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Assassination Tango

Assassination Tango

List Price: $14.95
Your Price: $13.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: just didnt go anywhere
Review: The movie wasn't about Tango so much, it wasn't about the mob so much. It just didn't really go anywhere. It could of been a contender, but sadly it wasn't.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Duval at his best
Review: The music and locals were wonderful, the dancing sensational, some of the situations were not too believable, but would see again for Duval's fine performance and the wonderful music and dancing.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great dancing, storyline and acting, but too slow paced.
Review: This 2002 film was written and directed by Robert Duvall He also stars in it and gives a really fine performance as an aging hit man who is sent to Argentina to assassinate a general. The plot is more complex than that though. Duvall's character is a complex man. His middle-aged girlfriend back home has a 10-year-old daughter he adores and there are several domestic scenes which show this love. He also loves to dance and is fascinated with the tango. And so, when he is in Argentina and the assassination is delayed several weeks, he meets Luciana Pedraza, a tango dancer at least 40 years his junior. He asks her for lessons and is swept into the world of the tango. We see a lot of dancing and sense the discipline and timing that this special art form requires. He's now definitely in a romantic relationship. But whether it's with this young Argentine woman or the tango itself is difficult to differentiate. There is also the sense of danger as the actual assassination draws near. This is not going to be a simple job and we soon sense a double cross going on.

This is not a simple film. Robert Duvall's role is too complicated for that. It requires great subtlety in his acting to hint at all his inner conflicts. It is clear he is suppressing emotion and we feel his inner tension throughout. And the screenplay's references to the fact that he is aging makes it seem actually quite plausible that this 72-year-old assassin will be able to carry out his job.

I tend to like fast-paced plots and so I found Assassination Tango a little too slow for my taste. And there were several loose ends in the resolution of relationships. But I did enjoy the complexity of the story which exists on many levels. And, most of all, I loved the dancing.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great performances, visuals, atmosphere
Review: This film, directed by and starring Robert Duvall, is an odd hybrid between a suspense thriller and a dramatic character study. It also uses the sensual tango dance as a theme in itself. These elements do not always gel in this slow paced film, but I found it captivating all the same.
Duvall plays John, a contract killer who is sent to Argentina to kill a prominent general. He is reluctant to go, mainly because he doesn't want to miss his stepdaughter's birthday. His attachment to this young girl, which, the film suggests, may cross the line beyond paternal affection, is one of the many aspects of this complex character. If there is any point to the film that I could discern, it is that John is a person who lacks integration. It is Duvall's ability to portray this character that makes the film. He is moody, volatile, introspective and passionate, often in inappropriate ways. He is able to rationalize his violent profession by having the attitude that "it's just a job." When he sees a beautiful tango dancer (Luciana Pedraza, who also gives a great performance), he develops a new obsession. While stalking his victim in the streets of Buenos Aires, he gets to know the dancer and their often meandering conversations are some of the best scenes in the film. During the long stretches when there is not much going on, there is still a sense of lurking menace. John is in a foreign country and doesn't know if he can trust his employers. I actually appreciated the disjointed quality of the film, which might be a turnoff for some viewers. Real life does not always follow a formula the way most movies do, and it is refreshing to see events unfold in an unpredictable, haphazard way.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A personal trip...
Review: This is sensational art. One must carry already a piece of Duvall's world in order to appreciate the movie... to embrace the pulse and rhythm of his tango-beat and its sometimes weak and some times extremely violent contradiction against his doses of machismo and bland cynicism; a personal simultaneous trip in his brightest and his darkest side. Sometimes this movie feels almost like a confession! I liked it... I'll see it again.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Duvall Making a Fool of Himself
Review: This movie had so much potential. It was a neat concept to contrast the tango (a dance of love and hate, good and evil) with the personality of a hitman.
The movie fails, however, because of Duvall and Luciana Pedraza (his real life girlfriend). Duvall, who wrote the script and directed, attempted to come off as likeable, but instead gave off the impression of a condescending jerk. The way he kept repeating "mucho gusto, mucho gusto" made me wanna smack him upside the head. His girlfriend is even worse. Not only is she a terrible actress in this flop, but she doesn't even have the right accent. Normally, I don't mind, but when the rest of the actors do have the accent (either naturally or put on), and one of them who should have the accent doesn't, the movie loses credibility. I may be knit-picking, but I can't deny it; it detracted from the movie.
Yes, the music was good, and there were some decent dance scenes, and the charcters were semi-interesting, but overall, this one just missed the mark.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Waste of time
Review: This movie is a waste of time and money. The story is boring, the acting is lousy, the music is weak, and the dancing is in very short clips and is mediocre at best. There are a few nice scenes of the city - Buenos Aires that is - not Brooklyn. But that's about it. Clearly, Duvall wanted to make a movie about his passion - argentine tango. But he had no story. Apparently he worked on this script for many years. Maybe he should have stopped long time ago.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Boring!
Review: To start with, Robert Duvall is absolutely ridiculous as a assasin. He is clumsy, incompetent, badly spoken and certainly not some suave type that filmakers wanted to portray. The idea that a young attractive woman is interested in him is laughable. You'd think movie about an assasins and contract killing would be a little more intertaining but no such luck. This will put you to sleep in no time.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: It's a given.
Review: Uhohh. Now my ears are green.

I'm sorry. I've wasted your time.

But he said it wasn't our fault.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Total Waste of TIme
Review: We rented the DVD based on past performances of Robert Duvall but this film is sub-standard of his history. There were entirely to many subtitles you had to read, the plot was boring and hard to follow. Wife and I were very anxious for this piece of junk to end. We are both glad we did not buy it. One of the worst films we've seen.


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