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“ The Assignment ” is a film that arrives in theaters having already inspired vast outpourings of anger from two groups —the transgender community, which appears to be offended by its very premise, and action buffs, who are put off both by the premise (albeit for different reasons) and what they feel is a lazy execution that fails to offer the requisite thrills. While I am sympathetic to the complaints of both groups (somewhat more for the former) and recognize that it is indeed deeply flawed in many areas, I cannot quite agree with either. This is a modestly scaled B-movie by one of the best genre filmmakers of our time, Walter Hill , that has enough skill and personality going for it to make it worth checking out, even if it doesn’t quite live up (or down, depending on your perspective) to its borderline sleazy premise.
And what is that premise, you ask? In a nutshell, Frank Kitchen ( Michelle Rodriguez … just keep reading) is a ruthless San Francisco hitman who runs afoul of Dr. Rachel Kay ( Sigourney Weaver ), a brilliant but deranged surgeon who has lost her license for conducting various rogue experiments. Frank kills Dr. Kay’s brother, and the good doctor seeks vengeance and experimental research into the importance of physical identity on the psyche. She arranges with crime boss Honest John Hartunian ( Anthony LaPaglia ) to have him grab Frank and bring him to her secret lab, where she proceeds to perform gender reassignment surgery on him. Dr. Kay asserts that the surgery will take away Frank’s desire to kill. Needless to say, Frank sees things a little differently, and, once she discovers that the surgery cannot be reversed, she methodically hatches a grisly revenge plot on everyone involved with her transformation from Honest John and his goons all the way up to Dr. Kay. Helping Frank in her quest is Johnnie ( Caitlin Gerard ), a nurse with whom Frank had a one-night stand before his transformation and who doesn’t seem particularly nonplussed by recent developments, though it seems that she may be harboring a few secrets of her own.
At first blush, one can easily understand why the transgender community might be a tad put off by the very existence of “The Assignment,” but the actual film is nowhere near as offensive as it might initially seem. For one thing, the film as a whole is so willfully and deliberately pulpy in tone (I could easily see a short version of this tale fitting perfectly into the confines of a “ Sin City ” film) that it is hard to take the alleged provocations on display with any degree of seriousness—this is a film that is so archetypal in nature that the sort-of sweethearts at its center are literally named Frank(ie) and Johnnie. Additionally, to suggest that Frank is meant to represent all transgender people is nonsense because he is clearly not one himself, and, outside of the obvious physical construct, little about him changes after undergoing his forced surgery. I would also point out that no less of a filmmaker than Pedro Almodovar used the notion of unwilling gender reassignment surgery as a plot point in his own unabashed genre exercise, “ The Skin I Live In ,” and no one seemed especially put off by it even though the deployment there was arguably more questionable from a taste perspective than what is seen here.
That said, “The Assignment” is still a problematic work in many ways from a purely cinematic perspective. The screenplay by Hill & Denis Hamill (which Hill has been toying with since the late ‘70s) is an awkward construction with much of the story presented in a series of flashbacks, as the now-incarcerated Dr. Kay recounts the story to another psychiatrist ( Tony Shalhoub ). This concept is especially problematic since Hill is at his best when he allows characters to define themselves purely through their actions instead of relentlessly explaining themselves as they do here. The film also screams out for a more overtly stylized visual treatment in the vein of something like his great “ Streets of Fire ”—a fact underlined by the occasional bits of black-and-white photography and comic book-style transitions—that might have also helped to underscore the kind of pulpy approach Hill was clearly going for. Another big problem, at least at first, is the casting of Michelle Rodriguez as Frank. There is nothing wrong with her performance but the early scenes in which she portrays the male version of Frank, complete with a wildly unconvincing beard and a lingering close-up of his genitalia for good measure, do inspire a few bad laughs right when the film is trying to establish itself. For some viewers, it may never recover from that.
