SPOILERS abound, ye hav been warned!
This film drew me in to it's world of superpowered assassins from the offset, it was funny, very stylish and pumping with adrenalin. The main character, an office drone who's live in girlfriend was cheating on him with his best friend, was a character who just kept his head down and didn't rock the boat. Then he's discovered by "The Fraternity" and is trained (via montage) to use his hidden abilities. It's that old story that's been told a million times, but it was enjoyable enough.
Then Morgan Freeman, the honest reliable guy that he is, who is in charge of the Fraternity, shows the main guy how they choose their targets...
and this is where the film lost me. This is the point where the whole thing went from bordeline to full shit a brick crazy.
You see, the top group of assassins get their orders from a hidden language (which also happens to be binary) that is hidden in the (cloth?) of a weaving machine, that is constantly weaving.
Apparantly, x thousand years ago, a group of weavers got together, and somehow noticed binary in their weaving machine, deciphered it and then decided somehow that Fate was telling them that the name of whoever was deciphered was wanted dead. Riiight... so you're telling me that a bunch of fabric making loonies one day found imperfections in their (tapestry?) and decided to go kill whoever it was whose name happened to be in this hidden language they made up? How the hell did they get their superpowers from, pricking their fingers on needles?
It's not a bad film, infact the action sequences and the style are pretty top notch, however it also became predictable. For instance, I guessed pretty early on that the main target that had apparantly killed the main guy's father didn't kill his father because HE was his father! Yes, they went there, they did a Darth Vader.
Then, suprise suprise, Morgan Freeman turned out to be the villain of the piece. Now, I'd also like to point out that as soon as they told you that he was the person who dechiphered the binary language, then I knew he was a villain... My long suffering lady friend however, didn't guess he was the baddy.
Then that got me thinking, did they choose Morgan Freeman because you wouldn't suspect that he was a villain? I know that Morgan Freeman has played a villain in the past, however, he has a certain ammount of credibility. He's someone you'd usually trust, he's played the President of America, Robin Hood's islamic buddy and of course, God.
If it had have been Samuel L Jackson, you may have had suspicions, mainly because he's a badass, oppose to Freeman who is a fatherly figure.
Then my brain started to think about who they could have got that (due to my years of cinical film watching) I wouldn't suspect. What actors would I have an Empire Strikes Back "Holy crap Vader's his dad!" moment of suprise with?
Then it hit me, Tom Hanks.
Tom Hanks cleaning his toilet out after a vindaloo
Tom Hanks I then went on to realise has NEVER played a villain! He's the most credible actor in america and maybe that's because he's never crossed the line. I may be wrong, but I couldn't think of a single instance where on film he has done anything remotley evil... unless you were a nazi and watched Saving Private Ryan, then he'd be the villain, or saw Polar Express as Tom Hanks was abducting kids in his Paedo train. He was in road to perdition where I think he played a gangster and was a little gritty, but you still liked the guy.
So why hasn't Tom (cus I'm on a first name basis with him now) done an evil role? Usually I try to pry deeper, pondering if he really is as squeaky clean as you'd think he is, however on this occassion, I dare not. There are too many Hank-Lovers in this world, and he is an American Treasure, so I'll leave him to it... for now. But who knows what really is going on with Mr. Gump?
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