The movie itself is styled in the late 80's/early 90's B films. The soundtrack is built into the cinematography. Yes!!!! There is a lot of action, a lot of killing but again relatable to the B genre films of past. Sure we have stars (again of the 80's/90's) in Berenger, Sizemore, Biehn and even Russo. It is not a stupendously acted story but has a unique flavor to it. We have a female antagonist who powers the film and others fall flat in their roles. A film to watch if your busy doing something else.
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torstensonjohn21 May 2018
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First of all,There have been many worse films than this.
I did not expect this to be a film to remember, so I was not disappointed.
Years back the studios made this type of film to be shown as the lower half of a double bill, with a 69 minute running time. This film is a fast 99 minutes. It is very violent & bloody, what would you expect with the title. STILETTO.
Truthfully, the main reason I saw this was because of the star Tom Berenger. 20-30 years ago he was a HUNK.(Looking for Mr Goodbar & Platoon were just 2 of his real good films). He is (of course) much older& plays the nasty,mean crime boss, Tom is still good and does hold your interest. The rest of the acting & production values are only fair.
I am not even going to mention the leading lady by name.She is pretty & kills most of the cast,I doubt if she make many films.
If you remember Tom Berenger,& like them very bloody,profane and violent see it.
Ratings: ** (out of 4)52 points (out of 100) IMDb 4 (out of 10) -
Vavavoommm21 September 2013I was expecting very little from this, given the low rating here, but found myself pleasantly surprised. This is really a much better film than it's being given credit for. There's a depth of characterisation in the script that you don't find in the average B-movie. The cast, too, are well above average. Most of the actors are past-their-prime Hollywood notables who may not earn the big bucks any more but can still turn in a decent performance.
The action sequences are decent and, for the most part, realistic.
I was surprised to discover that the burly cop was actually the writer of the script.
All in all, this is definitely worth a watch. -
killerkandykorn5 March 2011I'm gonna sum this up so you can easily decide if you want to watch it
1st Cinematography is bad. Sometimes it looks like a home movie. But it doesn't destroy the movie
2nd Story is crap. This woman goes on a revenge killing spree because of what happened to her sister. But its so poorly put in that it just doesn't seem to fit, and you just don't feel the emotion. The story tries to twist at the end I guess but it fails.
3rd The ending is just stupid.
4th This is whats good. Well... there are a couple of ass shots. There is some tension between the characters of the gangs which pretty much holds the movie together. The action sequences are pretty good.
The thing is, it's a movie you can enjoy, but you aren't going to completely enjoy it in the end, and your not going to want to watch it again. -
bwdude21 December 2008This seems to be a typical example of the movie industry, trying to push movies that are so bad, I am missing words to describe it.
It had a rating of 8.0 (!!) and a vote-count of 50 when I decided to give it a shot. Meanwhile the rating has gone down, but it still isn't reflecting the "quality" of this C-movie that looks like it's budget was around 50 bucks.
And no, I did not watch it to the end, after 30 minutes of stupid "story" and remarkably bad acting, I could not stand it anymore.
Don't be fooled by hired goons and fan boys, this is not worth watching by any means. It's just utterly bad.
Nuff said ... -
merklekranz7 January 2010This ultra violent female revenge film does not reveal the motivation for all of Stana Katric's carnage until it's almost over, so what precedes the revelation seems like random nonsense. If you are into this for the cast, beware that Tom Berenger is corpulent with dyed blonde hair. Tom Sizemore actually gives the best performance, expounding priceless dialect inside a strip joint, but his part is small. The movie has many problems, confusing and meaningless script, mostly bad acting, and zero likable characters. The ending is especially weak and a ridiculous conclusion to everything that precedes it. Very definitely, a movie to be avoided. - MERK
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Nightmare-Maker22 December 2008I just watched STILETTO, a film about a female assassin who is killing members of a ruthless criminal organization. One of her victims survives, a crime boss whom she shared a past with but her betrayal breaks his heart, so he hires a crooked homicide cop to track her down before the police get to her.
