Come on now, did you really think Samuel L. Jackson would be so summarily dumped in a movie, especially via assassination? You wind up waiting to see what gimmick brings him back into the fold of the story. And so he does via some sleight of hand replacement of the victim in order to keep Jackson's presence as the legendary assassin Moody handy in the background.
But Moody's not the only one who fakes his death in the story. Going for it twice was probably overkill (sorry about the pun), but the presumed dead Edward Arthur Hayes (David Rintoul) appears at a time when you think the picture has just about used up all of its gimmicks. Michael Keaton portrays an ambiguous hit-man named Rembrandt in the story, who at times is at war and then making love to the story's principal, Anna (Maggie Q). It makes for some confusing continuity, since you never know what Rembrandt's rationale seems to be.
In the sub-genre of assassin flicks, this one is about middle of the road, with Anna's background as a Vietnamese orphan adding to her mystique as a contract killer trained by Moody, while running an antique book store as her daytime cover. If you're a book lover, you had to cringe when the bad guys shot up her shop with all those rare first editions and one of a kind collector items. The ending leaves you just short of wondering whether she survived her final confrontation with the enigmatic Rembrandt, but then again, you don't name your movie after a loser.
But Moody's not the only one who fakes his death in the story. Going for it twice was probably overkill (sorry about the pun), but the presumed dead Edward Arthur Hayes (David Rintoul) appears at a time when you think the picture has just about used up all of its gimmicks. Michael Keaton portrays an ambiguous hit-man named Rembrandt in the story, who at times is at war and then making love to the story's principal, Anna (Maggie Q). It makes for some confusing continuity, since you never know what Rembrandt's rationale seems to be.
In the sub-genre of assassin flicks, this one is about middle of the road, with Anna's background as a Vietnamese orphan adding to her mystique as a contract killer trained by Moody, while running an antique book store as her daytime cover. If you're a book lover, you had to cringe when the bad guys shot up her shop with all those rare first editions and one of a kind collector items. The ending leaves you just short of wondering whether she survived her final confrontation with the enigmatic Rembrandt, but then again, you don't name your movie after a loser.