The seemingly random killings of an assassin puzzle her former lover, a wealthy Greek crime boss whose organization is jeopardized by his love for her, and the detective following her rising body count
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Touches You
Such a frustrating disappointment
Save your money for something good and enjoyable
If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
Stiletto is a brash, ballsy love letter to schit kicking, macho 80' action flicks that fires on booze soaked, bullet ridden cylinders to bring us a pulpy tale of evil gangsters, bent cops, sleazy criminals and the deadly Eastern European femme fatale that ties them all together in the web of violence, corruption and vengeance they have stirred up. They have also stirred up her fury as well, and she descends upon them one by with the forces of hell, and the titular stiletto blade, which gets rammed, sliced and slashed across many a deserving limb or neck. Her name is Raina, and she's portrayed by underrated vixen Stana Katic, who most will know from the TV show Castle, or 24. She's got charisma to spare, and gives the classic female assassin role a careful depth and smouldering hurt that fuels her bloody rampage and gives her brutality a justified edge. The rest of the cast is dominated by the dudes, and director Nick Vallellonga lovingly peppers his roster with an unbelievable handful of iconic 80's and 90's action stars. No throwaway cameos here either; each one is given a fleshed out, memorable slice of noirish material to chomp down on, and each one creates a delightfully nasty rogue to add to their gallery of characters. Raina used to be the the moll of shady Greek mobster Virgil Vadalos (Tom Berenger, drenched in tan lotion, adorned with chains and growling like a disgruntled bulldog. Great work). He has betrayed her in some unforgivable way, unbeknownst to the audience. She near fatally wounds him, and he goes into hiding, sending a corrupt detective (Paul Sloan) and two of his trusted enforcers to flush her out and bring her to him. William Forsythe, in all his sarcastic, blustering glory, plays slick Alex, a cunning Russian thug with more up his sleeve than is laid back personality may suggest. Michael Biehn, in my favourite performance of the film, plays Lee, a psychopathic hothead with a live wire British girlfriend (Amanda Brooks on overdrive) and a penchant for extreme interrogation techniques (there's a scene involving D.B. Sweeney and an electric sander that will make you cringe). Biehn has a colourful career playing energetic live wires, and this is no slouch. He's a happily violent, unapologetically profane, contemptible prick, and lights up the screen with fabulous nihilistic energy. Raina also gets tangled up with other lowlifes and associates in her search for retribution, including scummy night clubbing Tom Sizemore, and the leader of a neo nazi skinhead biker clan played with scary, coked up rage by veteran thespian James Russo, making a limited appearance count by flooding the screen with violent threats and intense glowering. There's also great work from gorgeous Kelly Hu as another cop, Diane Venora from Heat as Berenger's long suffering wife, and underrated Dominique Swain as well. People will undoubtedly whine about misogyny with this one, and hell I wouldn't disagree with them. The male characters are a scary bunch of amoral, bottom feeding motherf____ers who don't think twice about the kind of trauma they inflict on girls. But you know what? Welcome to the real world, where things like that exist, and are reflected in artistic expression, like movies. It's present in the story here, and although necessarily dwelled upon, as dictated by the genre, it's never glorified, however ugly it gets. That's not to say it's completely in bad taste. Hell, the narrative is about one single woman carving a swath of carnage through the men that committed atrocities against her. So there. There's sympathy and feeling to it as well, albeit briefly, as the flashback sequence where we see what happened to her (I won't spoil anything) is handled with care and given space for it to really hit us. That being said, the majority of the movie is an excessively violent, over the top, near cartoonish homage to the hard boiled crime genre. And I'm not kidding about the violence. Some of the damage inflicted rivals anything that you'd see in a Saw movie, and will leave some gagging. But I'd expect nothing less from a film that attempts this kind of 'feel'. Go all the way, or don't even bother trying, I say. There's some nice twists as well, some real thought put into the deceptions, betrayals and arcs of these characters. Katic anchors it like a streamlined feline of righteous anger and uses her natural dark beauty as a deceptive ruse to lure the hard bitten scumbags orbiting her to their certain deaths at the hands of her skill, training and pure hatred. Anyone looking for a down and dirty, bloody bit of vengeful crime fun that makes Kill Bill look mild in comparison owes it to themselves to give this one a try.
I waited a long time before actually watching this movie because of all the negative reviews, but I'm a big fan of Castle and therefore really wanted to watch something with Stana Katic in so I gave in to temptation. I must say I'm pleasantly surprised! Yes, it's violent but not in a gross way, it's all done with a purpose, it's not a splatter movie. I was only really chocked by one scene to be honest. Somehow I think it's more violent with all those gun shot movies. I advice you to watch this movie! It does have a good story behind all the killing! There's some really interesting characters and you do feel for Stana Katic's character Raina. Tiny spoiler;Her actions might seem random at first but she does have a reason.
First of all,There have been many worse films than this. I did not expect this to be a film to remember, so I was not disappointed.Years back the studios made this type of film to be shown as the lower half of a double bill, with a 69 minute running time. This film is a fast 99 minutes. It is very violent & bloody, what would you expect with the title. STILETTO.Truthfully, the main reason I saw this was because of the star Tom Berenger. 20-30 years ago he was a HUNK.(Looking for Mr Goodbar & Platoon were just 2 of his real good films). He is (of course) much older& plays the nasty,mean crime boss, Tom is still good and does hold your interest. The rest of the acting & production values are only fair.I am not even going to mention the leading lady by name.She is pretty & kills most of the cast,I doubt if she make many films.If you remember Tom Berenger,& like them very bloody,profane and violent see it.Ratings: ** (out of 4)52 points (out of 100) IMDb 4 (out of 10)
Just watched Stiletto - great movie. Lots of action. Well known cast -Amanda Brooks is showing all her range - a must see. Think the ensemble cast work really well together. Original revenge story - and you have to wait till the very end to connect the dots. Nice to see Michael Biehn again after an absence for a while. This is the second Villalonga movie i have seen and i like his work. For action lovers its a real treat. Berringer plays a great crime boss - but not in the Italian style. Chemistry between Biehn and Brooks is electric. Amanda Brooks is really hitting her stride. You can feel the anger flowing out. Very convincing in this role.