I read nothing but negative reviews about this, so I am the first to write a positive review! It's a very good film...if you like violence! It is brutal, I mean you get savage beatings, lots of stabbings people getting shot (including one brilliant scene!) and best of all it's all on-screen.
The acting is fine by all, I really don't know what people expect from a film, if you think you like the sound of it going by my write up, I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did. -
refdan16 December 2008The theme presented in this film has been done repeatedly in the recent past. A svelte young woman believes she has been wronged by her lover, so she seeks revenge upon all who may have been involved. She marks them all for death, and , one by one, she seduces or openly attacks them with a knife (her favorite weapon) or a gun.
The woman, Raina, is a very small thin woman with exotic looks. The film follows her around as she creates mayhem among the underworld baddies who are her targets.
These films are occasionally interesting as a character study of people that most of us would never meet or know. In this case, however, the cast creates a multitude of stereotypes. Performances are wooden and the dialog is stilted. There is no back story to explain how this woman gains her almost supernatural powers of stealth and strength. Her acting is adequate, except for the action scenes where she looks ridiculous.
Although the plot had several twists, I soon knew the how the ending would transpire. Unfortunately, most of the final events were highly improbable and seemed forced.
If you are a fan of "femme fatale" type movies, this may be your cup of tea. It really wasn't mine. -
Raina (Stana Katic - "Castle", Quantum of Solace)is out for revenge. She takes it in the opening on a former lover (Tom Berenger), who manages to survive only, as he jokes, because of his lifestyle - a big belly! He puts Beck (Paul Sloan) on her tail, but she is hard to catch as she pops up all over the city like Jason, slashing her way through various bad guys, even Tom Sizemore, who imagines himself a player after leaving a group of Nazis who sell crack to teen girls before turning them out.
At the same time, we are seeing Amanda Brooks really do a dance on some others. She & her boyfriend Lee (Michael Biehn - Aliens, The Terminator) have an interesting way of removing tats; some massive gunfights, and lots more deaths.
A good slasher/gangster film. -
dukevega9 January 2010This movie suffers from two problems: the cast is too big and if you don't read the back of the cover, you have no idea why Stana Katic ("Castle") is carving up people with an edged weapon that is too big to be a knife and too small to be a sword.
In a movie this long, you need to focus on the protagonist, the antagonist and the world they live in; everything else just bogs down the story. And in a revenge movie, you need to know why the protagonist is going after people, otherwise it makes it difficult for the audience to root for her.
What saves this movie is a nice little twist at the end and the character of a cop working for the mob; he almost becomes the protagonist because you get to know him a little and sense that while he may be working for the mob, he is not dirty.
All in all, barely worth the price of a rental, but I will keep an eye on the writer--he shows some potential.
Note to the Publicity Department: If you're going to name a movie "Stiletto" and the cover is going to feature an armed woman, she should probably be holding the weapon rather than a pair of guns. -
helljoy17 March 2009I had to write this after reading a few reviews. Especially the guy who says he quit watching after 30 Minutes. What do you want a Oscar performance. This movie is better than a lot of the trash with bigger names in it. This movie is non stop action. Very brutal killings done really well. Even a couple ways I've never seen before and I've seen a lot. I just don't want anyone not to see it due to one idiot. What don't you like revenge flicks? Lack of adventure? Sit back and enjoy something different. So what if the story isn't A-1. The short attention span of most will be consumed with this one. A lot of familiar faces. Check it out. Not for the faint at heart or those with a weak stomach
