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[Blu-ray Review] Walter Hill’s ‘The Assignment’ Has a Pretty Crazy Premise

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I love Walter Hill. I’ll happily watch anything he makes and I know that I’ll be entertained. He may not always knock it out of the ballpark but he rarely ever strikes out. His latest effort, The Assignment, is a ground-ruled double.

The Assignment has a pretty crazy premise, one that would likely cause more of an uproar if it were directed by a more mainstream director, but Walter Hill has never earned the respect he truly deserves. Well, if you’ve been sleeping on Mr. Hill all these years that’s your loss!

Michelle Rodriguez stars as badass hitman Frank Kitchen. Frank does not play around. He’s a ruthless, cold-blooded killer that always gets the job done. If you need someone dead, Frank is your guy. Even the best of the best hit hiccups along the way and that’s what happens to Frank when some gangsters he does work for double cross him. After the attack, Frank wakes up confused in a hotel. After he starts to come to he realizes something is very different. Thanks to a plastic surgeon that has gone rogue, Dr. Rachel Jane (Sigourney Weaver), Frank has undergone gender reassignment surgery and is now a woman.

Frank is devastated by this discovery and does not know how to handle it. As he begins to destroy the hotel room in anger he finds a box that contains some hormones and a tape recorder with some tapes. He plays the first tape and here’s Dr. Jane explaining what she has done and that she has done so to give Frank a chance to start over and be a better person with this new life. Frank decides that he’s going to hunt down Dr. Jane and anyone else that crossed him and get sweet, sweet revenge!

Like I said, the premise is crazy. Way back when it was first announced there were some people that got upset with the idea and voiced their concerns. If the movie were a big, successful film we likely would have heard plenty of outrage and that’s understandable. The transgender community has every right to be offended and upset with this film. The character Rodriguez plays undergoes gender reassignment surgery as a form of punishment. It’s easy to see how that’s not a great look.

All that being said I don’t think Hill was intending to be offensive here. I also understand that that isn’t really the point. If someone is offended by something the intent is irrelevant. What I think Hill was trying to do is create a bit of a throwback to the 70’s. Take a subject matter that’s a touchy subject and exploit while attempting to put in a bit of a positive spin. My guess is that the thought process was, “hey, the transgender character is the hero.” This, of course, ignores the fact that they didn’t choose to become transgender and it was meant as a form of punishment. I could be way off on my line of thinking as to what Hill’s intent was, but hey, I’m just spit balling here.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this premise done in modern cinema. Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In took the same idea but delivered it in a more polished format. Almodóvar’s film is still rooted in classic genre cinema, it’s basically a mad doctor movie, but it’s presented as more art-house fare.

If we look at the film and just focus on the gritty hitman/revenge portion it is rather fun. This is no John Wick, but it’s an enjoyable shoot-em-up. Michelle Rodriguez as a lot of charisma and is capable of demanding attention while on screen. She’s a badass and she knows it. This all works very well after the surgery when she’s Michelle Rodriguez. The stuff that is pre-surgery and the flashbacks, that’s a hard sell. It’s Michelle Rodriguez in a fake beard and we can tell it’s a fake beard. It looks silly and it’s hard to get past but if there were a film from the 70’s that’s kind of what we’d expect so if you view it in that regard it’s sort of ok. Mostly though, it’s just silly.

Sigourney Weaver is the star of this film. She sort of acts as narrator and is the one guided us through the story. In the film, the police are unable to locate Frank Kitchen and thus do not believe he is real and instead think Dr. Jane has just lost her mind. The fact that most of Weaver’s performances come while sitting in a chair is a testament to how great of an actress she is. Every moment she speaks I was captivated. It’s one of her best roles in years.

The Assignment is now out on Blu-ray from Lionsgate and it looks and sounds great. Of course, we expect new releases to look and sound great, there’s no reason for them not to unless someone messed up real bad. The bummer is that this comes with no special features outside of a little slide of stills. I would have loved a commentary or at least an interview with Hill. I’m truly curious as to his thinking while making the film and what he was hoping to accomplish.

I wouldn’t recommend The Assignment for everybody. Some people just aren’t going to be into it and many likely won’t be able to get past the fake bearded Rodriguez. If you’re a Walter Hiller purist though, then this is absolutely for you. And if you just want to see something interesting and experience a mostly fun 90 minutes, then I’d check it out. It’s problematic to be sure, but there’s enough here to make it enjoyable.

The Assignment is now out on Blu-ray from Lionsgate.

Chris Coffel is originally from Phoenix, AZ and now resides in Portland, OR. He once scored 26 goals in a game of FIFA. He likes the Phoenix Suns, Paul Simon and 'The 'Burbs.' Oh and cats. He also likes cats.

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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