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A jaded hitman takes on One Last Job and ends up falling in love with his target.
Starring Tom Sizemore, Sasha Alexander, Sprague Grayden, Randall Batinkoff, Bill Smitrovich
Written by Peter Biegen, Max Allan Collins
Produced by David Koplan
Duration 93 minutes
Tom Sizemore, RIP.
It’s only been two months since his passing, but I'm already getting the (dubious) privilege of honouring the late actor with a review of THE LAST LULLABY, one of the many low-budget flicks to which he was reduced after struggling during his peak years with crystal meth, heroin and Heidi Fleiss.
(Recommended reading: Sizemore’s perfectly titled autobiography, By Some Miracle, I Made It Out Of There.)
Sizemore will be missed; specifically by me for having the sleaziest screen presence in ’90s cinema. From his cameo as a rough-living undercover DEA agent in POINT BREAK, through NATURAL BORN KILLERS’ psychotic wannabe-rapist Jack Scagnetti, to double-crossing Ralph Fiennes while sporting a dirty blonde wig in STRANGE DAYS (possibly the sleaziest movie ever?), he owned that decade.
His career was genuinely legit there for a while. In TRUE ROMANCE, he stood out among all the standout actors in a great cop double act with Chris Penn (another gone too soon). He was fourth-billed in HEAT, behind only Pacino, De Niro and Kilmer. And for some reason, it deeply pleases me that between 1998 and 2001 he was in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, BLACK HAWK DOWN and PEARL HARBOUR.
But there was always that compelling sleaziness. The only actor comparable is James Woods: see THE GETAWAY, THE SPECIALIST, CASINO, etc., in fact all the way back to VIDEODROME. Sadly, the two of them never shared the screen. Think of the unrealised collaborations! Sizemore taking the Daniel Baldwin role in VAMPIRES; Woods playing Sizemore’s father in STRIKING DISTANCE, replacing Dennis Farina.
Or how about an original team-up? Let’s say they both play alcoholic cops investigating a serial killer who preys on strippers. 80% of the movie takes place in strip clubs, and each of our heroes gets romantically involved with a potential victim – maybe the same one, the lucky lady. Title: STRIP MAUL.
Anyway, THE LAST LULLABY. It may actually be the first time I've seen Sizemore as the lead (I don't count 1997's THE RELIC, that was Penelope Ann Miller's movie.) Why didn’t he get more of those opportunities in his heyday? Oh yeah, right, those recreational habits were probably an obstacle...
When we meet Sizemore, he's fidgety and drawn out; twitchy, like he’s coming off something. Hmm. He's mostly shot in static-camera close-ups to convey his inner turmoil, and also to avoid having to dress the set too much.
At first, we think he's a ‘nice’ assassin, rescuing a kidnapped girl from a bunch of vest-wearing rednecks in an abandoned barn. But he's only gate-crashing the hostage situation, subsequently asking her father for his own ransom. Then he decides he’s had enough of being a gun-for-hire and vows to hang up his Colt 1911 – until he gets another contract offer for more money than he can refuse.
Sizemore conducts himself through all this with the blunt, straightforward dignity of a triple-digit-IMDb-credits veteran. At one point, he goes swimming nude in a lake and you wonder if we’re going to find out whether he’s genuinely ‘sized-more’. But, alas. What we do learn is that with his world-weary minimalism, clipped delivery and prominent facial mole, he’s starting to resemble Bob De Niro, at around the age his HEAT co-star was during the making of Michael Mann's cop masterpiece.
Just as measured as Tom's performance is the film’s pace. I wouldn't quite call it boring, and there is enough story for 93 minutes, but it's definitely slow. The plot takes an early ‘six months later’ leap, which can be a danger sign, and the so-called ‘love’ Sizemore develops for his mark, Sasha Alexander, is more accurately his conscience catching up with him. But we don’t see much of this transition, therefore it feels a little unearned. It's in Sizemore’s eyes, but it’s not in the script, and so it’s only ever half-realised.
Overall, THE LAST LULLABY could have done with some offbeat Coens wit, or Cormac McCarthy philosophising, or Elmore Leonard banter. The movie starts off with some Soderbergh-esque titles, all-lower-case Courier New white on black, but that’s as close as it gets to indie quirkiness.
The real problem could be that I never stopped hoping for a taste of that good ol’ ’90s sleaze, sorely missing from this more mature Sizemore. And yes, I did start to wish that James Woods would turn up – he could easily have played the grizzled old dude who hires Tom to kill once again, although he would have needed some kind of nefarious ulterior motive. Necrophilia, perhaps.
It might be that I end up remembering late-period Sizemore more for his quickie TV roles on the likes of Cobra Kai and Twin Peaks. In lieu of trawling through his direct-to-streaming career in the vague hope of finding something stronger than THE LAST LULLABY, I’m OK with that.
Two stars out of five.
Valid use of the
word ‘last’? The movie ends pretty abruptly, but I’m
confident that the retirement is going to be permanent this time.
What would a movie called THE FIRST
LULLABY be about? ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ surely tops
the list for most of us.
Previously: THE LAST SUMMER
Next time: THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT
Check out my books: Jonathanlastauthor.com
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