Beautiful, moving film.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The first must-see film of the year.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A Ukranian woman, Galia, is working as a prostitute in Tel Aviv, when her friend is beaten and stabbed to death. She survives the abuse by the Russian mobster and he offers her a deal to stop selling her body if she will become an assassin instead. She is given a modest apartment and follows orders. Her passport is being held, preventing her from traveling to see her daughter. Day after day, her neighbor, Elinor, is physically abused by her husband. She finally stabs him and the two run away as the mob turns on Galia after she steals money she is owed by her mafia bosses. The speaking parts alternate from English to Russian to Hebrew with subtitles. There are the usual chase scenes and shootouts and Olga Kurylenko is sexy as Galia, the lead hit woman on the run from the bad guys. A desperate woman doing anything necessary to survive in a cold, cruel world, The Assassin Next Door is depressing and in the end an average action film.

Two spoilers for the price of one!I just happened to have watched The Outfit (1973) with Robert Duval four days ago. If you like mid 70's movies, it's worth watching on a rainy afternoon.Spoiler #1:In the movie, The Outfit, Robert Duval's character kills a Mob Boss in his home, while exiting the Mob Bosses 2nd floor bedroom, a goon starts charging up the stairs. Duvall, at the top of the stairs gets the drop on the goon, the goon stops half way up on a landing.Duval calls out from the top of the stairs, "Stay out of it, he's dead, you're unemployed."Spoiler #2:In this movie, Galia is at the top of the stairs, she gets the drop on the goon, the goon stops half way up on a landing.Galia says to him, "Your Boss is dead. You are out of work. Go... (slight pause) Go.". These two scenes are nearly identical, only the dialog is different.How the camera shots are set up are pretty much the same in both movies.Seeing these two nearly identical scenes really lowered my opinion of this movie because the similarity of the two scenes was so blatant. It's one thing to pay homage to a movie but it's entirely something else to do what they did here.I assume that the writer & director think we have short memories and won't find shortcuts like this. They are wrong and I may think twice about buying tickets to, renting or collecting any of their future work because the odds are, I may have already seen it elsewhere before.Bruce

Some slow areas. However, this Foreign Action/Drama will keep you on the edge of your seat. You really believe she doesn't want to shoot the people she shoots. The beginning is a bit confusing. Where is she? Who is chasing her? Why is she there? You figure it out as the movie unfolds.She show's she is a good friend. The spiritual scenes could have been left out. Why did they have them in there in the first place? I thought she was going to convert.The ending shared similarities with Carlito's Way - Train Station chase.The acting is excellent. I didn't realize there wasn't background music until they started playing a sad violin in one part.

Galia is a Ukrainian prostitute stuck in Israel. Things get even worse when she is forced to carry assassinations for the criminals to which she is property. All day long, Galia does nothing but stay in her apartment, waiting for hit assignments. Eventually, she strikes a friendship with her neighbour, Elinor, who is herself victim of an abusive husband. This movie combines several cliché elements yet delivers them in a captivating way and puts some real heart in what could easily have been another run-of-the-mill thriller. There's a definite Besson influence here, particularly elements of "Nikita" and "The Professional". Director Danny Lerner focuses on these two women, particularly Galia, and paints an ugly picture of a world where women are still basically "property". Alhough Galia carries cold, calculating hits like a pro, she turns into an obedient girl when facing her "bosses" and gets slapped around. As a viewer, it's tough not to cringe. Another interesting aspect as a North Anerican was the Israelian setting and the exploration of different cultures, since Galia herself is an outsider. Ninette Tayeb is really solid as Elinor but it is Olga Kurylenko who really shines here. Other movies that she was featured in showed an actress with potential and here, she realizes much of it. In most scenes, she is very believable and the role is rather demanding as Olga shifts from recluse to opening to Elinor and from a fragile woman to a cold hearted killer. The script helps but the whole story depends on Kurylenko's ability to draw us in and make us understand when words are lacking.The finale is thrilling enough and fans of "Carlito's Way" will see a nice nudge to this film's own finale as a bunch of crooks pursue Olga and Elinor in a terminal station. Much like Besson, Lerner has crafted a movie that mixes the grittiness of an old school Scorcese with the more naive vibe of a classic Hollywood flick. The result is a solid thriller with an international flavor and a great cast.