User Reviews

I may revisit this movie when I have nothing else to do but I simply couldn't sit through it, no matter how hard I tried. The production values were low and the acting wooden from the majority of the cast. I hate to criticize other people's work but this had a solid enough story line which should have made it easy to deliver.

Interaction between the cast simply didn't gel, with the US President stumbling over his address to the nation with 'my fellow Americans' being used so much, it was distracting.

To be fair, the fight scene in the warehouse was well choreographed and very believable, making for pools of genuine excitement but when the big guns come into play, you'd think that the mob of gun toting agents were out shopping for groceries.

Vinnie was, well Vinnie. He used his natural accent, which was a relief as I'm not sure how he'd sound as an American but his role was almost a cameo and that, I assure you, was a bonus.

The main protagonist did, at times, have a well balanced family man / ex-agent balance but it's difficult to imagine anyone taking the beatings that landed on him and still be able to walk away but hey, this is Hollywood.

Not recommended unless you have nothing else to watch but keep the remote handy so you can skip some of the less watchable scenes - you'll know then when you see them.

The IMDb midpoint PLOT SPOILER story line: "A retired agent's life is turned upside down when he discovers he's the patsy for an impending CIA planned presidential assassination." John Niles aka Steve White (Johnny Messner) is a former/ sometimes current special ops agent. He has a wife (Estella Warren) and child (Tristian Eggerling) to make himself vulnerable. President Ford (Richard Burgi) has signed in a bill to repel BT-85 a domestic spying program enacted after 9-11. The CIA doesn't like it and decides to assassinate the president. John Niles is coerced into the deed by David Marino (James Remar) who holds his family hostage. John works for Mike Price (Vinnie Jones) a British guy overlooking US intelligence operations...just go with it. Michael Paré plays Detective Tom Watson trying to piece together the carnage.

The production of a one man army was inspired by the Bourne series, but wasn't close to plausible. Vinnie Jones wasn't on the screen for very long and those scenes looked like they were making screen time for him. He was less active than Seagal in his latest films. Michael Paré did a great job as the detective and I liked it when he was on the scene. The film suffered from noticeable goofs. They shoot a car with an automatic weapon and there are no bullet holes. A window is shot out for an escape route. It has large jagged edges. When they go to escape, the edges are gone. The film was constantly sloppy with continuity. Then there are things like, John keeps his multiple passports and license in a box in the closet. Why does he need them now and why would you put it in a place you know where your wife will snoop and find it? And why does the wife sleep with the night stand lamp on? Forcing someone at gunpoint to shoot the President lacks plausibility unless you are really really into conspiracy theories. The plot was so bad, the actors didn't have a chance to make it real...and you can see them trying.

Guide: Plenty of F-words. One sex scene with a pair of hands preventing the technical nudity.

ASSASSINATION is one of the cheapest B-movie thrillers I've seen in a long time. It makes most look like big budget blockbusters by comparison and as such must have had a budget no higher than an independent production. It's a vehicle for wooden muscle man Johnny Messner, who can make nothing of a role in which he's utilised as part of a corrupt CIA plot to take down the American president.

The UK version predominantly features Vinnie Jones on the cover but he turns out to have only a small supporting role, although at least he's not the villain this time around. Established genre stars like Michael Pare, James Remar and Richard Burgi play in support. The story suffers from horrible direction, utilising an all-over-the-place shaky-cam which ruins any fun the fight scenes might have otherwise have offered.

If a spoiler is saying that a film is so bad and the acting is worse than bad, if there is such a thing, then so be it. It was a terrible film, the acting was wooden, the plot predictable and Vinnie Jones should have stuck to football, soccer for my American chums, mind you, he wasn't very good at that either. Thankfully he only had a minor part and my word, he looked ill and totally out of shape. Whoever cast him as the head of an American secret service department with his London accent wants shooting, not literally of course.

It was a total waste of the $1,000,000 budget, they would have been better served doling it out to the homeless, they would have received a lot more street cred than they did putting this together. The only bonus from this pile of poo was that some B actors managed to pay their mortgage for a month or two.

You can probably gather that I don't write reviews, but I felt I should at least try and warn the unsuspecting public about this truly awful movie...

