Category Archives: Contract Killing

2018, Abduction, Action Film, Action Hero, Anti-terrorism, British, British Politics, Car Chase, Career Competition, Complicated, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corruption, DO NOT MISS, Dysfunctional Lives, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Forensics, Gangs, Made For TV, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Political Suspense, Politicians, PTSD, Romance, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Terrorists, Thriller, Valium appropriate, Violent, War Veterans

Bodyguard (2018)

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From IMDB:

A contemporary thriller featuring the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch of London’s Metropolitan Police Service.

From Netflix:

Sgt. David Budd is promoted to a protection detail for UK Home Secretary Julia Montague, but he quickly clashes with the hawkish politician.

From Netflix you can stream the 6 episodes of the only season available.  Each episode is an hour except the last episode which lasts 75 minutes.

In Britain this TV series was a well-deserved smash hit. Character interplay, plot, action sequences, and romance are seamlessly joined. Because certain scenes are meticulously detailed (for example the disarming of a bomb attached to a person), some viewers might at times find the film progress slow. However, for me those details just added to the unceasing tension.  At times I was literally on the edge of my seat.

Purposeful spoiler: the series has a satisfactory end.

WARNING:  British thriller TV series are not squeamish and have no qualms about killing off characters that you might think were essential to the plot.

Gina McKee (who plays Anne Sampson) was familiar to me as the actor who played Irene Forsyte in the 2002 TV series “The Forsyte Saga”.  Along with her character, Richard Madden (as David Budd) and Keeley Hawes (as Julia Montague) steal the show. But all the acting is wonderful.

As far as political thrillers go,  you cannot go wrong with this series.

 

2017, Action Film, Action Hero, Amusing banter, Car Chase, Chase film, Comic Moments, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corruption, Courtroom scenes, Mayhem, Suspense, Violent, Witty dialog

The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017)

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From IMDB:

The world’s top bodyguard gets a new client, a hit man who must testify at the International Criminal Court. They must put their differences aside and work together to make it to the trial on time.

British Airways offered this film with subtitles.

Car chases galore, gun battles everywhere, conspiracy, genocidal dictators, romance, and a stream of side cracks all amount to a fun suspense fest. Perhaps that list sounds hackneyed, but somehow this film makes it all work.

All those side cracks are Ryan Reynolds’ trade in stock, which he delivers successfully. His banter with Samuel L. Jackson is also amusing.

And of course, the bad guy is really bad and you have to see him get his just dues.  Just as the film was reaching its conclusion the plane landed, but fortunately the plane was delayed for quite a while before we could disembark which let me see the stunning conclusion.

Just let your inner male teenager relax and enjoy the mayhem.

2017, Abduction, Adultery, Amazon Prime, Bail Bondsmen, Bloody scenes, Card sharks, Complicated, Complicated Scams, Contract Killing, Extramarital Affair, Gambling, Identity Theft, Police Culture, Prison, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Torture, Violent

Sneaky Pete (2017)

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SEASON ONE

From Amazon Prime:

A con man (Giovanni Ribisi) on the run from a vicious gangster (Bryan Cranston) takes cover from his past by assuming the identity of his prison cellmate, Pete, “reuniting” with Pete’s estranged family, a colorful, dysfunctional group that threatens to drag him into a world just as dangerous as the one he’s trying to escape – and, just maybe, give him a taste of the loving family he’s never had.

There are now two seasons you can stream from Amazon Prime. Season One consists of 10 episodes, each roughly an hour long.

Giovanni Ribisi (who plays Pete) has always been one of my favorite chameleon actors. But the bonus is that his “grandmother” Audrey is none other than Margo Martindale whose resumé is enormous but whom I first remember as the cold blooded killer Mags Bennett from “Justified.” You will probably also recognize Pete’s “grandfather” Otto as the actor Peter Gerety who played Judge Timothy Stane in “The Good Wife.”

Clever crime can be extremely technical. In our case the crimes center around fraudulent scams and card shark gambling. Not only can the scams be complicated, but the cheating techniques in card playing are challenging to understand. However, those details do not really matter because the fun is just watching the participants getting caught in their intrigues.  If you think some of our current politicians are “good” at lying, wait till you hear Pete in one tense situation after another instantly concoct some of the most creative lies I have ever heard.

