Very disappointing...

Really Surprised!

A Disappointing Continuation

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Maya Letinskaya (Skya) seems to have the perfect life: she's a highly-trained professional ballerina, her husband Michael (Slater) is a high-powered businessman, and they have a young daughter and a beautiful family together. However, things take a 180-degree pirouette when some evil Russian (duh) gangsters eliminate Michael, kidnap the daughter, and send Maya to prison on a trumped-up charge. With baddies hot on her trail, Maya penches on the only training she knows, and taps into the awesome power of BALLET. Using the discipline, athleticism, and flexibility she previously used Swan Lakin' it up to now do high kicks and spins on her opponents, Maya must now prepare for the ultimate performance - saving her daughter's life, as well as her own. Will she show us all the true meaning of MOSCOW HEAT? (er, sorry. Wrong movie.) Will the ASSASSINS go on a RUN to find Maya? (Yeah, we know it makes no sense. But neither does the title for this movie).The Russian Ballet. Direct-to-Video action movies. Why it took until 2013 for anyone to put these two things together is anyone's guess. Much like the McDLT - which, as you will recall, kept the hot side hot and the cool side cool - Assassins Run features an unorthodox combination of textures and temperatures and manages to make everything come out well and satisfying. For the DTV world, this is a classy and stylish gangster drama that goes full-on action after a certain point(e).Sofya Skya - that's Sofya Andreevna Shchetinina-Arzhakovskaya to you - will certainly be one to watch going forward. Not only is she an accomplished ballerina and star of the movie, she also co-directed it and sang the end credits song, "Before You Slipped Away" (a duet with a guy named John Kahn, for those keeping track). Surely someone as multitalented as this has a bright future, and we look forward to what she does next. Helping her out is a true fan favorite, Christian Slater. He spends a lot of his time on the phone, but, then again, with his inimitable voice, wouldn't you want to talk to him on the phone? We also have Angus Macfadyen on board to provide further interest, and Cole Hauser, who, in this movie at least, looks alarmingly like noted/forgotten-about boil on society, Spencer Pratt.Sure, after about 45 minutes there's a bit of a lull, but that's a common problem, and it picks up shortly thereafter. On the whole we found Assassins Run to be original and refreshingly different. Yes, there's the time honored shooting, fights, and it becomes a prison movie at one point, but we just loved the idea of a ballerina who uses her lifetime of training in that art who then turns it into a Martial Art. Maybe it's something about the Russian psyche that that rings true for them. To ironically paraphrase Yakov Smirnoff, "What a country!" (if reading this silently to yourself, make sure you say that in a jovial yet thick Russian accent).Like us, you'll surely become Sofya Skya fans after watching this. After all, it is all about her in the end. Despite the great Christian Slater, this wouldn't be much of a movie if it wasn't for the presence of Skya. So be sure to check her out giving the baddies the true meaning of batterie as she plies all over their beaten-up bodies. We found the experience winning, not to mention culturally enhancing.

I've seen a lot of bad films, heck I've seen a lot of bad Christian Slater films, but this could very well be his very worstBut he's not in it for that long of duration of the movie, neither are Cole Hauser or Angus McFaydenNo this is primarily Sofya Skya's vehicle, both as the director (alongside someone else) and as the main star, and I think maybe she wasn't experience to handle both at the same time or something cause it didn't turn out very good (to put it mildly)They tried to relaunch this movie under Assassins Run with a flashy poster with Cole Hauser and Christian Slater fatigued up armed to the teeth, but that does not represent this movie whatsoever neither of them even hold as much as a gun in this movie, so that's just them trying to sell this as a tough action movie when in reality it's really pretty darn boring The best part of the movie is the credits where they play a nice little acoustic ballad, color my surprise when I read the song credits and that was a song sung by Sofya Skya as well!I'm sitting here thinking should I give it a 1 or a 2 but there was nothing good about it (except for the song in the credits which doesn't count) so yeah I'm just gonna give it a 1

You have to laugh at the absurd marketing of this movie: Christian Slater and Cole Hauser (who both have bit parts, really) are on the DVD cover in military gear and carrying big weapons, while the true star of the film, Sofya Skya, is nowhere to be seen! Skya is an exquisite creature, graceful and beautiful; the action in the film is slow to kick in (no pun intended) and even when it does it's limited, but Skya can - and does - deliver some amazing kicks from every position and angle you can think of. The story is standard and poorly thought out (the ending is particularly bad), but the direction (in which Skya also contributed) is sure-handed. ** out of 4.

"How did two American's wind up in the Russian oil business?" Maya (Skya) is a Russian ballerina living with her wealthy husband and daughter. Her husband Michael (Slater) is working with a Russian oil firm when suddenly millions of dollars goes missing. The mafia decides to take matters into their own hands and goes after Michael and frames Maya. All she has on her mind is revenge, and the safety of her child. I first off have to say this was nothing like I expected at all. That said this movie has been done a hundred times...most recently called Colombiana. I have no problem with a strong female action hero, I think that is refreshing...but the only reason I think they introduced the ballet aspect is so when she starts to fight it seems legit. Before you question that line...yes, she uses ballet moves to fight. Lots of spinning and high leg kicks to take down her assailants, when that started I started to lose interest and by the end I was just waiting for it to end. This movie could have been so much better but ended up just a little too cheesy and generic for me. Overall, a movie with potential but fell short. I give it a C.