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Scarecrow-8812 May 2010A Russian immigrant's sister is raped and brutalized by a gang of Neo Nazi scum(Tom Sizemore and James Franco are two of them)and she believes her wealthy Greek mobster lover, Virgil Valados(Tom Berenger)is responsible for covering it up(Dominique Swain is a hooker who was there when the poor girl was gang banged and tortured). This immigrant, Raina(Stana Katic), attempts to kill Virgil and almost does so, also running away with two million dollars from a safe..this means someone within Virgil's organization helped Raina out because she didn't know the combination to the safe. Raina begins hunting down all the human dirtbags who participated in her sister's mistreatment(found in a garbage dumpster after three days, the experience leaving her mentally destroyed beyond repair, her face scarred from a bottle broken across it), stabbing each one in the heart with a special knife she carries. Michael Biehn is Virgil's loyal enforcer, Lee, with a nasty streak, who has been locked up for a while, having returned to help his boss find Raina. Virgil calls on a dirty cop, Beck(Paul Sloan), who owes him for helping him keep his brother out of harm's way, to bring him Raina, drawing the ire of Lee who believes he(and his devious English girlfriend junkie Penny, played with a Cockney accent by Amanda Brooks)can do the job himself sufficiently. Meanwhile, Virgil's brother Alex(William Forsythe)might know more about this entire situation than he's revealing. Alex and Lee are always at each other's throats, mainly it's because both want to be Virgil's closest confident. While Beck looks for Raina, he must somehow keep his partner, Hanover(Kelly Hu)in the dark, not an easy task. Virgil's wife, Sylvia(Diane Venora)knows that her husband is deeply in love with Raina and this definitely ruins their marriage.
Nick Vallelonga's Stilleto is quite a showcase for the beauty Stana Katic(who would not longer after show up in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace)and essentially follows her as she kills a hell of a lot of people. Stilleto is without a doubt a quintessential rape revenge crime thriller, except in this case, Raina is assassinating those behind her sister's rape and torture. Stilleto is full of unpleasant, unsavory characters and I think the audience for this movie will have no problem siding with Raina as she buries her knife in the chests of each and every one of these rotten apples(although, she also uses a gun when necessary). This movie is a real blood bath as it features savage violence and cruelty..we go into an underbelly and are presented with real trash. The plot reveals a mastermind who had orchestrated everything, which does eventually become known after a carnage of dead bodies is left behind Raina. Betrayal, manipulation, backstabbing, and distrust all play a hand in the way Stilleto shapes itself over the running time. Poor DB Sweeney gets worked over real good by Lee and Penny as they fish for information, thinking he knows who was behind the robbery(his face pummeled into unrecognizable twisted flesh, his arm torn apart by a sand blaster). A crowbar is rammed into a victim's throat(and through the skull), a bullet blows a hole through a face, machine guns and pistols are used on a consistent basis considering the lifestyles of those involved in this movie's plot, and, as mentioned above, Raina takes delight in slowly pressing her knife into the chests of those who have forever damaged her beloved sister. Once again, Stilleto is a movie which takes us into a world of dangerous and sleazy people, and these low lives die one by one for their roles in a heinous act that, to be honest, justifies vengeance..not an advocate of violence, but you certainly can see why Raina responds the way she does. Beck is pulled into this and decides to help Raina, really wanting her to get out of town. Beck's investigation might turn up evidence establishing secrets yet unraveled. -
Angelus226 January 2009This has bad acting from the first second on...It is about a Greek crime bosses ex who decides to kill him and his organisation with two cops hot on her tail...
I felt the acting lacked convincing...Kelly Hu who is very pretty seemed to let herself down...while her Co-star did a very bad imitation of Keanu Reeves....
I found the whole idea of the Greek crime family being the top dogs laughable...And the gangster boss made things worse with his whole 'macho' acting...
Bad idea. Bad film. -
KineticSeoul15 February 2010Raina is a annoying and not a very likable girl on the hunt to avenge and uncover the truth about her sister's kidnapping. When she discovers that her former lover, mob boss Virgil Vadalos, and his associates are directly responsible, she is out for vengeance. The thing is, I just didn't care for any of the characters, especially Raina the protagonist. In fact when it started to get closer to the end of the film, I just wanted her to die. This is a pretty bad revenge movie plain and simple. The twist was even predictable and don't even care for it at all what so ever, it is weak. It's a boring revenge flick, there is plenty of better films of this type of genre not even really worth the price of rental. The cover seemed a bit promising, but don't judge this film by it's cover cause it sucks.