At times the show can be violent. For example, until Pete returns stolen money to a crook, Pete’s captive brother will regularly lose a toe (ouch!).  But after the card shark brother loses just one toe, the captors convince him to deal cards for them in order to discover how one of the client players is cheating.

If there is a main theme, it is that Pete not only convinces the family that he really is the long lost grandson, but Pete becomes genuinely attached to the family.

Peter never stays out of trouble for long and seems to drag everyone else along with him. But it is just fun to watch.

 

2011, Abuse of Women, Acceptable for teenagers, Action Hero, Amazon Prime, Bloody scenes, Car Chase, Child custody, Child Molestation, Contract Killing, Detective, Divorce, DO NOT MISS, Failing Marriage, Father-daughter relations, Incest, Missing Person, Murder, Prostitutes, Scottish Detectives, Sex trafficking, Various Romances, Violent

Case Histories (2011)

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From Amazon Prime:

Based on the novels by Kate Atkinson. Former soldier and police officer Jackson Brodie (Golden Globe-nominee Jason Isaacs, “Harry Potter,” “Star Trek: Discovery”) becomes a private investigator, assisted by the loyal Louise (Amanda Abbington, “Sherlock”), compelled to bring peace to victims and their families, all while escaping the memories of his own traumatic past.

Season 2 is now available from Amazon Prime.

SEASON 1 REVIEW:

Amazon Prime streams season 1 of this TV series set in Edinburgh, Scotland. Each of the 3 stories is presented as 2 one-hour episodes, giving us a total of 6 episodes.

Jason Isaacs is perfect for the part of Jackson Brodie. Once again his private life is the usual cliché of a detective so wrapped up in his business that his marriage fails. Much of the time he spends trying to convince his former wife not to move to New Zealand and take his young (and really appealing) daughter Niamh with her. His attachment to Niamh and subsequent heartbreak when she leaves for New Zealand is genuinely portrayed.

Jackson’s main line of work is finding lost people. Even in one story he is searching for more than one person. For this reason you must pay a bit of attention. Often these missing people are somehow connected.

SEASON 2 REVIEW:

Season 2 offers 3 episodes. In general the mood is the same: Jackson Brodie is still the lonely seeker of lost persons and solver of cold cases.

Episode 1: Started Early, Took my Dog has Jackson searching for a woman’s birth mother.

Episode 2: Nobody’s Darling (in which his daughter Marlee returns) has Jackson finding the true murderer of a woman’s daughter.

Episode 3: Jackson and the Women has Jackson finding the true murderer of a young man’s mother. In addition Jackson has several unfortunate relationships.

Because I watched this series twice and enjoyed it both times I hereby deem this series a DO NOT MISS!

2012, Acceptable Trash, Action Film, Action Hero, B-movie, Bad Acting, Bloody scenes, Car Chase, CIA, Contract Killing, Corny at times, Father-daughter relations, Greed, Improbable details, Mediocre, Suspense, Thriller, Violent, Weapons Dealer

Erased (2012)

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From IMDB:

An ex-CIA agent and his estranged daughter are forced on the run when his employers erase all records of his existence, and mark them both for termination as part of a wide-reaching international conspiracy.

From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 40 minutes single film (not a series).

Formulaic (CIA killers, CIA agents moving to the dark side, invincible ex-CIA agent hero and his estranged but  brave and clever daughter, amoral weapons-dealing corporation) film with lots of action, chasing, and sometimes really bad and corny acting.

You have seen it all before, but it just fun seeing the bad guys get what is coming to them.

2014, Action Film, Bloody scenes, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corruption, Crude Talk, Dark, Ends in Cliff Hanger, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, Forensics, Gloomy, Grungy, Gun Trafficking, MHz Choice, Military Corruption, Murder, Murder Investigation, Personal Betrayal, Police Corruption, Polish, Polish Border Guards, Serial Killer, Suspense, Thriller, TV Series, Upsetting ending, Violent, Weapons Dealer

Wataha (2014)

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From IMDB:

After bombing attack, which killed his friends from the Border Guard, Captain Wiktor Rebrow trying to unravel the mystery and figure out what happened and who is behind it all.

