Film Review – The Virtuoso (2021) By Bradley Hadcroft / April 26, 2021 A ruthlessly efficient hitman with a sprouting conscience is in debt to his shadowy mentor. Here the otherwise intrusive voiceover, with its insistence on stating the obvious as well as the extraneous, grows interesting. At precisely 5 pm, the confused Virtuoso enters Rosie’s Roadside Café, to find there the following patrons: Handsome Johnnie (Richard Brake) sitting with his Girl (Diora Baird), a gun-toting Loner (Eddie Marsan), and a Deputy Sheriff (David Morse), along with … THE VIRTUOSO (2021) OPENING THOUGHTS: There’s something rather ironic about the fact that in the same week that Anthony Hopkins rightfully takes home the Best … Movie Review. — your old-school gentleman killer. Available now on Blu-ray and DVD [Rating: Minor Rock Fist Down] I hate when I see it coming. Slow, disjointed, and the protagonist annoying narration throughout referring to himself in the second person. An accomplished professional who has never known any other way of life, he lives in a state of constant kill-or-be-killed readiness. The film's other elements also prove that there's a fine line between brilliant and ridiculous. Distributor: Lionsgate Too dumb to actually be any good and too dull to at least be entertainingly bad, “The Virtuoso” is a complete waste of time for everyone involved. The Virtuoso sets itself up to be a really intriguing assassin-based thriller. The main character’s actions are always told through “you” and “your”, presumably done so to allow you to project yourself into The Virtuoso character. Well, that question remains until the very end, where a surprisingly good twist can’t quite do enough to save this film. Production companies: Nazz Productions in association with 120db Films and Double Dutch International The focus is on character, but ultimately the dramatis personae feel like puzzle pieces rather than people. However, when tending to Johnnie's girlfriend, he opens the cap to a peroxide bottle with his mouth, leaving DNA everywhere. Highly Skilled In Mundanity. Blu-ray Release Schedule; Message Board; The Virtuoso Blu-ray Review. But the film is most alive, and its dialogue most effective, in the double-entendre-packed exchanges between Mount and a commandingly sensuous Cornish. The Virtuoso comes to select theaters and VOD on April 30th; on Blu-ray and DVD May 4th. There are some moral elements suggesting that having moral values is a better life. May 11 2021 . Director Nick Stagliano is attempting to make a cool, Quentin Tarantino-style thriller, about a hitman and his mystery target, putting bad people into a room and seeing who comes out alive. Will he find the target in time? Worth a look. The Virtuoso: Pages: 1 2 05/11/2021 Blu-ray Reviews, Screen Caps Tagged with: Abbie Cornish, Anson Mount, Anthony Hopkins, David Morse, Eddie Marsan … THE VIRTUOSO has a strong, but somewhat neutral, nihilistic worldview. Edited By McKayla Hockett. The Virtuoso is going for cool brooding and noir-style swagger, but the final result is a tedious and sloppy production, lacking in a sense of control. Casting directors: Stephanie Holbrook, Diane Heery, Jason Loftus, Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day. A professional assassin takes a challenging small-town assignment in a thriller starring Anson Mount, Abbie Cornish and Anthony Hopkins. This femme fatale immediately takes a fancy to our Virtuoso and threatens to completely derail his plans. The big twist revealed late on is that The Mentor orchestrated all of this from the beginning. The script is nimble and natural, up to a point, with some fresh perspectives on the machinations of money-motivated murder. When he arrives, Virtuoso immediately finds himself with several different suspects and very little else to work with. Throughout the movie, The Virtuoso asks numerous people what White Rivers means. The Virtuoso will taking our breath away. But no, this concerns another profession entirely. “The Virtuoso,” written by James C. Wolf and directed by Nick Stagliano, tries to emulate film noire of the past, or at least that’s what Stagliano would like to believe. Unfortunately, this film is neither thrilling nor particularly interesting. The R rating is for violence, sexuality/nudity and language.Latest news about The Virtuoso, starring Anthony Hopkins, Abbie Cornish, and Diora Baird and directed by Nick Stagliano. Rating: 4 … Unfortunately, this film is neither thrilling nor particularly interesting. This is one of those times. Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins adds some class as the hitman’s mysterious boss. Highly Skilled In Mundanity. He was concerned that Virtuoso would no longer be a “good soldier” (a throwback to his earlier speech in the movie) and thought the man was going soft. Today we look at the intriguing 2021 film The Virtuoso, featuring the amazing Anthony Hopkins. With a slow pace and a main character devoid of charisma, The Virtuoso takes an interesting idea and runs it into the ground in the worst way possible. In March 2021, Lionsgate acquired North American and UK distribution rights to the film, which will be released in limited theaters and on demand and digital April 30, 2021. Certainly there are some of the elements but The Virtuoso is not a flawed hero, he’s a … Still, within the self-conscious narrative mechanics, Mount (Star Trek: Discovery) manages to find a droll edge from time to time, Abbie Cornish injects some sexual heat, and Anthony Hopkins provides a bit of actorly gravitas, particularly in a nine-minute graveside monologue about what it means to be a good soldier. There are no featured reviews for because the movie has not released yet (). Then it will be released on DVD and Blu-ray May 4, 2021. Crime. RATING: R (very hard R) LENGTH: 1 hour, 50 minutes. The setup abounds in classic noir elements, from the roadside cafe with the sultry-eyed burger slinger (Cornish) to the edge-of-town motel manned by a jittery desk clerk. Cast. Editor: James LeSage Find Family Movies, Movie Ratings and Movie Reviews However, there’s a catch. The Virtuoso releases on demand and in select theatres Friday, April 30th. Shooting in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains and on California’s Central Coast, Stagliano and DP Frank Prinzi keep things fittingly simple rather than aiming for atmospheric flash. The Virtuoso (2021) – Movie Review. Parents need to know that The Virtuoso is a violent noir thriller about a hit man. The Virtuoso has a meticulous hit man searching for a mysterious target in a small town. Will ultimately end up as a botched job on all the resumes involved. The story here essentially borrows concepts from Memento, John Wick and The Departed, blending them together into a plot about a mysterious assassin, known simply as The Virtuoso. Find Family Movies, Movie Ratings and Movie Reviews ‘The Virtuoso’ Review: Don’t Let the Title of This Amateur Thriller Mislead You Anthony Hopkins quite literally phones it in as the mentor to a shell-shocked assassin in this artless potboiler. Production designer: Norm Dodge CASUAL. The characters are nameless, identified as The Mentor, The Waitress, The Loner, etc. In Spanish, White Rivers translates to Blanca Rios*, which could well be the reason it was given as a code word for our Virtuoso. Putting The Virtuoso behind the eight ball from the get-go, though, is an opening sequence so clotted with explanatory voiceover that it ends up feeling like an ad spoof for The Virtuoso! He then moves and plugs the space heater in with his bare hands, leaving his prints everywhere, all while holding his gloves instead of … © 2021 TheReviewGeek. A suspiciously cute dog starts showing up at his isolated, off-the-grid cabin, sparking the first hints that a heart is indeed beating beneath the handsome, affectless veneer. Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Abbie Cornish, Diora Baird Release Date: Fri, Apr 30, 2021 Rated: R Well, it actually means nothing – at least in the context of the movie. But it’s real emotions that leave the icy-smooth pro reeling, in his way (i.e., flashbacks and one good scream), after a quick-turnaround job results in gruesome collateral damage. The Virtuoso is going for cool brooding and noir-style swagger, but the final result is a tedious and sloppy production, lacking in a sense of control. The Virtuoso comes to the UK as a digital purchase available from all major services, presented in widescreen HD, and it's hardly a looker, although it was never really expected to be. These are only here to give an idea of the movie’s video quality and may not be truly representative of it. Director of photography: Frank Prinzi The Virtuoso sets itself up to be a really intriguing assassin-based thriller. In the latter role Chris Perfetti delivers an engaging Norman Bates Lite turn, and the brief interactions between his flustered character and Mount’s executioner, trying to play normal, have a satisfyingly wry energy. The Virtuoso (2021) – Movie Review. See Movies in Theaters. Share. A professional assassin takes a challenging small-town assignment in a thriller starring Anson Mount, Abbie Cornish and Anthony Hopkins. And we are