James Bond, you’re being a bad boy. A very bad boy. And Pierce Brosnan looks like he’s enjoying it thoroughly.
Brosnan, who no longer has his spy-movie day job to return to, stars in “The Matador” as Julian Noble, professional hit man. Julian’s been good at his job, but he’s seen better days – a new anxiety has made his trigger finger hesitate.
A cold-hearted cad and full-time boozer, Julian is suddenly aware of his utter loneliness. Sent on a job in Mexico, he realizes his job is on the line. His life, too.
| “The Matador” HH Hit and miss: A bad-mannered professional hit man (Pierce Brosnan) forms an awkward partnership with a suburban businessman (Greg Kinnear) while on a job. Some of the jokes land and Brosnan is seedy fun, so it’s a drag to admit this movie isn’t as terrific as it should be. Rated: R rating is for language, violence, subject matter |
By chance, Julian runs into Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) in a hotel bar in Mexico City. A jovial suburban type, Danny is on a business trip, his financial future hanging in the balance. Their meeting is a very funny piece of dialogue writing, though not much of it could be reprinted here.
The movie is about the peculiar partnership, and even friendship, that develops between the two opposites. It’s a buddy movie with a healthy amount of acid.
“The Matador” is so close to being a terrific movie it’s a drag to admit that it doesn’t click as often as it should. There are scenes that fly by, thanks to Brosnan’s randy presence and Kinnear’s diffidence. But overall the movie might be a little too nice to bring off its black-comic premise.
The writer-director is Richard Shepard, who previously did TV work and a well-regarded indie, “Oxygen.” There’s something modest about his style, a quality both appealing and limiting.
The tasty supporting cast includes Hope Davis as Kinnear’s concerned wife (the hit man shows up at their house one holiday season, bellowing for a highball and company).
Also briefly around are Philip Baker Hall and Dylan Baker.
The jokes and the globe-hopping locations provide pleasure, but the main event is Pierce Brosnan’s decadent rogue. We first meet him waking up in bed with a floozy and sneaking a peek at her naked body, then lazily painting his toenails.
This is a James Bond from the wrong side of the tracks, a 007 with a lousy attitude and bad breath. Brosnan wallows in the change of scenery.
Greg Kinnear (left) and Pierce Brosnan star in “The Matador.”
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