2.8/10 -
ahsanland16 January 2011Main Flaw Low Budget attributing to shortened story telling and cheap cinematography. Knowing Stana Katic was playing lead in this movie i knew that there must be some intelligent attribute to this motion picture, having seen her other efforts previously particularly "Castle" and "Faceless". Both of the former mentioned i recommend. The main flaw of the movie is that it suffers from low budget and short script. Budget is something that can be acquired after-wards if the script demands it but if it doesn't have much potential for a memorable experience for the audience then a high budget cant save the movie. The low budget is evident in the shortened city scape footages and the cheap camera technology used (cheaper in comparison to wild things III, which i think didn't have a decent enough script to be given some very good camera action angles and cinematography and colors). The main attribute that would really appall audiences is the hasty and cheap cinematography. It could be said that Stana Katic's performance is wasted in this movie having seen her in this endeavour she can make a decent action-heroine if not the best, rivaling 'Carrie Anne Moss'. All in all i would not say that it suffer from bad acting as almost all front and lead actor in this movie with the exception of "Stana Katic" and "Paul Sloan" are or were mainstream cinema veterans having starred in well known movies. i also can't say that it suffers from bad script or bad dialogue because it struggles hard not to sound clichéd or contrived , which is an intelligent attribute.
negative: low budget:(true)-1 point hastened storytelling:(true)-1 point bad cinematography(camera-everything):(true)-1 point needed something more:(true)-1 point All leads needed more air - time :(true) -1 point Explanation for the main characters killing skills: (true) -1 point ending needed more:-1 the cover gives a false impression of major motion picture or a high octance good budget action flick within the league of punisher(2004): -1 positive: good acting from all lead actors: +1 not a bad scrpit: +1 good casting:+1 main actor(Stana Katic) good performance:+1 All kills warranted:+1 ending was apt:+1
negative:positive -8:+5 movie:lost whether to watch it : Will be disappointed due to poor cinematography, but won't be by Stana katic's performance, i would recommend instead watching any of her Castle episodes or "Faceless", but then a huntress/killer Stana you'd be deprived of. Watch only if you wanna watch a killer-Stana with a feminine rage and a masculine charisma for killing. -
srdjan_veljkovic13 August 2017The story isn't so bad, if unoriginal. There are quite a few good actors. There are some interesting and funny parts in there. Most of the time violence is not too much (these are violent people).
But, it simply fails. Stana Katic is not a good enough actress to pull this through, Tom Berenger tries, but is mostly out of character and other good actors seem to not have their heart into it. There are way too many silly things in the story for it to hold up (at one point, Stana Katic overpowers a man twice here size in a simple power struggle, at another point she goes into a "no thinking" attack on four guys, while up to that point she was doing a lot of thinking and planning to single out a guy away from everyone else...).
Given that there are _much_ worse movies out there, this is an OK watch if you like violent movies with a few funny/interesting parts and a female protagonist. But if you're not a fan of such films, you're better of with something else. -
TodaysHaul31711 March 2009Don't listen to any of these negative reviews posted about this so far. They are very wrong, If you are into crime or revenge films you will love this. It has a Kill Bill & Thriller: A Cruel Picture vibe with a female assassin taking revenge on the ones who wronged her in the past in a different setting & different motivations obviously but you get the point. Anyone see the new TV show "Castle"? Well this features the co-star of it Stana Katic (24, Feast of Love, Quantum of Solace, The Librarian 3, & The Spirit) as the lead character looking for vengeance.
Writer Paul Sloan co-stars as the cop stuck in the middle of this mess. Tom Berenger (Big Chill, Platoon, Major League 1/2, Sniper Trilogy, Training Day, & Detective) chews up the scenery as the main villain with henchmen Michael Biehn (Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Navy Seals, Tombstone, The Rock, Magnificent Seven, & Planet Terror) & William Forsythe (Halloween, Devil's Rejects, Deuce Bigalow, Gotti, The Rock, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, Out for Justice, Dick Tracy, Extreme Prejudice, & Raising Arizona) helping him control the chaos caused by Katic.
