USA
2019 112 mins OV English
There are lots of ways to hustle in Manhattan. Moe (Liam Hemsworth) and Skunk (LORDS OF CHAOS' Emory Cohen) are making names for themselves working for smalltime crime boss Perico (Zlatko Buric of the PUSHER trilogy), smuggling gold and laundering money, but they both want a score that will help make them big. That chance arrives with a too-good-to-be-true drug deal of uncut heroin that they go in on using Perico's money. And deals that are too good to be true are just that, as Moe and Skunk barely escape with their lives (and the heroin) when dirty cops show up as the deal goes down. As the cops give chase, Moe loses his memory in a car crash, leaving he and Skunk to piece together the rest of deal as Moe tries to regain his memory to save their lives. With dirty cops and gangsters on the trail of Moe, Skunk, the drugs and the money, these two will find their friendship tested over the kind of tough day that can only happen in NYC.
KILLERMAN offers the welcome return of writer/director Malik Bader (CASH ONLY, Fantasia 2015), again proving himself a skilled director of modern-day crime dramas in the tradition of such greats as Walter Hill and Don Siegel. Bader's script feels grounded and real, teaching us a side of the underworld we never see, and is full of strong characters and solid action. Hemsworth proves himself to be not just an excellent action star (no surprise there) but also an absorbing dramatic lead with a strong rapport with Cohen (also terrific), backed by an excellent supporting cast that includes CASH ONLY's Nickola Shreli as the dirtiest NYC cop you never want to come across. Like a fine crime novel come to life, KILLERMAN is an absorbing, gripping and exciting look at the underworld and further evidence that Malik Bader is one of crime cinema's rising talents. – Matthew Kiernan