From MHz Choice:

A tense Polish thriller about an elite border unit specializing in human trafficking cases. After a bomb attack decimates his team, the lone survivor sets out to bring the perpetrators to justice.

From MHz Choice you can stream the only Polish TV series offered. Only Season 1 is available with its 6 episodes, each about 45 minutes. “Wataha” according to the subtitles means “The Pack” even though IMDB calls it “The Border.”

UNFORTUNATELY:  Season 1 resolves neither the mystery nor the injustices. IMDB describes the episodes of Season 2 and even those episodes do not end the story. Even though the series is very well done, you might want to wait until someday you can see the story to its conclusion.

Along the border between Poland and the Ukraine there is human trafficking and that is exclusively where the action takes place. But the story is really about the border guard Wiktor Rebrow who is framed for several murders and the DA Iga Dobosz who pursues Rebrow relentlessly but finally realizes Rebrow was set up just as Rebrow escapes from the police and flees toward the Ukraine at the unsatisfactory end of Season 1.

“Bleak”, “Grungy”,  “Ugly” and “Depressing” are a few words that describe the Polish territory and its inhabitants. If this presentation is representative of Poland,  you can forget about ever visiting Poland.

Isn’t it too bad that the episodes are so exciting when there will be no satisfactory conclusion in the foreseeable future?

2015, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Belgian, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Child abduction and murder, Child abuse, Child Molestation, Contract Killing, Corruption, Could Be Hard To Watch, Danish, Danish Detectives, Dark, Dutch, Emotional child abuse, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Forensics, French, German, Greed, Grim, Grisly, Incest, International thriler, Made For TV, Marital Infidelity, MHz Choice, Murder, Nudity, Pedophilia, Physical child abuse, Polish, Pornographic Scenes, Prostitutes, Rape, Revenge, Serial Killer, Sex Scenes, Sex trafficking, Slave trafficking, Sociopath, Spousal Abuse, Suspense, Terminal Disease, Torture, Valium appropriate, Violent, Wife Beating

The Team (2015)

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From MHz Choice:

Lars Mikkelsen (‘Borgen’, ‘1864’) stars as the leader of a joint Danish-German-Belgian investigative team tasked with solving a series of murders in this gripping crime thriller from the writers of ‘The Eagle’.

What makes this one season of 8 episodes streamed from MHz Choice so gripping for me is that the villain Marius Loukauskis  is so vile and so cynically amoral that I could not wait to get to the conclusion. Unfortunately MHz Choice doled out the episodes week after week. Finally you can see now all the episodes at once, which is why I waited to recommend and review this excellent series.

Because the “Team” is assembled from several countries (even though the production is from Denmark), you will hear many languages: French, English, German, and others. As usual they are accompanied by subtitles.

Each member of the team has their own personal story to tell. Often that story is quite unhappy.

WARNING: If you are squeamish, DO NOT WATCH this series (which is not acceptable for young people, let alone lots of adults).

2011, Abduction, Action Film, Adultery, Bank Robbery, Bloody scenes, Boating, Cancer theme, Car Chase, Chase film, Complicated, Computer geeks, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Could Be Hard To Watch, Dark, Detective, Disturbing Image, DO NOT MISS, Dysfunctional Lives, Explicit sex, Explicit sexual discussion, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, FBI, Forensics, Gangs, Grim, International thriler, Iraq War, Made For TV, Marital Infidelity, MHz Choice, Murder, Nudity, Plot Twist, Psychopath, Sadism, Serial Killer, Sex Scenes, Spy Theme, Suspense, Swedish, Swedish crime series, Swiss detective, Terrorists, Thriller, Torture, TV Series, Various Romances, Violent, Well developed plot

Arne Dahl (2011)

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From MHz Choice:

Rough. Raw. Real. This is the world of Arne Dahl, whose crime novels have been transposed to the screen in adaptations that follow the dramatic tradition of all best-selling Scandinavian thrillers. The series revolves around cases taken on by the ‘A Unit’, an elite force of officers recruited after a series of assassinations rocks Stockholm’s high society.

