Since a child, I have always been a sucker for action movies. Before I truly started to see the beauty of film, I used to believe the more combat in a flick, the better it would be. So naive. However, there was a moment in time when I would critique every little detail of any movie, whether it was Oscar worthy or not. Now, I treat any movie as if it was the Best Picture of the year when watching it. Every single movie has a different aspect to all the various people who watch it, which to me is absolutely the artistry of cinema. With that being said, this is my review of the Netflix original, released to streaming one week ago, "True Memoirs of an International Assassin".
The "True Memoirs of an International Assassin", TMIA for short, is an original story about a lonely man whose career is being stuck in a cubicle, while the entirety of his free time is spent writing. He aspires to become a best-selling author. Story after story, he attempts to get published but always gets rejected. Finally, someone contacts him in favor of publishing his fiction story about an international assassin. So the two set up a meeting and agree to publish the book online, virtually. Although, things don't go as planned for the author when he finds out the publisher added a few effects to the change the book from fiction to non-fiction. The author is played by Kevin James (Paul Blart: Mall Cop). The plot begins to thicken as the author is kidnapped and sent to Venezula by terrorists believing that he is the character from his book, 'The Ghost'.
I was impressed for TMIA being an original film from Netflix. The man behind the story, Jeff Moris (screenwriter), wrote a view short movies before this, but nothing as full length as TMIA. He did a great job for his first feature film. The director, Jeff Wadlow, used his talent to perfectly execute the script of TMIA. I wholeheartedly believe that this movie was made the best it could be. There is no amazing slow-mo fighting scenes like "The Matrix" or an emotionally unstable scene like "Up", but it does hold its own.
Now, this movie is a very cheesy action thriller. Okay, action adventure. There is a bit of everything in this movie. A lot of comedy, well shot combat sequences, along with romance (of course), and a little twist at the end. This was the first 'Netflix Original' film I have watched, and I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. For all that it is, I respected it. I also really like Kevin James. TMIA is not that movie to watch when you're looking for a slow thriller, or a raunchy comedy. It is mainly a comedy, but it is clean for all the dialogue. "True Memiors of an International Assassin" is a good movie. My rating is a decent 7/10.
Check out my earlier review of "Arrival."
