The Silencer (1992)

The Silencer is a low budget movie that takes a clear influence from Luc Besson's super stylized French thriller Nikita (1990). Both share the idea of a professional female killer who works for an enigmatic government organisation. In this one we have Angel, a leather clad, motorbike riding assassin who is paid to kill those who exploit women. Her assignments are given to her via an arcade game called The Silencer which is situated in a downtown bar and which delivers the mission instructions after a special coin is inserted.Probably the best thing about this one is Lynette Walden who plays Angel. She has a good mixture of sex appeal and kick ass style; I mean, after all, how many leading actresses are actual genuine bikers? She's pretty decent value in the various action scenes and is a compelling presence throughout. The film itself I found to be pretty entertaining all things considered. It's cheap and cheerful stuff admittedly but it gets the job done. The plot-line was nicely episodic and paced pretty well I thought. It's one of those movies from the early 90's that falls at least partially within the erotic thriller bracket. These types of films have a bit of a ropey reputation but I think it's a genre that has been executed pretty well sometimes and for me this is one of the ones I like.

I recently purchased THE SILENCERS, as part of Mill Creek's EXPLOSIVE CINEMA 12-film package. The first thing I noticed was, all the guns in this flick that had silencers (and there were a lot of them), made real loud "BANG!" noises. The rest of the movie worked about as well.At $5.00 for EXPLOSIVE CINEMA, this little gem set me back a mere fifty cents....and I still feel ripped off, but in a fun, cheesy way. The acting was dreadful, the basic story hackneyed, and the characters, in some cases, unclear; 4-X, was the guy who was following her a former lover, her former boss, or the Grim Reaper, or (D), all of the above? Also,there were so many technical glitches, sound, lighting, etc. that it just rubs one's nose in the fact that this probably showed under the drive-in.

One of the biggest wastes of celluloid I've run across. Not so much bad as utterly pointless. Woman who was a hit woman killing bad guys drifts from man to man until she finds a guy she really likes. At the same time she is called back for one last job. Meanwhile she's stalked by an ex-boyfriend and hit-man who wants things to be like they were. She wanders about looking cute while we listen to the ex boyfriends inane ramblings abut his "angel". I was half way into the film when I realized nothing had really happened. I also realized that I was still watching because I was waiting for something to happen. "Okay something will happen and I'll know whether its worth continuing…" I kept thinking…but nothing really does until the end, but by then its way too late. Yes it looks good. Yes the lead is pretty both in and out of clothes, but nothing happens for most of the movie that is worth giving up the very precise time of your life…. I want my 85 minutes back.2 out of 10 for the eye candy

While this film does have some very poor sound effects editing (silencers that don't, for example), it is far from a bad film, even though it's obvious it did not intend to be anything other than a B-movie.What is most impressive is the female lead. Lynette Walden does a surprisingly good job portraying Angel, and she is the first clue that this was supposed to be a sex and action flick. However, she went far beyond that and actually made Angel at least a character, as well as someone with whom you sympathize.Some of the sound effect editing is bad, causing the two main characters' guns to sound like some warped combination of an overloud laser blast and a normal gun, it's not that dreadfully distracting. Also, there is some silliness in part of the plot.Again, let me point out that for a movie trying to be a B-grade show, Angel is one of the strongest female characters I have ever seen in a movie. She doesn't go whining off to her boyfriend every time she gets in trouble or gets hurt. A refreshing change from most movies which are supposed to have a heroine who can stand up for herself but ultimately requires the help of the hero.