sure that you will feel the same. The Virtuoso is lazily amusing for most of its nearly two hours run time, but its final moments ruin the investment and make the viewers feel like the actual mark. Hopkins plays the mentor and boss of a highly efficient assassin (Anson Mount). ‘The Virtuoso’ Review: A Paid Killer, Hitting Bum Notes Anson Mount plays the title character, who gets his assignments from Anthony Hopkins. The Virtuoso Quotes. Of course, like anything promising within The Virtuoso, it doesn’t really matter because it’s too busy trying to outsmart the audience, which it also fails at. You know you’re in the realm of the archetype when a movie’s closing credits favor descriptors over character names: The Waitress, The Loner, The Mentor — and, first and foremost, The Virtuoso‘s nameless title mercenary. A fun little Easter egg of sorts. Executive producers: Fred Fuchs, Nancy Stagliano, Anson Mount, Steve Hays, Peter Graham, Chris Bongiorne, Jason Moring, Mark Padilla, Stanley Preschutti Tweet. Movie Review - Listen Now. 0 comments. Written By Peter Gray. The Virtuoso movie review 2021. by trinaboice | posted in: Action, Crime, Drama | 0. Yet, it is the casting that proves both the movie’s greatest asset and most frustrating flaw. “The Virtuoso,” written by James C. Wolf and directed by Nick Stagliano, tries to emulate film noire of the past, or at least that’s what Stagliano would like to believe. Screenwriter: James Wolf But it takes more than a little guilt to stop a killer from killing, and it takes more than a handful of archetypes and a smorgasbord of film noir tropes to make a gripping drama. This action thriller is armed with thin fragments of the former and very little of the latter. Which leads to the puzzle sequence at the heart of the film: On a cold afternoon our hitman walks into a country diner, finds it more populated than he expected, and must figure out which of the patrons is his prey. Epidemiologists do not think it’s safe yet to go to theaters even with social distancing and safety measures in place. Are you looking forward to see The Virtuoso and Anthony Hopkins? Click Here To Go Back To Our Movie Reviews. The word in question is one usually attached to musicians like concert pianists or classical violinists. The central puzzle fizzles more with each turn of the plot, and The Virtuoso finally feels like a game, a not particularly compelling brainteaser. Anson Mount as The ... On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 20% based on 35 reviews… We can say from now on that we are going to LOVE this movie. However, they are a bit too subtle to make a big difference. Played by Anson Mount in a tight-jawed register, he’s a killer for hire whose armor is starting to crack, ever so slightly, after a hit gone wrong. Certainly there are some of the elements but The Virtuoso is not a flawed hero, he’s a paid assassin. Heavily relying on his voiceover, a professional assassin (Anson Mount) takes a cryptic job in a countryside town after a distraction on a … From here, he begins methodically working out who the real target is. Abbie Cornish sharing a look at her ample endowment with us about 20 minutes from the … Thriller. The Virtuoso is a 2021 American thriller film, directed by Nick Stagliano and starring Anson Mount, Abbie Cornish, and Anthony Hopkins. All our protagonist is given is a time and location; 5pm at a diner on the outskirts of a sleepy town. For anyone who does somehow find themselves in the unenviable position of having to actually sit through it at some point, you can at least be confident that you will pretty much forget everything about it as soon as it is over and quite possibly … RELEASE: 04.30.21 . His handler, aka The Mentor (Hopkins), assures him, less than convincingly, that “it’s me, not you” before explicating his cynical view of humanity and putting his protégé right back to work, this time in pursuit of a quarry so “special” that he can provide only the barest and most cryptic of identifying details. We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post when you make a purchase. The Virtuoso sets itself up to be a really intriguing assassin-based thriller. Their unfussy use of remote, woodsy settings suits the wintry story, which is strongest in its off-center observations and asides. Copyright © 2021 The Hollywood Reporter, LLC. Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter. The Virtuoso In The Virtuoso, Mount's adept assassin is sent to a small town where he's tasked with figuring out who his target is, based on only one cryptic clue. Mount’s impeccably put-together assassin elucidates it all for us: the weapons, the timing, the risks, the fees, the necessity of a non-USPS mailbox. Music: Brooke Blair, Will Blair "The Virtuoso" covers well-worn territory - the assassin story is almost a genre unto itself - and director Nick Stagliano, hampered by a predictable script, can't bring much new to the game. Shot through in cool blue/grey filters for the exteriors and browns for the interiors, it's got a typical low DTV budget style to it, hardly objectionable but nothing worth writing home about. Unfortunately, this film is neither thrilling nor particularly interesting. All Rights Reserved. It also doesn’t help that the lighting is pretty poor throughout, with lots of long shadows obscuring facial expressions and interiors. On paper, there’s actually some ideas thrown around here and the psychologically charged story opens up the possibility of a more paranoia-inducing picture than one may be expecting. But he … This is my review of the movie The Virtuosohttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt4136456Stars: Anson Mount, Abbie Cornish, Anthony Hopkins ‘The Virtuoso’ review: Anthony Hopkins stars in hitman thriller The Virtuoso stars recent Academy Award winner for Best Actor Anthony Hopkins in one of the more mysterious roles of his career. 28/04/2021 by Greg Wheeler . Better than average. Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel memorialized with bust at the Washington National Cathedral. Tweet; Email; Tweet; Email ; So, here’s another example of a film that sports a somewhat misleading, or maybe a tad confusing title. Given the acting talent behind this project and the bright ideas, The Virtuoso unfortunately does not live up to its name. This game of who’s who is made all the more complicated by bubbly waitress, Dee. Director-producer: Nick Stagliano Share. Haunted by “collateral damage” in an earlier mission, Virtuoso is given a new mission by his mentor; to hunt down and kill a rogue hitman. All Rights reserved. The real target is actually The Virtuoso himself. THE VIRTUOSO is a disturbing, well-acted crime thriller. 28/04/2021 by Greg Wheeler . The editing here is so poor and the few action sequences we do get are haphazardly cut, missing crucial crunching blows off-screen. These story issues are perhaps made worse by the sloppy technicality too. Published: 04.28.21 MPAA: R. Genre: Action. The R rating is for violence, sexuality/nudity and language.Latest news about The Virtuoso, starring Anthony Hopkins, Abbie Cornish, and Diora Baird and directed by Nick Stagliano. Before encounters with the general populace, Mount’s character practices basic human expressions in the mirror, feigning such reactions as interest, surprise and delight. The Virtuoso is, as said, the man of mystery, but sometimes he is too mysterious for the audience to accept in good nature. THE VIRTUOSO – Review. But a hitman flick is all about execution, and The Virtuoso ’s is as confusing and nonsensical as its title; an inappropriate name for a movie that … The result is a laborious drama that flatlines its way to the finish line. By Jim Batts | April 29, 2021. We know that. Cast: Anson Mount, Abbie Cornish, Anthony Hopkins, David Morse, Eddie Marsan, Richard Brake, Diora Baird, Chris Perfetti Abbie Cornish was great as well. It’s a shame because the unusual second-person POV narration is quite an interesting and unusual tool to use. ‘The Virtuoso’ Review: Don’t Let the Title of This Amateur Thriller Mislead You ... Hopkins isn’t awful in “The Virtuoso,” but the movie that surrounds him is. That’s a fact. Now available in select theaters and everywhere you rent or buy movies online! ‘The Virtuoso’: Film Review. ‘The Virtuoso’: Film Review. Movie Reviews; Screen Caps; Site News; Links. THE VIRTUOSO Review. This is the worst movie we've seen since "Ad Astra". The Virtuoso spends a large part of the movie explaining his meticulous nature, and spends most of the movie being incredibly cautious. And it’s just the trailer, the movie will be epic. After a killer opening, The Virtuoso became one of those underwhelming movies where I figured out the ending way too soon. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. In fact, Anson Mount and Abbie Cornish have so little that their stiff, flatlined dialogue is not only cheesy, it’s also cringe-inducing. Her waitress is at once grounded and mysterious, and she flirts with an exhilarating directness, almost melting the perma-paranoia of Mount’s assassin. IN A NUTSHELL: If the title has you … Audience Reviews for The Virtuoso. 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