The Matador (15) (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

The Matador (15)

If ever there was an actor who is unfairly maligned it's Pierce Brosnan. Constantly I hear people say he is just a pretty face and can't act, which is frankly nonsense. He takes on a variety of scripts, and is never afraid of not looking his best. He also has great comic timing as seen in Mars Atttacks! (1996), which he should make better use of.

However, if you are that good looking you are naturally going to be offered roles as the glamour puss, which is fair game for any critic. So it is really great to see him play a chap with revolting habits in this light, but genuinely funny anti-Bond black comedy.

The ironically named Julian Noble (Brosnan) is a scruffy hit man on an assignment in Mexico City. He has a taste for margaritas and young totty - the younger the better - and is losing his taste for his silencer. Quite by chance at a bar he meets Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), a kindly sales man. Danny's son was killed in a school bus accident a few years age - a tragedy Julian is most tactless about - and he is now worried his adored wife Bean (Hope Davis) might leave him if his business doesn't pick up. These two polar opposites strike up a sort of friendship; that is Danny thinks Julian is the weirdest person he has ever met. Well most people would think a man who paints his toe nails and walks into a hotel reception dressed in only a black Speedo and boots, holding a beer, was different. Whereas it's Julian's birthday and he realises he could do with an ordinary friend - seeing as he has no friends and his female acquaintances are all prostitutes.

So when Danny finds he has to stay on for a few days at the hotel, Julian takes him under his wing and to the local bullfight. This is where they start to bond and to Danny's fascination he learns what Julian's job as a "facilitator of fatalities" really involves. Julian tells him the importance of the Matador killing the bull cleanly, which of course applies to Julian's own job. Six months later Julian rolls up at Danny's house in Denver, wishing he had paid more attention to his own advice. Having had a panic attack, he has botched a killing and is now the main target for the next hit. Could Danny his "only friend in all the world" help him?

Brosnan has played man of mystery, thief, father, lawyer, clueless scientist and many more, doing them all proud, but he is quite simply hilarious as a depraved sleazy assassin. Unlike buddy assassin comedies like Analyze This (1999) and The Whole Nine Yards (2000) this is all together more ruthless, but that is oddly enough its trump card. It is a genuinely unusual, well-written black comedy and the chemistry between Brosnan, Kinnear and Davis is immensely watchable. But it is Brosnan's film from start to finish and a clever choice for anyone not wanting to be labelled as 007 for the rest of his days. Mexico is made to look most colourful, and the clever camerawork invites us into this strange world. Though the story is rather erratic it is also at times most attractive and I highly recommend this tale for anyone who can stomach black comedy with a capital B. 8/10 Please select next story:Eight Below (PG)Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (U)Firewall (15)V for Vendetta (15)Capote (15)Inside Man (15)The Pink Panther (PG)Two for the money (15)The Matador (15)Syriana (15)Proof (12A)Casanova (12A)