Sometimes, if you don't want to contend with large, shoulder-nudging, holiday crowds to see the latest theatrical blockbuster, you can resort to either Netflix and Redbox for an entertaining, straight-to-video feature or browse the video racks at your local Walmart for something equivalent. Action movie junkies who crave exciting, old-fashioned, nail-biters may want to consider the suspenseful, fast-paced, abduction/political assassination melodrama "Decommissioned" as a serviceable alternative. "SWAT: Unit 887" helmer Timothy Woodward, Jr., has cast muscular Johnny Messner as a sympathetic but formidable hero who doesn't stand around and let the grass grow between his toes. Not only does Woodward, Jr. , stage the bullet-blasting action with an adrenaline-like urgency, but he also doesn't let the plot meander in this low-budget, R-rated, 80-minute actioneer. Scenarist Sean Ryan, who wrote Woodward, Jr.'s previous thriller "Weaponized" that also toplined Messner, has penned this far livelier screenplay here where the hero turns the tables on the villains before they can flip them on him. Typically, in the usual standard-issue action opus, the protagonist follows the dictates of the villains as they compel him to navigate an obstacle course of complications where things unfold with a predictable familiarity. What "Decommissioned" lacks in terms of originality, the filmmakers compensate with high velocity heroics. Mind you, the stunts and the explosions don't generate much in the way of collateral damage, but the shenanigans are sufficient to keep you focused. Aside from Messner, who has made his share of straight-to-video sagas, "Decommissioned" has seasoned screen veteran James Remar of "The Warriors" as the sinister villain and the ever-dependable Vinnie Jones as a good guy for a change. The villains assemble for what is essentially a political conspiracy thriller reminiscent of Alan J. Pakula's "The Parallax View" (1974) with Warren Beatty. Furthermore, "Decommissioned" reminded me of the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic "Commando" (1985) because Arnold didn't do what the villains told him to do. He retaliated fearlessly against his captors and did what he wanted so as to rescue his young daughter from the clutches of his enemies.

"Decommissioned" opens with an Abraham Lincoln quote: "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Moments afterward, another preface appears, but this one is fictional: "Since 9-11, the CIA commissioned a top-secret unit code named BT85 with the sole purpose of monitoring the American people on American soil." The exposition continues: "The President of the United States has declared that the CIA's BT85 Task Force violates the 9th Amendment of the Constitution." During a televised press conference, President Ford (Richard Burgi of "The Green Inferno") informs the nation that he has introduced a bill to nullify the BT85 Task Force that has made a mockery of individual privacy. Nevertheless, Ford's adversaries are determined to thwart his efforts. After the filmmakers present this parcel of information, they shift the scene to our hero, John Niles (Johnny Messner of "Operation Delta Force 4: Deep Fault"), who is relaxing at home with his wife and son. Niles is portrayed as a devoted father as well as a passionate husband who doesn't shun his marital obligations, much to the delight of his wife, Rebecca (Estella Warren of the 2001 "Planet of the Apes" remake), now that he has retired from a Special Forces Anti-Terrorist Unit. Bad guy David Marino (James Remar) dispatches his hard-knuckled hooligans to abduct our hero. They subject him to the kind of physical torture that no mere mortal could survive and then they reveal that they have kidnapped Rebecca and his son. Predictably, the beaten-up and blood-spattered Niles assures Marino and company that he will go ballistic on all of them if they endanger his family. Marino leaves Niles in the hands of five sadistic henchmen while he attends to other matters of greater importance. The last thing that he imagines is that Niles will fulfill his promise of retribution. Not only does Niles snap the restraints holding him against his will in a chair, but he also devastates his captors with lethal force and leaves nobody to testify.

Meanwhile, Niles' superior Michael Price (Vinnie Jones of "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels") wants our hero to infiltrate a seditious cell within the government that has targeted the Chief Executive for termination. He supplies our hero with a computer flash drive that basically constitutes a 'get out of jail free card' because it contains ultra-sensitive government data about 9/11. Mind you, Vinnie Jones is confined largely to a peripheral supporting role, but he makes a strong impression as he pops up at random throughout the beginning, middle, and the end. Amazingly enough, Niles does accommodate his captors to keep them from harming his wife and son. Surprisingly, he does shoot the president and then embarks on a search for his family. Woodward Jr., maintains marginal suspense because we have no idea how seriously Niles has wounded the President. Now, Niles finds himself the object of a manhunt by bad-tempered LAPD Detective Tom Weston (Michael Paré of "Streets of Fire") who is drawn into the line of fire, too. Ultimately, these two join forces to take down the heavies.

Indeed, the bad guys are notoriously terrible marksmen, even at close range, but they wield some impressive firepower. Some come equipped with sophisticated assault rifles and others tote ordinance far more deadly. Nevertheless, the heroes lead charmed lives and win the day. Johnny Messner delivers a charismatic performance, and Michael Paré is effective as an irate LAPD detective. Although it is a relatively disposable action thriller, "Decommissioned" qualifies as an above-average guilty pleasure with a couple of surprises, too.

Several times during the film, both in rooms and in streets, the hero protects himself from a gazillion machine gun bursts crouching behind a wooden (probably plywood) counter, behind the door of a non-armored car and worse, behind a stretcher.

And no matter how many bullets are thrown to him, he is always peachy. Not one hits him.

The way the Big Bad Guy behaves and dies in the end is ridiculous.

In addition to those weaknesses there is the implausibility of the whole plot: the bad guys want to kill the president, so instead of hiring (and handsomely paying) a reliable sharpshooter, or finding a fanatic who could do the job out of hatred to the President, the bad guys force a guy by taking his wife and child as hostages. What could go wrong?) Yet, apart from those shortcomings, the film es decently directed and decently acted by everybody. As pure mindless entertanment, it fits the bill.