What do you do when you are a hitman that wants to be the best hitman in the world? You kill the best hitman in the world, that’s what.
This is exactly the plot of the latest action/comedy film co-produced by & starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The action star plays the role of the elusive and seemingly immortal Robert Bendik (aka “Gunther”), the world’s greatest assassin, and his peers are none too happy that he has that title and seek to demote him in the most extreme fashion possible.
One such killer-for-hire especially resentful of Gunther is Blake (played by Taran Killam, who also wrote and directed the film). The jealous hitman assembles a cast of misfit killers to assist him in eradicating Mr. Bendik once and for all.
The band of specialized but feeble cutthroats includes the following; a mine working explosives “expert”, a second-generation female sniper, an ex-extremist Muslim with a mechanical arm, an Asian poison specialist, a set of killer twins from Russia, a cyber technologist, and Blake’s elderly mentor, Ashley. Before the team can even get going on their quest things start to fall apart. What ensues is an endeavor of frequent hilarity & continuous futility.
Although the budget and special FX are less than impressive, I think these actually help the picture’s tongue-in-cheek approach. Schwarzenegger is funny here and does a good job…when on-screen. Therein lies my only real gripe with the film (aside from some superfluous scenes sequences that could have been truncated), the action star just isn’t featured as much as I would have liked. I enjoyed the supporting cast and their roles, save for one or two characters. We have never reviewed a comedy here at NMH, but I enjoyed it very much. Watch the trailer above, I think you’ll find this low-budget, British-styled comedy about hitmen is more hit than miss.
Killing Gunther will be available to watch on Digital Download from 2nd April and can be bought here: https://itunes.apple.
