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Shades of a Killer
UK 2010
produced by Kemal Yildirim, Saima Yildirim for Knight Productions
directed by Kemal Yildirim
starring Kemal Yildirim, Saima Yildirim, Mohammad Amar, Daniel Beckett, Helen Clifford, Jimmy Cheng, Serena Catapano, Alex Chatwin, Ali Yildirim, Mike Tuppen, Rami Hilmi, Alan Impey, Monty Kazmi, Zoe Micheal, Joanne Petit, Taylan Tichborne, Azeem Choudhry, Nazeem Choudhry
written by Kemal Yildirim, music by Rick Clark, Ali Yildirim, fight choreography by Rami Hilmi
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Jaan (Kemal Yildirim) is a professional hitman for the mob, and he's
the best in the business. His choice of career was triggered by the brutal
assassination of his father, a powerful mob boss. But Jaan is a hitman
with a heart, he lovingly cares for his brother Jem (Daniel Beckett), who
has long turned his back on the mob and started a restaurant, and his
girlfriend Aysha (Saima Yildirim). So when gangsters try to collect
protection money from his brother, Jaan is on high alert. However,
investigating the whole affair, he finds a trail that leads back to his
own gang, and when both his girlfriend and his brother are kidnapped, Jaan
begins to realize it is him whoever-it-is is actually after ...
Click
here to open the Spoiler Pop-up!
Very obviously
inspired by Hong Kong heroic bloodshed and martial arts movies from the
1980's and 90's, with a bit of Seijun Suzuki's Branded
to Kill thrown in just for good measure, Shades of a Killer
admirably succeeds in recreating the look and feel of its peers,
especially considering the obviously low budget, but it's not a perfect
film: Basically, it takes itself way too seriously, doesn't always avoid
to go the kitsch road tackling its big themes of brotherhood and the like,
and seems a bit derivative at times. The saving graces are many though:
The action is greatly handled, the film's non-linear narrative structure
makes the story seem fresh, director Yildirim has a definite talent for
creating atmosphere (not often found in action movies), and the sheer
ambition put into this movie seems infective. In all, not a perfect
movie - but a very promising one!
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