Plus this film has an amazing supporting cast with Diane Venora (Heat, The Insider, & The Jackal), Kelly Hu (X2, No Way Back, & Friday the 13th 8: Jason Takes Manhattan), James Russo (Beverly Hills Cop, Extremities, Dangerous Game, & Donnie Brasco), Tom Sizemore (Heat, Point Break, Passenger 57, True Romance, Natural Born Killers, Witness to the Mob, & Saving Private Ryan), Dominique Swain (Face/Off, Lolita, Out of Season, & Alpha Dog), Tony Lip (The Sopranos, Donnie Brasco, Goodfellas, Pope of Greenwich Village, & Year of the Dragon), D. B. Sweeney (Eight Men Out, Spawn, & Jericho), Robert R. Shafer (Bob from TV's The Office), David Proval (Star Chamber, Monster Squad, Mean Streets, Romeo Is Bleeding, Shawshank Redemption, Four Rooms, Smokin' Aces, & The Sopranos) plus two former Leatherfaces in cameo roles R. A. Mihailoff (Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Trancers III, Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, & Fallen Angels) & Andrew Bryniarski (Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake/TCM: The Beginning, Black Mask 2, Any Given Sunday, Higher Learning, Street Fighter, Batman Returns, & Hudson Hawk). Highly recommended, Check it out ASAP.... -
billcr1217 September 2011Here's a bad female assassin film attempting to be a cross between le femme nikita and the godfather; both far superior movies.
A Russian woman(Stana Katic who is actually Croatian and Serbian) as a deadly girl seeking revenge for her sisters' gang rape by a bunch of neo-Nazis somehow tied in with a Greek mafioso type played by veteran actor Tom Berenger in a Brando like Don Corleone lite. what's missing is Coppola and every other aspect of the great Godfather and of course the awesome Marlon Brando.
Every gangster cliché is used here from missing money to torture scenes and rival Mexican bad guys in night club shoot out that borders on the ridiculous. I'll give it a 5 as a very average crime- drama with decent acting and a by the numbers script. -
kosmasp18 July 2013Seeing the cast list for this, is almost like a "who-is-who" of a lot of known bit part players from the 80s! Really good actors too. If I'd started listing them IMDb would tell me, that I have no more room to write an actual review. Suffice to say, that whether you know those people or not, they do deliver.
Whose not fully delivering, is Katic! Which is a shame, because her role is the crucial one. And while I love looking at her (even while or when does horrible things), I have to admit, that she cannot carry this movie as she should. The action on the other hand is nicely filmed, the plot/story is decent enough too. With a better lead, this could've been a winner! As it stands, it just is above average (and still cut by a lot of minutes in Germany, a version I refused to watch, so the rating and review goes for the uncut version) -
chicagopoetry6 January 2009Stiletto kicks ass. It's the chick from La Femme Nikita up against the hilarious gangsters from Ghost Dog with the violent special effects of Friday The 13th thrown in (in particular, a scene involving an electric sander and another involving a tire iron had me exclaiming "Whoa!" out loud). Our hero goes on a real I Spit On Your Grave rampage against an all star cast of bad boys. This one is not for the children. Every other word starts with F and every other minute someone is getting murdered in inventive ways. But for the adults, it's a whole lot of fun, especially because, even though it serves as a parody of the genre, it isn't resorting to any slapstick or forced campiness. I liked it. If you like gangster movies and horror movies, this will be your cup of tea.
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mcmcormick1 February 2022I have to admit, a big chunk of why I'm giving this film 6 is because I like Stana Katic. Saw her first in The Spirit and noticed her more than Eva Mendes or the other leading lady (Sarah Paulson). It's a good revenge film but lacks in building the main character. Why is she so adept at killing? How did she come about to know Virgil Vadalos? These were not clear.
