Movie Info

The Matador - "A hitman and a salesman walk into a bar..."

The only thing I knew about The Matador before I watched it was that Pierce Brosnan was a hitman and Greg Kinnear was some mundane guy. The movie is about the chance meeting between these two men and the events that occur after this fateful meeting. Brosnan does indeed play a hitman, but the character he plays starts breaking down mentally and this is the basis to the events that happen during the movie.

Kinnear reprises the role of normal, everyday guy he seems to play in a lot of his movies. He is married the also mundane Hope Davis. There is one scene early in the movie between the two of them that was absolutely hilarious. Both Davis and Kinnear play their roles well and they offer a great backdrop to the main attraction: Pierce Brosnan.

Brosnan's performance was spectacular. I would say it some of it is due to his previous roles in other films. Notably James Bond and Remington Steele. He pokes fun at the characters he has been associated with throughout the moive. His character, Julian Noble, is a cold-hearted assassin who loves women and booze and knows nothing else. So what happens when Noble starts to have a nervous breakdown? Funny things happen. To see Brosnan play a drunk, depressed, sad has-been is very amusing. If you're a Brosnan fan, definitely watch this movie to see a side of him that you don't normally get to see.

The movie progresses with several twists and turns. In a way, it's a mystery that the viewers need to figure out. Several key events are left out and are only explained in the latter part of the film. This type of story-telling can be hit or miss. It worked well with L.A. Confidential but it didn't work well with some others (can't think of their names right now). Luckily Richard Shepard has made it work. I definitely will be watching out for his future films.

I really enjoyed this movie. I knew it was a comedy coming into it and I recommend it to anyone who can appreciate a dark comedy. If you're sick of all the slapstick humour that has been plaguing the theatres lately, try The Matador out. If you really like the slapstick humour and think Monty Python movies are stupid, stick with Scary Movie 4. I can't give a real high rating on my comedy scale as I wasn't gut-wrenched in any of the scenes, but it was still a very entertaining movie.

Dragoncrypt