Soul Assassin (2001)

the audience applauded

Simply Perfect

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It's not easy to do, but a story that had potential simply sinks under very, very bad direction.In film one of the director's jobs is to tell the viewer where to look. True that. But it does not mean that he should be shouting "Look at me!" when he should be concentrating on story and characterization.A reported $7 million goes down the toilet in developing this story of greed, jealousy, and revenge. Actors who have done very fine work in the past are simply stranded on screen. That's bad enough.But for some reason a great chunk of the action is filmed using a blue filter over the lens. This is understandable for the exteriors at night. But it looks more than slightly stupid for scenes in, say, a living room.The action is sped up in some scenes for no reason whatsoever. And the fight scenes are edited so incoherently that it's impossible to tell who's who are what's going on.Watching movies directed by, say, Ed Wood can be a fun experience. Catatonic actors, cardboard sets, special effects that totally fail, it's sort of like watching the community theater group perform on the stage in the American Legion hall. You know that they're genuinely trying to do their best and it's easy to root for everyone involved.Here, the gimmicks just seem to try to cover up undeveloped story arcs.There is one very good thing about this, though. Director Laurence Malkin directed exactly one more movie after this, in 2006, and has not worked behind the camera since then although he has remained active in the film business. People seeking proof that God created an orderly universe need look no further.

In Rotterdam, when Kevin Burke (Skeet Ulrich) is promoted to chief of security of a multinational investment bank, he goes to a hotel with his girlfriend, the executive of the bank Rosalind Bremmond (Katherine Lang), to celebrate and propose her to marry him. However, Rosalind is murdered in the room, and blind of rage, Kevin looks for revenge following the guidance of his chief and mentor Karl Jorgensen (Derek de Lint)."Soul Assassin" is a horrible movie, indeed a festival of clichés. The story is totally unbelievable and amazingly ridiculous; the characters are not well-developed and the viewer does not know who they are and their motives; the camera seems to be shooting a MTV video-clip; the choreography of the fights is awful, with many closes and cuts. I have seen few Dutch movies, but this one is certainly the worst. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Alma Assassina" ("Assassin Soul")

This was absolutely the WORST movie ever made in Holland and I've seen them all! Being Dutch myself, I am ashamed that this "videoclip-type" movie was made with a lot of Dutch effort (actors, production and ofcourse locations).The story and the acting are so bad and corny that I first thought they made it as an experimental joke. But they MEANT it! Especially the way that this movie was advertised really annoyed me once I saw the finished product. This was supposed to be a movie that would blow us away and it was supposed to be a rollercoaster-ride of action... We were deceived: the plot is worse than a standard action-movie, the blue filter on the images and the weird experimental imaging gives you a headache, and the biggest stunt in Soul Assassin is when Skeet Ullrich rides his bicycle(!) into a canal...! Need I say more...? The director (Laurence Malkin) used to make MTV-videos for rapper Coolio and it SHOWS! My advice: DON'T bother renting this one, you'll kick yourself after if you DO!

I just saw this on DVD . My friend saw it at a screening at The Directors Guild in LA last year and bought it a soon as the new DVD came out. He said it was different and it was. It's an independently produced action thriller with more on it's mind than the usual low budget explosions and murky pseudo film noir effects. The fast cuts, transition edits, hyper modern music, "industrial blue" tints on some scenes, all act as a counterpoint to a story of betrayal and amoral corporate greed (Enron anyone?). The acting by Skeet Ulrich, Derek De Lint and Antoine Kamerling was a B+ (De Lint was really an A).You should see this film. Especially if you can see it on DVD so you can get the full impact of the sound track.What I mean by "confrontational" is that based on the comments I have read people either love this film or are bothered by it's unique differences from the norm. I loved it.