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ginocox-206-3369687 April 2015"Stiletto" has a better than average cast, which elevates it above comparable low-budget direct-to-video fare. Berenger, Biehn, Forsythe, Hu and others bring complexity and conflicting loyalties to their roles. I was disappointed in Stana Katic as the stiletto wielding avenging assassin. Her role is quite similar to Zoe Saldana's role in "Colombiana." But Zoe was convincing as a lean, mean, killing machine driven by hatred, willing to risk her life for revenge and capable of murder with her hands or a variety of weapons. Stana was less convincing.
The script seems under-written. It's a familiar story that has been told better dozens of times. It's populated by interesting characters and there are a few surprise twists and turns, but somehow the audience is left uninvolved. We don't see or understand one character's obsessive love for the assassin or understand how it colors his actions. The assassin's motives are not revealed until the third act, so we're not sure if we should sympathize with her.
The action choreography is nearly non-existent. There is one unnecessary car chase that seem more like an elaborate product placement than something that drives the plot. The gunfights and fistfights are unimpressive. The assassinations seem way too easy, although the make-up effects aren't too bad.
It's a better than average low-budget B movie, worth watching for the performances of a group of talented B list actors delivering credible performances. -
After watching hundreds of films, you almost know what's going to happen next and often becomes somewhat predictable. Not so with this film. The minute you recognize the main movie star and his acting is par, you can sense the movie is going to be interesting. That's what this film is all about. It was entitled 'The Velvet Spider' 's abroad, but " Stiletto " in America and tells the story of a vengeful female assassin (Stana Katic) who believes some mobsters and their leaders are responsible for her sister's death. However, the main gangster is unaware of her assumptions or her quest, is only concern with the recovery of his two million dollars. Although aware of the assassin, he believes a single cop (Paul Sloan) can stop her, if not his top hit men (Michael Biehn and William Forsythe) in his organization will. The movie is exciting, action-packed and strewed with murder, violence killings and general mayhem. The actors in the cast are superb and very convincing. It's not often a director like Nick Vallelomga and a writer like Paul Sloan are teamed to create a gritty film like this one. ****
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Just watched Stiletto - great movie. Lots of action. Well known cast -Amanda Brooks is showing all her range - a must see. Think the ensemble cast work really well together. Original revenge story - and you have to wait till the very end to connect the dots. Nice to see Michael Biehn again after an absence for a while. This is the second Villalonga movie i have seen and i like his work. For action lovers its a real treat. Berringer plays a great crime boss - but not in the Italian style. Chemistry between Biehn and Brooks is electric. Amanda Brooks is really hitting her stride. You can feel the anger flowing out. Very convincing in this role.
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slshusker29 October 2009So,I skipped out of the office early today and fired up Showitme.
Wham, the first movie I ran into was just starting. STILETTO. The cast is filled with names and faces you'll immediately recognize. Hey, that makes the movie worth investing a bit of time to begin with.
Plot, who cares to begin with. The movie is dark and dreary with Mob affiliation and peeps getting whacked immediately. Watch it alone with a strong drink or six and in the evening.
Some may say the cast is beyond Over-The-Hill and Has-Beens. Tom Berringer as a Greek is a bit of a stretch; Stana Katic(Canadian) is great as the psycho-chick assassin, bent on revenge and killing anyone(males mostly), related to her anger and pain. Whatever.
The plot is about revenge...blah-blah-blah! I'd watch her cut vegetables. She can be/was seen on ABC's Castle. If you like hot brunettes, this is for you, plot be damned!
I watch a movie to be entertained and escape reality for a couple hours.
The cast of retro/comfortable characters let me do just that. Think Terminator, Platoon, etc.
There's not social lecture, just revenge, blood and advice. I'm only 45 minutes into the movie and I've already sent an email to a slimy acquaintance that can get ANY movie on DVD while it's still in the theater. The acquaintance loved Stiletto too! Preliminary audiences didn't, obviously. And now, back to the movie and another scotch, with Stana of course.