Angel of Death (2009)

This movie was written by comic book scribe Ed Brubaker and it really does look and feel like a modern comic. Some of the surface elements like dialog, attitude and characterization are okay. The storytelling fundamentals that lie underneath all that, like plot, theme and story structure, are outright terrible. Angel of Death never gives you a reason to care about anything that happens in it and has so little to say that it starts repeating itself before it's half over.Eve (Zoe Bell) is an assassin who murders a young girl and gets stabbed in the brain when an assignment goes wrong. She begins seeing visions of her young victim, commanding her to start killing bad people. Not all the bad people, though. Eve's lover/handler Prescott (Brian Poth) and Eve's nearly pre-pubescent assassin partner Franklin (Justin Huen) are never threatened by Eve's visions, even though they are just as evil as anyone else in the movie. Instead,s he sets her sights on a couple of generically undefined mob bosses and…well, it gets a bit hard to describe after that.Not that Angel of Death is all that complex. It's simplistic on just about every level but there's less and less logic to the film as it goes along, in the sense of point A leading to point B leading to point C. Characters are introduced that serve no purpose. Other characters that are important don't show up until the film is halfway over. The plot so completely runs out of steam it has to manufacture three separate reasons for why Eve should want to kill out of revenge, even though the whole point of the story is that she isn't seeking personal revenge.Now, an action movie can get by with a cruddy plot if it keeps cranking up the intensity as it goes along, but Angel of Death screws that up. The best action scene take place before the film is half over and nothing that comes after is even close to being as energetic or violent. Intensity-wise, this thing climaxes way too early and then lies flaccid on the screen till it peters out with a conclusion that seems to happen about 15 minutes before the story should actually finish. By that time, however, you're just glad it's over.I knew this film was going to suck from the very start, when it tried to tart up Eve in sexy clothes and a wig. Zoe Bell is a somewhat handsome woman with a tough charisma, but she's no beauty and when she's glammed up, she look less like La Femme Nikita and more like a transsexual. Putting their lead actress on screen in a way that makes her look as bad as she can told me these filmmakers didn't know their ass from a hole in the ground. That assumption was only confirmed by the rest of the movie.Like most modern super-hero comics, Angel of Death has an intriguing concept and some of the individual moments of the story are well pulled off, but the tale as a whole is a mess that goes nowhere with no aim. There's also no nudity, relatively little profanity and most of the violence is on the tame side. Leave this one alone.

A small-budget exercise in what can be accomplished in on-line video, "Angel of Death" is startlingly effective as a full-length product.Starring near-legendary stunt performer Zoe Bell ("Kill Bill," "Death Proof" and others), this action adventure never pulls its punches. Every shot hits - and some very bloody hits they are. It creates some of the same energy and electricity as "Wanted," with mordant humor and wonderful guest performances from brilliant mime Doug Jones (who created Abe Sapien in "Hellboy," the Silver Surfer and others) and the woman for whom Bell doubled for years, Lucy "Zena" Lawless.Terrific editing suits Ed Brubaker's potboiler plot, with camera angles and scene framing joyfully celebrating the story's hard core comic book feel. Darrel Herbert's music is derivative but effectively enhances the over-the-top approach of the action.To paraphrase Ordell Robbie, "When you absolutely, positively want to watch a warrior woman take out every m*-f* in the room," check out Zoe Bell as Eve. "Angel of Death" delivers the goods.

Some so called critics may give this flick a couple of stars but truth be told, I went in with low expectations and came out pleasantly surprised. Had never heard of the movie or even Zoe Bell for that matter but she was in fine form here and her acting was quite sufficient for the lead role. Except for being a story about a female assassin, this really has nothing in common with "La Femme Nikita". What it does have is dark humor, plenty of action, and very good fight scenes. Even martial arts fans like me won't be disappointed. I feel lucky enough to have watched it with a few friends (one of whom brought the movie to my attention), and we all enjoyed it. If I give out any kind of spoiler it might ruin the fun so go take a look, I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Brubaker does it again, this time in movie form. A violent, action-packed, compelling revenge/vigilante story with great performances and fun characters. I've seen others compare it to La Femme Nikita and Alias (odd, the only other female assassin stories that quickly come to mind. If there is a male assassin in a movie is it an imitation of The Mechanic? Or is that only if there is a female in the lead role?) but this film easily stands on it's own. Gratuitous and darkly humorous violence mixed with a engrossing story of a killer who develops a conscience. If you like this you should definitely check out Brubaker's crime comics like Criminal or Sleeper. The guy knows how to tell a story.