MHz Choice streams several seasons (from many years beginning with 2011) of this Swedish thriller.  There are 5 complete stories, one per different year. Each story consists of 2 episodes. Each Episode is about 1.5 hours long. Swedish script with English subtitles.

REVISION 1 (Feb 2021):

There are now 2 seasons available from MHz Choice.  In the second season several of the excellent first season actors are missing or have been replaced.  Season 2 is acceptable, but not (in my opinion) a good as season 1.  Season 2 is a bit more of a soap opera. Still worth watching.

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

Throughout the 5 stories the same team of detectives are together. As is usual in such productions, the personal lives of the detectives are easily as important as the mystery plots.

As powerful and as grim as the stories are, they are so well done that they are really worth watching. But you should expect blood, torture as well as some explicit sex. Many scenes involve foot or car chases.

Not only are the stories complicated, but there are many surprise turns including some endings you might not expect.

This series is so compelling that I will rate it a DO NOT MISS!

 

 

 

2012, Action Film, Bloody scenes, Boxing, Car Chase, Complicated, Computer geeks, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corruption, Detective, Extramarital Affair, Forensics, French, French Detective Series, Gypsies, Journalist, MHz Choice, Murder Investigation, Police Corruption, Police Psychologist, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Violent

Antigone 34 (2012)

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From MHz Choice:

Under the pressure of an invisible and powerful enemy, Lea Hippolyte, a police captain and martial arts specialist, joins forces with Victor, a marginal doctor wrongly disbarred, and with Helene, a non-conformist psycho-criminologist. Their investigations on “ ordinary” crimes cross paths with much higher stakes and address universal topics. Filmed in Montpellier in the south of France, this series follows three characters with little in common joining forces to overcome common threats.

From MHz Choice you can stream the 6 episodes of season 1.  Each episode lasts roughly 50 minutes. French with subtitles.

Inside the police headquarters, named Antigone34 for some reason, the atmosphere is always tense.  Principally that tension is due to two detectives who are not only hostile to many of their fellow officers, but also in fact bent. It is no secret in the plot that they are paid by the chief villain to do his bidding.  Adding to the general feeling of suspense are many chase scenes, most of which involve running on foot to catch someone. Although I found the plot somewhat complicated, nonetheless the plot excitement kept me interested.

That there is only one season disappoints me.  Season one finishes  the plot surrounding one police case, but finishes with a major surprise that seems designed to demand another season. Moreover, those two bent detectives are still in the picture, although Lea is sure she knows who they are. But at the end of the season we the audience discover a bad actor that even Lea could not yet suspect.

2014, Abduction, Action Film, Action Hero, Arson, Bloody scenes, Brother-Brother relations, Car Chase, Complicated, Computer geeks, Confusing Plot, Conspiracy, Contract Killing, Corruption, Emotional child abuse, Father-son relations, Financial malfeasance, Good Brother - Bad Brother, Greed, Grim, Grisly, MHz Choice, Mother-son relations, Murder Investigation, Newspaper Culture, Norwegian, Norwegian Journalists, Suicide, Suspense, Thriller, Uncle-Nephew relations, Violent

Mammon (2014)

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From IMDB:

A newspaper journalist revealing fraud in a large multinational company, finds his family involved, ruining his career, family relations, and entangles him in a following mystery.

From MHz Choice you can stream season 1 (2014) of this thriller. Each of the 6 episodes lasts about an hour. Season 1 is a complete story. Norwegian with English subtitles.  In the Spring of 2018 MHz Choice will offer Season 2 (2016).

For me the plot was complicated and a bit confusing, possibly because there were so many characters. Nevertheless the episodes were tense and exciting.  Peter Veras (played by Jon Oigarden) is placed in one difficult situation after another. Just watching him escape fatal traps set by all sorts of really evil people is exhausting.

Exciting enough to binge watch.  Thankfully, the story ends in episode 6.  Otherwise a cliff-hanger would have killed me.