Search - The Job on DVD

Reasonable attempt at depicting depravity

Jonathan Appleseed | 03/30/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"There are several positives about this film. There are also some negatives, and the two balance each other out to a reasonable three star review.



One gets a sense that the producers were aiming for something along the lines of Requiem for a Dream - a movie that had me contemplating the merits of suicide when I finished watching it (not really). The aim was definitely for such intense depravity that the viewer would be sucked into horrid despair.



Daryl Hannah (C.J.) put in a credible performance of a hit woman "gone soft". It's unlikely that she would have been in such a state if her mark weren't a husband and his pregnant wife while she was pregnant herself. There we have a positive and a negative combined. Terrific, persuasive performance, tainted by a "just so happens" type of circumstance. That's clumsy writing.



I enjoyed the flashbacks to C.J.'s childhood. We often see hardened characters on the screen without any understanding as to what steeled them. Here we know - and this explanation is not tainted. It's rather sad and moving.



Initially I thought that the introduction of a former priest (Eric Mabius as Rick) to the production was rather cheap and on the cheesy side. Why in the world would someone so wholesome and pure be so interested in such damaged goods? The answer is rather simple. He was a former priest. You can leave the frock behind, but you can't leave the desire to save people behind. He recognized someone in desperate need of salvation and refused to let go. One imagines, and must forgive, that there was an obvious physical attraction on his part; otherwise, he would not have been so interested. Still, it wasn't as unbelievable as I initially thought.



Brad Renfro, who is unfortunately losing his hair and his boyish good looks, is still a good actor, and demonstrates believably that he is a man trying to do good by his wife, who, on top of being a reformed hooker, is also self-absorbed. For example, when he comes back to the motel with a gunshot wound, her first question is, "Did you sell it?" That was, of course, in reference to the drugs. She didn't care about his physical well-being.



As with any movie fueled at least partly by action sequences, there were some rather unbelievable sequences. Could a woman who JUST gave birth to a baby really leave that baby lying on the table (is she truly that evil or selfish?) and run, full speed, trying to escape death? I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV, but I would imagine that after giving birth - a difficult birth - that such physical activities would have been improbably, if not impossible.



The ending is rather puzzling. There is a climax, and a dénouement. I had questions regarding both. Mainly, people shot in the stomach usually aren't capable of hauling themselves halfway across town. Stomach wounds are supposed to be considerably painful. Concerning the dénouement, I'll say two things: she was shot in the stomach (so how did she...??) and Rick was absent. Not only was there another physical improbability, the film didn't wrap things up as well as it could have. I suppose that if Rick were present, one could argue that the ending was cheesy, but he was a savior figure. Saviors usually see things all the way through.

"

Give me a break

Jonathan Appleseed | 02/13/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I have to say this was not a very good movie. Daryl Hannah is a hit woman gone soft. She can't do her job anymore because she's pregnant. It's not believable in the slightest. She has her target two feet in front of her in several scenes and she turns away because the target is also pregnant. There are some flashback scenes that delve into the Daryl character's past...abuse and such leading to her being a hit woman, I guess. Save your time and money. Daryl Hannah was marginal in terms of her acting, but the real annoyance in this movie was Dominique Swain. Her acting was horrible beyond description. Save your money and see or buy something else."

What is wrong with film critics?

L. Martin | adelaide, AUST | 02/10/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Hands up who has heard of Daryl Hannah? Dominique Swain? Both capable of playing violent characters, agree? Here they do it well. I'm a male, a typical male, and I liked how Daryl Hannah had a conscience while trying to kill the pregnant Swain.

Hannah's character is very real and complex. She's a hit Lady on self destruction craziness.Eric Mabius is her savior. I connected to his character.

Hannah's crime boss is enjoyable too. He loves plants? Huh?

This movie offers good violent action and very soft moments with interesting thoughts on woman to woman pregnancy combat."

AND HOW WAS YOUR DAY TODAY?

Michael Butts | Martinsburg, WV USA | 04/23/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"THE JOB is a puzzling movie. As a character study, it succeeds mainly due to Daryl Hannah's draining performance, and Eric Mabius' interesting portrait of an ex-priest whose carnal desires still yield to his former profession. Hannah plays a hitwoman who discovers she's pregnant, and lo and behold, her latest "job" is a young couple, the wife also pregnant. Hannah's dilemma is explained with rather tragic flashbacks from her childhood, and she has the boss from hell played with venomous ferocity by the late Alex Rocco. Brad Renfro and Dominique Swain play the young couple who turn to selling drugs to purchase an ideal life. As the movie progresses, though, we begin to wonder who is worse? Hannah the hitwoman or Swain the self-centered, vicious wife?

Some of the action sequences are not very realistic; how can non-professionals like Renfro and Swain be such good shots with guns, topping a professional? The ending is also a disappointment as it plainly doesn't make much sense.

Still, THE JOB deserves credit for its unique approach to an unusual situation."