Telly assassins have many good qualities, as well as one obvious red flag. We admire their prowess, method, patience and improvisation. We may be jealous of their efficiency, or their extraordinarily brief phone conversations, some of which merely involve listening to the words \u201cIs it done?\u201d or \u201cCall me when it\u2019s done.\u201d The Assassin (Friday 25 July, Prime Video) features a supremely confident title and many of these aspects. It is also funny.<\/p>\n
The set-up is low-key. Journalist Edward Green visits his estranged mother Julie on a Greek island. Following an attempt on her life, which she settles with brutal efficiency, he discovers she is actually a deactivated hitwoman. Fleeing across Europe, he attempts to learn about her past as they untangle a giant conspiracy threatening their lives. There\u2019s also a mystery around who his father is, so it\u2019s a bit Mamma Mia, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you really not going to tell me why you\u2019re some kind of perimenopausal James Bond?\u201d Edward boggles, after she dispatches another assailant. Actor Freddie Highmore<\/a> spends a lot of time in this mode, trailing his mother with anxiety and admiration, like a live-action Rick and Morty. Keeley Hawes<\/a> has more fun as the reluctantly maternal asset, whether kicking a child\u2019s football into the sea or stabbing someone in the neck. David Dencik, as a shrewd IT specialist, has a Peter Lorre skittishness, while Alan Dale<\/a> makes a villainous boss, though I still think of him as Jim from Neighbours.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Acting schmacting. The Assassin opens with an intense, one-shot sequence of a younger Julie carrying out a mission, like something out of The Raid<\/a>. Later fight scenes are more cartoonish, which isn\u2019t to say sanitised: fingers are as disposable as Ikea pencils. There\u2019s a blood specialist credited, so corners are the one thing not being cut. While the physicality of the performers isn\u2019t on a par with the best of this type of action, it is able to wield humour with violence \u2013 and that is a very specific set of skills.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t usually like killing capped with a zinger. My taste is for the clean lines of Chad Stahelski-choreography, or the scrappy but character-revealing grit of a film like Nobody. Snappy dialogue undermines reality, in the same way as physics-defying choreography. That\u2019s why it\u2019s better to choose one.<\/p>\n The Assassin, though, understands visual wit. That intense opening sequence is capped by Julie, still at the kill site, checking a pregnancy test and swearing. In another scene, she uses a cheese fork as a lethal weapon, elsewhere a sauna as an interrogation device. There are shades of last year\u2019s Mr & Mrs Smith, which similarly explored domesticity through extreme conflict. Still, I\u2019d be happy with a little less conversation, a little more action.<\/p>\n The getaway \u2026 Hawes with Freddie Highmore in The Assassin. Photograph: Amazon Prime Video<\/p>\n The scenes between the Greens play best. Julie has lied about her job his whole life \u2013 although as half-truths go, calling herself a \u201cheadhunter\u201d is pretty good. Edward repeatedly calls out her casual deception, violence and ease with backstabbing. Accurate but painful, she concedes. \u201cThat should be on your business card,\u201d he responds. For her part, she thinks her son is boring and pale. On the run across Athens, France and Libya, he\u2019s unlikely to remain either. But can motherhood be exciting enough for Julie? It\u2019s a provocative question.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Get the best TV reviews, news and features in your inbox every Monday<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n There is a traditonal MacGuffin, in the form of \u201cChantaine\u201d: a secret guarded by Jim from Neighbours, which connects all the characters in some way. Four episodes in, we don\u2019t know what Chantaine is. It might be an AI, assassin training program, a password or a white wine. Moreover, many of the actors pronounce the word so it sounds like \u201cSean Penn\u201d. There are frequent scenes of characters demanding \u201cWhat is Sean Penn?\u201d which is distracting.<\/p>\n These types of shows generally feature a monastic, taciturn, near sociopathic lone wolf, almost invariably male. By centring on a retired, middle-aged mother\u2019s relationship with her son, the show kicks away most of the genre\u2019s crutches, forcing itself to do something new. All in all, its confidence is earned. For contract killers and mothers alike, there\u2019s no room for diffidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Telly assassins have many good qualities, as well as one obvious red flag. 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