The Assignment

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The Assignment stars Michelle Rodriguez as a hitman named Frank. The sister of one of Frank’s targets (played by Sigourney Weaver) is a plastic surgeon who coaxes Frank into a job. The men following Frank on the mission betray him and take him to the doctor. The doctor turns Frank into a woman as revenge. Angered by this, Frank sets out on a warpath to exact revenge. The movie has a trashy premise that actually could have been enjoyable, but it takes itself a touch too seriously. For example, the best they do to make Michelle Rodriguez look like a man is slap an unconvincing fake beard on her and say “good enough.” Michelle Rodriguez is probably the best thing in the movie. I can say that, at the very least, it really seemed like she was trying. Sigourney Weaver playing the main villain pretty obviously doesn’t want to be there, not that I blame her. The action sequences feel pretty standard and don’t inspire much. In Die Hard, you remember Bruce Willis jumping off the building with an explosion behind him. In The Matrix, you remember Keanu Reeves flipping back to dodge bullets. There isn’t anything in the action scenes from this movie that really stand out. Most of the movie is told in flashback, so you kind of have an idea how it’s going to end. It isn’t like The Usual Suspects where the twist ending makes you rethink the entire movie. It isn’t like Wonder Woman where the journey was at least pretty fun to watch. This movie does have twists and turns, but they all feel incredibly predictable. There’s a character in the move, and from the second you meet them, you kind of have an idea where their story is going to go. Overall, The Assignment could’ve (and should’ve) worked as something of a trashy guilty pleasure. But, when one performance is all you can really point to as something you liked, you know there’s a serious problem.

3 / 10