This Friday night I rented Asher – He’s a Hebrew hitman looking for love… and his retirement benefits.
Director: Michael Caton-Jones
Writer: Jay Zaretsky
Release Date: December 7, 2018
Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes
Rated: R
Character Rundown
Ron Perlman plays Asher, a former Mossad member turned gun for hire.
Famke Janssen plays Sophie, a ballet teacher that takes care of her mother with dementia.
Richard Dreyfuss plays Avi, the man at the top who calls the shots.
Peter Facinelli plays Uziel, the younger hitman who was trained by Asher.
Jacqueline Bisset plays Dora, Sophie’s mother with dementia.
Quick Synopsis
2018 seems to be the tough old man year. We’ve got The Oldman with a Gun starring Robert Redford at age 82, The Mule starring Clint Eastwood at 88 and now Asher starring a 68-year-old Ron Perlman. I’m not complaining, in fact, I love silver-haired character stories where the main protagonist questions their existence.
Asher lives a lonely life in a quiet apartment, eating dinner and drinking wine by himself every night at 8 pm. Asher has a routine that is foolproof. He works alone, gets his usual rate, shines his shoes and takes out his target. It’s rather enjoyable watching Asher’s tactics of making the “hit.” He lights up a cigarette, sets off the sprinklers and waits for his victim to come out of their door and BOOM, they’re dead. He even grabs a new umbrella for every job.
One night while Asher is getting ready to take down another mark, he passes out from walking up the stairs and falls into Sophie’s apartment. Sophie is a beautiful woman with somber brown eyes. Famke Janssen brings a lot of soul to this character. Instead of only being the love interest, she brings weight to Sophie’s character with witty banter and puzzling looks. Once Asher sees Sophie, he has to make her dinner. Sophie resists at first but decides to surprise him one night and change up his routine.
The story hits a snag when Asher decides to break his own rule of working alone. He takes a job with a younger hitman, Uziel, which Asher mentored. Uziel’s team needs back up, and Asher must cover them while they take out a house of rival mobsters.
After the job, Asher finds his world-changing, and he must find a way to keep it together along with getting Sophie out alive.
Pros:
Perlman seems to keep getting better with age. He may be older, but it seems to make him more interesting to watch. His grizzled look carries so many small details in how he walks and talks as Asher.
An older cast. Jacqueline Bisset is 74, Richard Dreyfuss is 71, Ron Pearlman is 68, and Famke Janssen is 53, they still can bring it. Hollywood is a young man/woman’s game, but that doesn’t mean it’s always better. This movie proves it.
Cons:
It can get a little sleepy at times. The Noir look coupled with the long takes can drag, but it’s a small nitpick.
Final Grade: B-
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– Stephen M. Bay