13/04/2012: The Matador [2005]

A hitman and a salesman walk into a bar... the punchline to this jokes is the entirety of the movie itself. The Matador, is a surprisingly funny movie about an aging hitman who encounters a salesman while both are on business in Mexico City.




  
 
How do you follow up being the ultimate suave super spy James Bond? Such was the question for Pierce Brosnan in 2005 and what he did was to star in a comedy that subtly pokes fun at the high octane, womanizing, and espionage ways of Bond himself. I found The Matador after finishing Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, where the small scenes of cold war espionage got me wishing for another such film. I really enjoy cold war spy movies, and yet there isn't much in the way of selection I found. I enjoy The Debt as well for its segment of cold war espionage, but like CoaDM neither were completely dedicated to that aspect. So I tried googling to find some similar movies and all I really came up with was The Matador.

Now, if you've seen The Matador you know that it by no means really meets the exact period set spy movie I was looking for. (If you know of any please recommend one in a comment) However, The Matador is actually quite the fun dramedy, with some great characters and performances.

Stop! I invade you bathroom stall in peace.

 The story to The Matador is interesting and solid if not anything new or crazy. Julian Noble is an aging hitman, who has no friends, no home, and no retirement prospects. He's rude, sleazy, and probably an alcoholic. He is really like a burn out James Bond. To contrast this character is Danny Wright, played by Greg Kinnear, a goody-goody family man who is in for more than he thinks when a drunk asshole insults him at a bar. Unfortunately none of the other characters are truly memorable, except perhaps Danny's wife played by Hope Davis, "did he bring his gun?"

Time to pick up some thick lenses to hang around your neck whilst playing bingo.

There are however quite a few enjoyable scenes in this movie, my favourite being when Julian shows Danny what he does at the bull fights. Also, The Matador undoubtedly features a great performance by Pierce Brosnan, and Julian is a really well done character. However The Matador will not be likely to stick in your memory, so only pick this up if you like Pierce Brosnan, or just want to have some laughs.

Also if you know what the words in the poster below mean that are directed at the characters let me know.

Link:
The Matador IMDb