Killing Time Movie Review

The problem with the movie Cube is that it couldn't decide which it wanted to be: studio or independent. Cube was your basic horror movie, filmed for about $300,000 on a single 14' by 14' set with a total of seven people in the cast. It was a concept easily pitchable to the studios and done with corresponding quality, ending up coming out a fair disaster yet it persisted in giving the same cheesy enjoyment as any 80s schlock horror film. It wanted to be done independently, with all of the special attention and allure that Independent films get, yet wanted all of the look and advantages of a mainstream studio audience. The result is always a cosmic fluke.

Similarly, 1998's Killing Time is a cosmic fluke.

It's one of those films that was easily done on what looks to be a shoestring budget that has all of the look of an independent motion picture (i.e. most of the action takes place in a single hotel room). However, it is just as contrived, just as boring, and just as idiotic as an action picture.

When I saw the preview such a long time ago I was positively sure that Killing Time had promise. It had a good premise (hire an assassin to kill someone and then kill the assassin so you can skip on the bill). It had a good soundtrack (an excellent song from Portishead worked great with the preview). It had the kind of extra-grainy look that comes from either a 16mm or an 8mm. Yet, when push came to shove, Killing Time seems like an extra waste of my time.

The entire movie spends its time killing off people that do not need to be killed off and waiting for a tram to arrive at 5:40. Italian Assassin Maria (Kendra Torgan) speaks absolutely no English and kills everyone and anyone she wants to. She kills at least a dozen people in her first attempt to get her target (Nigel Leach), then kills the four people who were supposed to kill her when the job was done (and a Hotel page, just for the hell of it).

She misses a few times, hits on target. She plays William Tell with one of the hitmen. She stands in one place and all the bullets fly right by her.

In short, just your average action movie.

The Portishead track that worked so well with the preview only plays a couple of times in the movie (both times misplaced), and the rest of the soundtrack plays like a dud. There is no score to help the movie along. The cinematography is as poor as the script.

British action filmmakers put out this piece of crap, thinking that they would be like the Americans. A tip for Western European action wannabes: American Action films are nothing to mimic. We've only done one good one in years, and that's The Matrix. The rest of them were done by Hong Kong expatriates. Stick to those nice little parlor dramas and dark comedies you seem to be so great at.