Willa's Flic Pic: The Matador * * * ½

The Matador
Richard Shepherd, 2005
Dark Comedy
* * * ½




Julian Noble: An assassin without confidence is a horrible thing to behold. It's like a relief pitcher who fumbles the ball.
Danny Wright: Please tell me you know you mixed two sports in a metaphor.

Pierce Brosnan playing a smarmy hitman made this film very intriguing. I almost wouldn't have seen it if I had't of heard a decent review of it from our local movie reviewer, Mark Berger. A girlfriend had told me she "hated" it so I took it off my list. Mark Berger put it back on.

Julian Noble (Brosnan) is a very skilled, highly accomplished executioner for hire. He has all the benefits of a man with unlimited wealth and skewed ethics. Without boundaries or ties, he lives in a reality of utter decadence. But recently he is coming to realize the negatives of being completely alone.

Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear) is your average joe battling a life of hard knocks. His only son died and he's out of work and running out of options. For him and his marriage, a lot is riding on his shoulders.

Julian and Danny meet in Mexico City. Danny is there to pitch a new business venture to potential investors. His job, marriage and future rides on their decision. Julian has spent the day unsuccessfully trying to connect with people in his distant, distant past that might care that it's his birthday. Suddenly on this day, food, wine and women cannot allay this profound lonliness. Naturally, Julian and Danny meet in the hotel bar where many go to contemplate or forget their life.

I love the way these two men and their worlds are juxtaposed. Julian's absurd lifestyle is amusing until he meets Danny. Paired with the realities of a monogamous, married man who has lost his son, Julian is inept and repulsive. Next to Julian, Danny is naive and cowardly.

These are two men whose worlds will never mesh. But they cross at points each is familiar and sympathetic to. They help each other out, within their diametrically opposed realities, in a way that men who are noble and right can.