Assassins Run (2013) User Reviews (23)

swan turns duckling

[vampiri · 3/10 · 11 May 2013]

Decent actors horribly miscast in Movie trying to be more than it ever can be.

Plot: Company owner (Christian Slater) is in danger of losing his business to jealaous competitors in Russia. His wife, a swan lake ballet dancer, must turn once again from a duckling to a swan to say alive.

Though the Movie has a cool title, potentially good and renowned actors and on the surface a descent plot it turns out to be really crappy. A would be late night B-Movie turns into art-house action bottom shelf dust collector. It tries too hard to be something it is not: the script is amateurish and feeble, and it is too obvious that the writer is trying to keep the Viewer interested by using amateur-like methods.

Cole Houser, Angus MacFadyen and Christian Slater deserves and can do better, I guess they too suffer from bad economy like us normal folks.

I give 3 out of 10, if your sleeping pills do not work...see this Movie.

Trying to Escape from the Russian Mafia

[Uriah43 · 4/10 · 5 May 2023]

This film essentially begins with a businessman by the name of "Michael Mason" (Christian Slater) being informed that an enormous sum of money has suddenly disappeared and that there are those in the Russian mafia who want to get their hands on it. So, after their threatening phone calls to Michael fail to get them what they want, they kill him under the mistaken assumption that his wife "Maya Letiniskaya" (Sofya Skya) knows where the money is being hidden. To that effect, they then plant some drugs in her home and, after a quick trial, use their sources within the prison system to compel her to talk. They also kidnap her child to gain even more leverage as well. What they don't realize, however, is that, having endured everything they can throw at her, Maya is not in a talking mood and is now determined to get revenge--one way or the other. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film had a certain amount of potential but, the longer the film progressed, the more unrealistic it became--and I eventually lost interest in it. Admittedly, there were some good parts to this movie. Unfortunately, they weren't good enough to overcome some of the other less-inspired scenes and I have rated this accordingly. Slightly below average.

This movie was so hillariously bad, it was entertaining

[musclesz · 5/10 · 29 December 2022]

So I'm late to reviewing this movie, I just saw it for the first time on cable TV. But felt like sharing. It seems like we all have the same opinion.

The movie itself was fairly polished. Pretty decent acting for the most part. The scenes all made sense and the plot was continuous. Some cool scenes like the bald guy assassination scenes were good. The main actress was attractive to watch.

So I can't say it was totally worthless or complete garbage. It had some merits. The quality was definitely good.

Sadly the plot is just so insanely bad, it makes it laughable. Up to a point I was enjoying it. Then when I realize a 90 pound ballerina is going to turn into Bruce Lee, I had to laugh. Seriously, when I saw the main guy die, I'm thinking "how does he get revenge? It can't be the 90 pound ballerina!!".

The fight scenes are bad. She faces 2 300 pound muscle-head brutes and manages to swing her tiny frame to beat them up? Errr, no. Then she does a ballet move, a jump in the air with legs spread and somehow kicks two brutes out. The video is so poor it doesn't even show contact, it's just her jumping in front of them and them falling.

I can't give it a 1 because it's not totally worthless. I mean if you want some giggles, it' s worth a watch.

Two half movies

[lonnielongino · 2/10 · 16 June 2020]

The first part of Assassin's Run is a decent watchable movie. But the last of the movie is utter garbage. I think Christian Slater had his character killed off so he wouldn't have to be a part of the second half of this movie. Literally the worst fighting scenes I've ever seen(ballerina karate)wtf? Bad acting running rampant. And a twist with a bad guy reveal that a toddler could have seen coming. The only reason it got two stars is the first part up until Slater dies is actually pretty good. What happened after that??? Not worth a watch.

Geniunly Terrible Movie

[Seth_Rogue_One · 1/10 · 20 July 2015]

I've seen a lot of bad films, heck I've seen a lot of bad Christian Slater films, but this could very well be his very worst

But he's not in it for that long of duration of the movie, neither are Cole Hauser or Angus McFayden

No this is primarily Sofya Skya's vehicle, both as the director (alongside someone else) and as the main star, and I think maybe she wasn't experience to handle both at the same time or something cause it didn't turn out very good (to put it mildly)

They tried to relaunch this movie under Assassins Run with a flashy poster with Cole Hauser and Christian Slater fatigued up armed to the teeth, but that does not represent this movie whatsoever neither of them even hold as much as a gun in this movie, so that's just them trying to sell this as a tough action movie when in reality it's really pretty darn boring

The best part of the movie is the credits where they play a nice little acoustic ballad, color my surprise when I read the song credits and that was a song sung by Sofya Skya as well!

I'm sitting here thinking should I give it a 1 or a 2 but there was nothing good about it (except for the song in the credits which doesn't count) so yeah I'm just gonna give it a 1

A movie with potential to be good but ended up a little cheesy and a lot generic. Be ready for ballet fighting. I say C.

