You bet your ass I’m gonna go see a theatrically released Dave Bautista vehicle directed by action legend J.J. Perry. THE KILLER’S GAME came out during the week I was traveling and it’s already down to limited showings but I got in there in time. I’m glad I did, but I gotta admit I can already feel it dissolving from my memory as I type this. I didn’t know it was based on a book and that it’s been in development since the ’90s (more on that later), but coming now it’s very well-worn material within the familiar Wacky Assassins mode of action filmmaking (think THE BIG HIT, LOVE AND A BULLET, THE TOURNAMENT, SMOKIN’ ACES, BULLET TRAIN, POLAR, ACCIDENT MAN and its sequel or HOTEL ARTEMIS, which even features both of THE KILLER’S GAME’s leads).

Bautista (MASTER Z: THE IP MAN LEGACY) stars as Joe Flood, elite assassin who in the opening scene kills an arms dealer in the balcony of an opera house. All he really has to do is come in wearing a tux and kill a couple guards to get up there. It’s kind of funny that this is the last role before Bautista decided to slim down from his giant wrestler body, because his huge size seems like a disadvantage in this job (along with his attention-grabbing hand and neck tattoos). That’s not a complaint, though! I enjoy improbable muscleman characters – Schwarzenegger playing scientists, etc.

Joe’s target begs for a few more seconds to watch the dance performance before he dies, which seems silly to Joe until he looks down at the stage and gets a load of lead dancer Maize (Sofia Boutella, STREETDANCE 2) and is like, oh shit. By coincidence he ends up carrying her to safety when a shootout breaks out and (without revealing his occupation) this leads to a date and falling in love and deciding to quit the life. One of the few things that feels off formula here is that it treats the romance pretty seriously and takes its time getting to the action. I can understand hating that, but to me it gives an otherwise pretty smart-alecky movie some sincerity, which is an important quality for a Dave Bautista vehicle in my opinion.

Another refreshing aspect is that when he tells his handler Zvi (Ben Kingsley, SECURITY) that he wants to quit he quickly agrees to help, and although you expect a twist later where he turns against him and makes a little speech about how he loves him but has to look after himself it never happens. He’s just a good friend. Only one Joe invites to his birthday party, too.

But the hook here is that also he’s been suffering these headaches and his doctor gives him the terrible news that it’s Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare brain disorder that will kill him in a matter of weeks. Instead of palliative care he decides to mysteriously break things off with Maize and call a hit on himself (for the life insurance I think?) Zvi refuses to do it so he goes to a rival, Antoinette (Pom Klementieff, INGRID GOES WEST), who hates him for having killed her father. When Joe learns that the lab mixed up some samples and he’s actually not dying she refuses to call it off, so he has to keep killing all his professional peers as they come after him.

Like I mentioned, the director is J.J. “Loco” Perry, his sophomore directorial work after DAY SHIFT. I know him as fight choreographer, stunt coordinator and second unit director for movies including UNDISPUTED II, BLOOD AND BONE, SAFE and HAYWIRE. Unsurprisingly he gets a couple of our guys in there, starting with Daniel Bernhardt (who Perry co-starred with in BLOODSPORT III) as Antoinette’s mercenary right hand man Max. Basically the main henchman. Scott Adkins has a fairly small but entertaining part alongside WWE wrestler Drew McIntyre as Scottish brothers whose dialogue is all subtitled not only for the thick accents but to translate the slang to American. Perry knows what’s up so he gets to be funny and also do some flying kicks.

The highlight of the movie for me is Adkins’ UNDISPUTED III and SAVAGE DOG co-star Marko Zaror as Botas, an assassin with a bullfighter/salsa dancer persona. He wears a silk shirt and boots with spurs, and he listens to music on earbuds to inspire his dancerly fight moves. There’s literally no one else on earth more qualified to embody this gimmick, and I continue to be awed by both Zaror’s acrobatics and his acting range from awkward weirdo (KILTRO) to outsized machismo (MANDRILL, this).

But Joe’s main opponent is non-martial-artist Lovedahl (Terry Crews, STREET KINGS), who mostly gets comedy bits. Antoinette saddles him with her wannabe cousin Money (George Somner, CRAWL) as his driver and has to deal with his stupidity. A corny subplot, but it gets some laughs. The other assassins, including a Korean gang let by Goyang (Lee Hoon), get less dialogue, more action, fighting in a variety of styles against our hero who obviously uses his size and power against them. I like the exaggerated shit where he grabs guys and just throws them or whacks them against things, like Jason Voorhees would do. There’s also a horror movie level of blood splatter, though it’s more obviously digital than I prefer.

Stunt coordinator and second unit directors are Justin Yu (SAMARITAN) and Troy Robinson (long time Vin Diesel stunt double and stunt coordinator for the FASTs since Los Bandaleros plus FIND ME GUILTY, RIDDICK, THE LAST WITCH HUNTER, xXx: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE and BLOODSHOT). The fight coordinators are Felix Betancourt (THE GRAY MAN) and Balazs Lengyel (ROBIN HOOD).

When I saw the trailer for this I was slightly disappointed to see that Boutella was playing a civilian, but it’s actually a very good use of her since she’s playing a dancer, is introduced doing a dance performance and then it’s just about her being charming and making him want to change. Also she does get to kick a guy in one part.

One minor complaint: they give Klementieff the respect of introducing her killing a bunch of dudes with a sword (then splattering blood on the ground spelling out her character name!) but it considers her on the same level as Zvi, so she doesn’t get to have a climactic fight against Joe, despite her grudge against him. That sword should’ve come out again, in my opinion, not only because it’s the rules but because she has such good chemistry with Bautista in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 and was so cool with a sword in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING (FORMERLY MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING: PART ONE). But she does appear to be having fun playing evil, and has a cool haircut.

I’ve read that screenwriter Rand Ravich (CANDYMAN: FAREWELL TO THE FLESH) sold the script to New Line Cinema under the title GODFORSAKEN way back in 1995, but also it’s based on a book (by Jay Bonansinga) published in 1997. Not sure how that works, but Amazon and Goodreads reviews of the book definitely sound like the movie is faithful to its plot. I had no idea it was one of those projects that has bounced around every possible company, star and director since days of yore. People they tried to get in the starring role include Wesley Snipes, Michael Keaton and Jason Statham, directors include John Woo and Pitof(!). When Bautista first signed on it was with D.J. Caruso directing and Morena Baccarin and Ice Cube co-starring. When it moved to Lionsgate they picked up Perry and this cast and had James Coyne (PUNCTURE WOUNDS) rewrite the script.

In the end it turns out being perfectly fine, a cool premise and world that would’ve been much fresher way back when, but oh well. I recommend the movie to anyone who enjoys this kind of thing and the work of these people, but with this caveat: it’s a solid lazy afternoon type viewing. It’s nowhere near the all-timer I would’ve anticipated, say, five years ago if you told me Dave Bautista was starring in a theatrical movie directed by J.J. Perry and featuring Boutella, Adkins, Zaror and Bernhardt. I’d still like to see Perry’s action chops applied to a story with more originality than what he’s done so far, and I’d like to see Bautista play a character more specifically tailored to his unique qualities and passions. I bet they’re still capable of greatness. But this is good for a laugh or two.