''Assassins'' is a 1995 American

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Richard Donner Richard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg; April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American film director, producer and actor. Described as "one of Hollywood's most reliable makers of action blockbusters", Donner directed some of the mo ...

. It stars

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...

Antonio Banderas José Antonio Domínguez Bandera (born 10 August 1960), known professionally as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish actor. Known for his work in films of several genres, he has received numerous accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award ...

, and

Julianne Moore Julie Anne Smith (born December 3, 1960), known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress and children's author. Prolific in film since the early 1990s, she is known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in independent ...

. The screenplay was written by

The Wachowskis Lana Wachowski (born Larry Wachowski, June 21, 1965) and Lilly Wachowski (born Andy Wachowski, December 29, 1967) are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans women. Together known as the Wacho ...

and

Brian Helgeland Brian Thomas Helgeland (born January 17, 1961) is an American screenwriter, film producer, and director. He is best known for writing the screenplays for the films '' L.A. Confidential'' (1998) and '' Mystic River'' (2003). He wrote and directed ...

. The Wachowskis stated that their script was completely rewritten by Helgeland and that they tried to remove their names from the film but failed.

Plot

Assassin Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

Robert Rath plans to retire, haunted by the memory of murdering his mentor Nicolai several years ago. While Rath is on an assignment, his target is eliminated by Miguel Bain, another assassin. Bain greatly admires Rath but also wants to kill him to establish himself as the world's greatest hitman. As Rath tries to figure out who sent Bain, his contractor offers him a lucrative job that could allow him to retire: kill a notorious computer hacker named Electra along with four Dutch buyers of a computer disk she possesses, then retrieve the disk. Electra has set up

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

cameras and an elaborate mechanism for remotely moving items between rooms in the building where she is based. At the designated location for the buy, Bain locates and eliminates the four Dutchmen, who turn out to be

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

agents. Realizing Bain is once again after the same target as he is, Rath spares Electra and the two escape with the disk. Scared by the whole situation, Electra runs away from Rath to her house. Both Bain and Rath separately track her down. During the ensuing fight, Bain kills Electra's neighbors and is about to kill her when Rath intervenes. Realizing Rath does not want to kill her, Electra decides to trust him. Rath exchanges the disk for his fee, given to him in a briefcase. However, the briefcase contains a bomb planted by his contact. After surviving the attempt on his life, Rath is told by Electra that she swapped the disk, unsure if he would come back. Rath demands a greatly increased fee from his contact for the genuine disk, with the money to be wired to a bank in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. The contact agrees but also hires Bain to kill Rath. Rath and Electra travel to the bank, where he concludes that Bain will use an adjacent abandoned hotel as a sniper post. Fifteen years earlier, Rath had shot Nicolai from the same building. Rath sets a trap, managing to both get the money and, with Electra's help, engage Bain in a gunfight. With Bain seemingly dead, Nicolai appears and reveals that he had worn a bulletproof vest when Rath shot him years earlier. Recognizing Nicolai's intention to kill them both, Rath and a surviving Bain both shoot him dead. Despite their brief alliance, Bain draws a gun on Rath, whose back is turned. Electra puts on her sunglasses, allowing Rath to use the reflection to aim a shot backwards through his own jacket, killing Bain. After Bain's death, Rath and Electra leave together. Their true names are Joseph and Anna.

Cast

as Robert Rath/Joseph Rath *

as Miguel Bain *

as Electra/Anna * Anatoly Davydov as Nicolai Tashlinkov *

Muse Watson Muse Watson Gravel (born Robert Gravel; July 20, 1948), commonly known as Muse Watson, is an American actor. He is notable for his recurring roles of Mike Franks on ''NCIS'' and Charles Westmoreland / D.B. Cooper in ''Prison Break'', and film ...

as Ketcham * Steve Kahan as Alan Branch * Kai Wulff as Remy * Mark Coates as Jereme Kyle *

Kelly Rowan Kelly Rowan (born October 26, 1965) is a retired Canadian film and television actress and former fashion model. A native of Ottawa, Rowan studied acting in London and New York City before she started working as a model. She was featured in the h ...

as Jennifer * Reed Diamond as Bob

Production

The original

spec script A spec script, also known as a speculative screenplay, is a non-commissioned and unsolicited screenplay. It is usually written by a screenwriter who hopes to have the script optioned and eventually purchased by a producer, production company, or ...

was written by

and sold for $1 million to producer

Joel Silver Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is an American film producer. Life and career Silver was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of a writer and a public relations executive. His family is Jewish. He attended Columbia High School ...

around the same time he bought their script for ''

The Matrix ''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction film, science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in the The Matrix (franchise), ''Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ca ...

'', also for $1 million. The script was similar to the final film, but with a more developed love story between Rath and Electra and a briefer ending without the character of Nicolai. Silver offered

$10 million to direct, but Donner insisted the script be rewritten to tone down the violence and make the central character more sympathetic. Donner brought in

, who did a page-one rewrite and earned a co-screenwriter credit. The Wachowskis attempted to remove their name from the film but were refused by the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...

. The film was shot in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

, and

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

Reception

''Assassins'' debuted at No. 2 at the box office behind '' Seven''. The film grossed $30.3 million in the United States and another $53 million worldwide. Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics. Film-review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

gives the film a 16% positive rating based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The script was heavily criticized for being confusing and dull. Stallone's performance in the film earned him a

Golden Raspberry Award The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic failures. Co-founded by University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John ...

nomination for Worst Actor (also for ''

Judge Dredd Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra. He first appeared in the second issue of the British weekly anthology Comic book, comic ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'' (1977). He is the magazi ...

''), but the award went to

Pauly Shore Paul Montgomery Shore (born February 1, 1968) is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for his roles in 1990s comedy films. Shore began as a stand-up comedian at the age of 17, before becoming an MTV VJ in 1989. This led to a starring ...

for ''

Jury Duty Jury duty or jury service is a Civil service, service as a juror in a legal proceeding. Different countries have different approaches to juries: variations include the kinds of cases tried before a jury, how many jurors hear a trial, and whether th ...

''. About the poor critical reception, Richard Donner said:

"I thought Stallone did one of the best jobs he's ever done. He underplayed, he was quiet, he found the character and he went with it. I thought Antonio Banderas was wonderful. The picture came out, and it did not do very well at all. Sure, it hurts and you know why you wish it would do better? The studio gave you a lot of money and you want them to make their money back so that other people can make movies (...) Warners have been good to us and gave us money to make that movie. And I thought we did a good job and they thought we did a good job, but the audiences and critics didn't like it. Did I feel bad? Sure. Did it get me down? Nope, nope, nope – too lucky to be in this business to be down in the dumps."

A sequence in the film featuring Banderas looking away from a laptop screen in joy retrospectively became a popular reaction meme GIF.

References

External links

* *
Original screenplay
by the Wachowskis

by Brian Helgeland {{DEFAULTSORT:Assassins (1995 Film) 1995 films 1995 action thriller films 1990s American films 1990s chase films 1990s English-language films American action thriller films American chase films Day of the Dead films Films about contract killing Films about snipers Films directed by Richard Donner Films produced by Joel Silver Films scored by Mark Mancina Films set in Puerto Rico Films set in Seattle Films shot in Portland, Oregon Films shot in Washington (state) Films with screenplays by Brian Helgeland Films with screenplays by The Wachowskis Silver Pictures films Warner Bros. films English-language action thriller films