For those who can get beyond that, “The Assignment” contains plenty of points of interest. Sigourney Weaver is pretty much a blast throughout as the snidely condescending doctor who sets all of the events into motion. As for Rodriguez, once she sheds the beard, her performance improves greatly. Obviously, we know she can do the steely-eyed badass stuff as well as anyone else but she also gets a couple of quieter moments amidst the chaos where she displays a more vulnerable side without stepping out of character—in one, she consults a doctor about whether the surgery can be reversed and begins shyly inquiring about certain personal details regarding her new equipment. In the other, she is about to go to bed with Johnnie when she realizes that she has no idea of how to approach lovemaking from a female perspective. (“You’ll do fine,” she is reassured in a line that is both funny and strangely touching.) As for Hill, while he is clearly working with a lower budget than usual here (with Vancouver substituting, not too convincingly, for San Francisco), he is still able to establish a convincingly noir attitude toward the material and the scenes of violence are done in a spare and economical style that is a relief from the over-the-top pyrotechnics of most current action films. (He also gets bonus points for employing Giorgio Moroder to deliver a cheerfully retro synth score.)
It is easy to see how the dramatic excesses of the plot could prove offensive to the transgender community, though I can just as easily see “The Assignment” one day becoming a cult favorite in the way that the once-controversial “ Cruising ” would eventually find some fans within the gay community that once scorned it. As an exercise in unapologetic pulp fiction, it gets the job done in a smart, efficient and slyly subversive manner. As the latest entry in the Walter Hill filmography, it definitely belongs on the second tier. Even though it may not be the equal to a classic like “ The Driver ” or “Streets of Fire,” it will do until that next masterwork does come along.
Peter Sobczynski
A moderately insightful critic, full-on Swiftie and all-around bon vivant , Peter Sobczynski, in addition to his work at this site, is also a contributor to The Spool and can be heard weekly discussing new Blu-Ray releases on the Movie Madness podcast on the Now Playing network.
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The Assignment (2017)
Rated R for graphic nudity, violence, sexuality, language and drug use.
Michelle Rodriguez as Frank Kitchen / Tomboy
Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Rachel Kay
Tony Shalhoub as Dr. Ralph Galen
Caitlin Gerard as Johnnie
Anthony LaPaglia as Honest John Hartunian
Paul McGillion as Paul Wincott
- Walter Hill
Writer (story)
- Denis Hamill
Cinematographer
- James Liston
- Phil Norden
- Giorgio Moroder
- Raney Shockne
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The Assignment
2016, Action/Mystery & thriller, 1h 36m
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Critics Consensus
The Assignment 's premise is bizarrely intriguing; unfortunately, it's also just one of many ingredients fumbled in a disappointing misfire from director Walter Hill. Read critic reviews
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The assignment videos, the assignment photos.
After being double-crossed, a hit man becomes a hit woman with help from a rogue surgeon. She sets out for revenge along with a nurse named Johnnie.
Rating: R (Graphic Nudity|Drug Use|Language|Sexuality|Violence)
Genre: Action, Mystery & thriller, Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Director: Walter Hill
Producer: Saïd Ben Saïd , Michel Merkt
Writer: Walter Hill , Denis Hamill
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 7, 2017 limited
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 7, 2017
Runtime: 1h 36m
Distributor: Saban Films
Production Co: SBS Films
Cast & Crew
Michelle Rodriguez
Frank Kitchen, Tomboy
Sigourney Weaver
Dr. Rachel Kay
Tony Shalhoub
Dr. Ralph Galen
Caitlin Gerard
Anthony LaPaglia
Honest John Hartunian
Paul McGillion
Paul Wincott
Zak Santiago
Edward Gonzalez
Walter Hill
Screenwriter
Denis Hamill
Saïd Ben Saïd
Michel Merkt
James Liston
Cinematographer
Phil Norden
Film Editing
Giorgio Moroder
Original Music
Raney Shockne
Production Design
Ellen Anderson
Costume Design
Candice Elzinga
Sheila Jaffe
News & Interviews for The Assignment
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Critic Reviews for The Assignment
Audience reviews for the assignment.
