Beatle (Michele Hicks) lives a life of disaffected danger, advertising herself as an assassin/tow truck driver, but even she finds her latest job a little odd – being hired by a woman (Ever Carradine) to perform a hit on herself.
What a mess of marketing this is. If one where to look at the posters and write-ups and trailers, one might settle into Guns for Hire thinking you were about to watch some kind of crime/thriller story. The film is nothing of the sort. Though there are elements of both genres throughout this low-budget affair, the film also contains elements of romantic comedy and psychological drama – but it also seems disingenuous to describe it as either. I’ve also seen it described as a comedy and I… guess? Sort of?
It has a few strange scenarios which I assume are supposed to be blackly funny, but it also has some uncomfortable torture scenes, not to mention a couple of ludicrous plot twists towards the end that make a hash of any attempt to comfortably settle the film into any solid classification. If you’re hoping for some sort of genre-defying experience that defies description, that’s what you’re in for, but then again, that’s a good description for The Room as well, and at least that managed to be bizarrely hysterical. This film, though…
The film obviously didn’t have a huge budget to work with, but then again, I’ve seen more done with less so I can’t really let Guns for Hire off the hook – it’s a dull, silly film with poor acting, bad dialogue, cheap looking sets, and a plot which initially seems promising before disappearing into a series of ludicrous twists that only surprise the audience because they can’t believe the writers thought they would work.
To an extent, there are some admirable qualities to the film: there were some attempts to make an interesting story and premise that bucked a few clichés; the dialogue isn’t good, but sometimes – just sometimes – you might feel as though the writing is almost reaching a place of wry amusement, but there’s just no spark, no wit, and if the actors have any talent at all, there’s no way they could glean much out of this script, despite a couple of attempts towards it by the end of the final act.
I can’t think of too many people who’d enjoy this film – there’s really not a lot to sink your teeth into. If you don’t mind the low budget, poor acting, and unfulfilling story line, maybe you could find… something? I’m just at a loose to think of what it could be.
Reviewed by Brendan Whittaker
Twitter: @BrendanW2
Rating out of 10: 2
Guns for Hire will be released on DVD from 24 August 2016.