movie should be called The Theoretician, because all of Moun