Killers

Spies and Spouses
[Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Tom Selleck, Catherine O'Hara]

Sorry so late with this week's entry. There was a christening and a birthday, for the same little girl! There was a BBQ with a chance of showers and tornadoes. But while the hot winds were blowing and a few drops came down, it eventually turned out pretty nice.

SYNOPSIS: Spencer, a CIA assassin starts questioning the value of his targets and yearns for a quieter suburban life. Meeting a fetching Jen in Nice, Italy, he finishes his final job and starts a relationship with Jen, eventually marrying. Soon their suburban life is upset when Spencer is approached by his old handler for a new job, as well as finding out their neighbors and co-workers may be assassins contracted to kill him.

Part romantic comedy, part actioner, "Killers" is cut from the same cloth as "True Lies". But where we see Arnold and Jamie Lee in the depths of their marriage with Arnold still active in the trade, "Killers" starts with Ashton with a hesitant last mission after meeting and falling for the safe Katherine, then a flash forward to their simple suburban married life three years later. Where "True Lies" was the most expensive move ever made when it hit theaters, "Killers" had a sub $100 million production cost. It seems that I am reaching for some comparison between the films, and that is because other than being of the same sub-genre, that is where the similarities end.

There are a few laughs from Heigl as Jen who married the perfect man, then finds out that Spencer, played by Kutcher, is a former CIA contract killer, and finds out that everyone suddenly seems to be out to kill him. Ashton brings his typical semi-bumbling humor to bear, when he is not reverting and relying on his black-ops training to save his bacon from the neighbors and friends that seem to want to "retire" him. and some of the sleepers suddenly activated are pretty funny, notably Rob Riggle as Spencer's co-worker Henry. Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara are a fine couple of parents to Jen, especially O'Hara as creative boozer Mrs. Kornfeldt.

The action part of the film is mostly comprised of car chases, hand-to-hand combat and various caliber weapons. While the sleeper contract killers coming out of the woodwork keeps Spencer and Jen running and gunning, the mastermind behind the deployment of arms seemed to become a little too apparent to me simply based on one plot clue and the simple fact that most of the characters on the call sheet were already part of the killing crew.

The film works well enough to be a Saturday distraction, and fans of Heigl and Kutcher will probably like it even more. Otherwise, the storyline has been done bigger and better.

Worth: Matinee