You know, I've always felt a sort of admiration and respect for filmmakers/writers/actors/whomever it may be that find a new way to tell a story featuring characters that are rarely ever explored in films. Innovation isn't just something that's reserved for stylistic choices in your film, it's finding new angles to put your lead characters into that may provide some interesting scenarios. And this movie, at least in theory, has a bit of that. If you didn't know then, basically, the story boils down to Frank Kitchen, this professional hitman, who is kidnapped by his former employer and handed off to this doctor, played by Sigourney Weaver, who proceeds to perform a sex change operation in order to turn Frank into a woman as revenge for Frank killing her brother. That's certainly something we haven't seen before in a film, at least as far as I can tell. This concept has the potential to subvert the normal tropes associated with a genre as macho-centric as action films. I really do love this, I think it's a concept that ripe with great ideas of how to play with reserved gender roles. But, sadly, it pains me to say that the movie doesn't have the narrative chops in order to make proper usage of such a freaking great concept. Essentially, the film boils down to Frank Kitchen's generic quest to get revenge on the doctor who changed him. That's all the film is about, really, and the film explores this story in about as generic a manner as is humanly possible. I'm not saying that the film is bad, it's actually a perfectly decent revenge action thriller, but its reach definitely exceeds its grasp. You could say that at least they tried, but all they did was come up with the concept. The effort comes in how you follow up that concept and whether or not your narrative matches the creativity and uniqueness of it. And let's just say the effort was certainly lacking here. I will say that the only good idea the film has that they actually introduce here is Dr. Kay (Sigourney) mentioning that her reasons were twofold. Yes, she wanted for her brother and this was a way to psychologically torture Frank for this. She wanted to mess with Frank's idea of masculinity. But she also stated that she wanted to see if changing Frank's gender (which would theoretically affect his identity) would change the sort of person that Frank was. She wanted to change Frank's murderous habits. I think that's the only remotely interesting idea the film has here. They could have done something with Frank's change, but all they did is have Frank grab his new tits a couple of times. Everything else about Frank, really, is exactly the same. He changes in no discernible way whatsoever, other than the fact that he has tits and his penis was removed. Other than that, I mean, the movie really is perfectly decent. There's some enjoyment to be had if you look at it as a B-movie because, really, that's all this is. And there's nothing wrong with that, at all. But if you're gonna do this, then at least be a little more gleeful in your thrills. This flick has a noir-esque vibe when Michelle Rodriguez tells her side of her story in her gruff voice. That's another thing, the pacing is all out of whack. They jump back and forth between two timelines. Parts of story are told from the perspective of Dr. Galen (Tony Shalhoub), who's interviewing Dr. Kay (who's in an insane asylum until she is seen fit enough to stand trial), in order to get the truth of the matter and why there were four people dead in her illegal operating room. Galen doesn't believe that there really is a Frank Kitchen and he wants to find out why Kay is making this person up. The rest of the story is told from Frank's perspective as he goes on this journey of revenge against everyone attached to making him into a woman. I think jumping back and forth between two timelines hurts the film's pacing. Because just when you're getting into Frank's story, you're thrown right back to the insane asylum for further interviews with Kay. It's not so much of a problem when Sigourney Weaver gives a great performance as this narcissistic doctor, but they never really settle into a groove. It just doesn't flow well and that hurts the pacing. The action itself is fine, but very simplistic and bare bones. That shit just won't fly in this day and age of The Raid (both of them) and Mad Max Fury Road. The action here is serviceable enough, but completely forgettable. Michelle Rodriguez is good in her role and she is, pretty much, the perfect person to do this type of role. I'd have said Tilda Swinton would have been great, but she's more androgynous than anything else. That makes sense in my own head, it just wouldn't have worked with Tilda. Michelle Rodriguez has both feminine and masculine qualities that lend itself to this role. I will say, though, that the fake beard Michelle had to rock in the first part of the film was really laughably bad. It made her look like a woman who was trying to pass herself off as a man. I mean, that's precisely what she was, but I mean in the world of the film itself that's what she looked like. She didn't look enough like a man to make those scenes where she is one look convincing. I think the best bet would have been to cast a male actor for the parts where Frank is a man and then reveal Frank to be Michelle Rodriguez once she's a woman. It would have been a little more believable. Obviously you need to cast a man who looks enough like Michelle to pull this off, but it could have been done. The way they did do it, however, felt really hokey and laughable. Thankfully Michelle doesn't play Frank as a man for too long. But I digress, I don't know what else I can say about this. It's got a great concept, but the execution is so-so. There's some fun to be had here, for sure, if you're looking for some B-movie thrills, but I don't think this movie is ever as over-the-top (or interesting) enough as it concept would suggest it might have been. I can't recommend it, but there's worse movies out there. The adjective 'average' fits this flick to a T.
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“The Assignment” is a film that arrives in theaters having already inspired vast outpourings of anger from two groups —the transgender community, which appears …