Notable Cast: Henry Golding, Noomi Rapace, Daniela
Melchior, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Sam Neill, Anastasia Doaga, Claudio Del Falco,
Gabriele Mira Rossi, Runo Bilotta, Sheena Hao, Lorenzo Buran, G-Max
There is a point around the halfway mark of Assassin Club
that I came to a realization. Someone needed to recognize Henry Golding,
playing the assassin with a heart Morgan, for the serious effort he is putting
into this movie. At this point, he’s speaking with a “faceless” assassin,
played by the always go-for-broke Noomi Rapace, over the phone about the puppet
master that has set up six assassins to kill one another. No lie, he’s giving
the scene 1000% more than it deserves. He is carrying the poor exposition, plot
progression, and character bits kicking and screaming through that entire
scene.
Golding often oozes charisma in this film, straining under
the sheer weight of a script and director that don’t understand the potential
of the material outside of “look how cool this should be for the 18 to 25 male
demographic,” and I almost started feeling pity for the man. After his meteoric
rise with Crazy Rich Asians, his career has seemingly been ignored by
the masses (even though I still believe - and will fight - for Snake Eyes)
and now he’s relegated to a straight-to-home video actioner like Assassin
Club.