Film Reviews

The Matador

• Rating:
• Director: Richard Shepard
• Starring: Greg Kinnear
• Details: US, 96mins, 15s.

Danny Wright (Kinnear) is in Mexico City hoping to secure a make-or-break deal that will ensure his company's survival. The deal goes well, and Danny retreats to the hotel bar to celebrate; there he meets Julian Noble (Brosnan) - a boozy, foul-mouthed hitman, also in Mexico on a 'job'. As the men get down to talking, Julian confesses to Danny his professional orientation and that he has bottomed out and lost all interest in his work. Danny is initially sceptical but when Julian demonstrates how it's done, he is convinced and then horrified when Julian asks him for help on his next 'gig'. Taking its cue from Grosse Point Blank, The Matador keeps its flippant tongue in cheek throughout the entire movie, never wavering once. Director Shepard mixes the banal with the extraordinary to good effect and this is personified in his two leads; the nomadic, whoring Brosnan, successfully brushing off any stray thread that might have tied him forever to James Bond's cufflinks, and Kinnear as the straightforward, upstanding family man. The problem with The Matador is that it feels like it is all set-up, like a back-story to a script not yet written about two complete opposites who run a successful hitman business. Kinnear appears at times unsure if he should take centre stage, while Brosnan is content to hang back and avoid being the 'star' in a Pierce Brosnan movie. Shepard, steadfastly sticking to the comic element, never addresses the real issue - taking a man's life for money.

Review by Gavin Burke