THE MATADOR Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
The Weinstein Company
Grade: B-
Directed by: Richard Shepard
Written by: Richard Shepard
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Hope Davis, Phillip Baker
Hall, Dylan Baker
Screened at: Broadway, NYC, 9/26/05 Hitman and a salesman walk into a bar. They’re seated at right angles, the only customers. What sort of conversation would they have? “Pass me those pretzels, please”? You’d think that a professional killer and a family-loving businessman would have nothing in common, but as we listen in to their drunken talk, we see how they could bond. The hitman, ironically named Julian Nobel (Pierce Brosnan), has no friends, no family, no permanent address. His opposite, Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), has been married for fourteen years and lives in a spacious house in Denver with his wife, Bean (Hope Davis). As the two compare notes, they take something from each other. Julian envies this salesman’s happy and stable home, while Danny gets a chance to join in the excitement of his new pal’s occupation, the thrills beginning when Julian takes Danny to his first Mexican bullfight and creates a diversion to occupy the security forces and the intended victim’s bodyguard. “The Matador” has an off-beat ambience, with numerous surprises and twists that make the film different from the usual formulaic stuff. The setting for most of the action is Mexico City, where Danny is competing with another firm for a contract while his new pal, Julian, is about to fulfill a contract awarded to him through his handler, Mr. Randy (Phillip Baker Hall). Julian, facing a birthday with no friends to celebrate with him, invites Danny to a bullfight, where photographer David Tattersall gets some neat shots but happily turns his lens away at critical moments. It’s here that we absorb the film’s metaphor: the matador is facing some danger, but almost always has things under control. The hitman could presumably get caught but has eluded the law for twenty-two years. The problem with the latter is that he’s burned out. He drinks heavily, he fornicates with hookers and underage women, he reflects on his deeds and, like a bullfighter getting gored, he messes up, unable to complete two projected assassinations. The best thing about the film is Greg Kinnear, who shows himself quite capable of being not only a straight man to a hardly recognizable Brosnan, but an adept comedian as well. As Brosnan parries and thrusts with his relative naive amigo, Kinnear becomes excited by watching a demonic but reflective killer at work even to the extent of suggesting a fellow that he himself would like to have taken out. For his part Brosnan acts against type. Where James Bond would carry out the duties of his profession with class and without reflection, Julian simply wants out. He has enough but seems unable to quit his job, much less take a little time off lest he be killed himself. Just as we think the seemingly endless dialogue is going nowhere, the story concludes with a climactic scene inside Danny’s Denver digs where Julian once again can envy the life of a stable family man. Julian’s brief slow dance with Bean–who is excited enough by the hitman to insist on seeing his gun–gives not only Julian, but everyone in the movie audience an epiphany. The good life is not one of endless agitation and getting those far away place with strange sounding names, but a good spouse, a solid home with a fireplace, and a normal if not necessarily lucrative occupation. Not Yet Rated. 96 minutes © 2005 by Harvey Karten
harveycritic@cs.com Member: NY Film Critics Online | 