[cosmo_tiger · 15 April 2013]

"How did two American's wind up in the Russian oil business?" Maya (Skya) is a Russian ballerina living with her wealthy husband and daughter. Her husband Michael (Slater) is working with a Russian oil firm when suddenly millions of dollars goes missing. The mafia decides to take matters into their own hands and goes after Michael and frames Maya. All she has on her mind is revenge, and the safety of her child. I first off have to say this was nothing like I expected at all. That said this movie has been done a hundred times...most recently called Colombiana. I have no problem with a strong female action hero, I think that is refreshing...but the only reason I think they introduced the ballet aspect is so when she starts to fight it seems legit. Before you question that line...yes, she uses ballet moves to fight. Lots of spinning and high leg kicks to take down her assailants, when that started I started to lose interest and by the end I was just waiting for it to end. This movie could have been so much better but ended up just a little too cheesy and generic for me. Overall, a movie with potential but fell short. I give it a C.

Horrible on mutliple levels

[ptrsinclair · 1/10 · 27 April 2020]

Probably the worst movie I have seen in over a decade. Truly an embarrassment of a B movie to all involved. Don't believe the positive reviews here; they HAVE to be plants. 10 stars? Jason Bourne like? What? Who ARE these reviewers?

The script is flawed and lame. The acting by everyone is really, really bad; ...and I had high hopes as I like many of the actors in this and I enjoy these types of movies. The editing is poor; lots of unnecessarily long scenes and then rushed others. The story line is slow and very predictable. You will figure it all out immediately if you have a brain.

But the absolute worst is the pure silliness of it. A slender little ballerina destroys multiple Russian hit-men because she stretched while in prison? Seriously? She spins and spins while elbowing a petite older woman who manages to survive those multiple elbows to face along with a half dozen kicks. However later one kick to an 6'+ 250 lb Russian mobster and he is out. Okaaay.

It was like watching a train-wreck. I couldn't believe it could be so corny and had to watch to the end. It didn't disappoint. For example, she takes out the last two by doing a typical ballerina split jump. Really? A couple of toes to the face is all it takes? Then these two big murdering Russian bruts look at her and run away leaving $500M? Hahaha! Riiiight. She leaves a pile of dead bodies of good decent people around her that helped her and, eh, who cares; she always walks over them without checking if they are alive. Just smile and walk away. Great role model for her kid.

And no, none of these are spoilers. Also, if you can't figure this embarrassment of a movie out in advance, I pity your offspring. Watch Atomic Blonde, Red Sparrow, or Anna instead of this poor B movie. All have better acting, plot, twists, realistic fights, editing, and not so predictable.

Good Actors In OK Movie

[elrogrrl · 5/10 · 17 August 2013]

The actors in this are all really good actors and they also do a good job in this, the problem is the movie they are doing is not written or directed great.

You will recognize a lot of the actors but like a lot of these movies that have big casts with a lot of recognizable names it's like they assume that's enough and that they don't need to worry about the other aspects of the movies like the writing and directing because they already have all the star power they would need to draw in audience and make money.

That's really all it comes down to is money, and I'm sure with the star power this movie made money they just didn't worry about it being an Oscar winner or anything :)

Better than rated

[alanjayd · 6/10 · 4 July 2013]

I thought this movie was a soldier war/action story based on the picture on Netflix. I ordered it Just out of curiosity because I wanted to see what Christian Slater was doing these days. I last liked him in True Romance but haven't seen him do anything, remotely as good, since. The Netflix promo cover picture http://DVD.netflix.com/Movie/Assassins- Run/70270735?trkid=5966279 must be for a different movie, altogether. The original title, White Swan, was more appropriate and Christian Slater has only a small role in the first quarter of the movie. Obviously, the promo materials, title and DVD release were designed to draw in action fans and try to get a bigger audience for this film which is more of a psychological suspense thriller mixed with some cool but unrealistic martial arts. The real star of the film is Sofya Skya, a slender actress with a beautiful face who plays a ballet dancer, Maya, who's life is turned upside down but the Russian mafia, which is out destroy her husband's fortune and find some bearer bonds worth half a billion dollars. Christian Slater overacts with little sincerity but he's out of the picture early. The last three quarters of the movie are much better than the first. If you get past the initial part without shutting it down, you are rewarded with a passable suspense, mystery, kidnapping, revenge, martial arts stew of a film that's worth a 6 rating, not the 4.2 average on IMDb. The assassin in the film, is creepily played by a mostly silent Russian actor and the ultimate villain is fairly obvious but the film just shuts down at the end, leaving the revenge to the imagination.

Probably the worst movie I watched in Covid lockdown

[xanderificus · 4/10 · 20 February 2021]

Terrible but the one redeeming moment is the prison fight (not a spoiler, it's shown in the trailer twice). That scene was utterly ridiculous but worth rewinding to watch a few times.

One Bad-Ass Ballerina!!!

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 10 November 2013]

Look out Jean-Claude Van Damme! Sofya Skya has appropriated your butt-splitting, body-whirling, high-kicking acrobatics for "Assassins Run," an above-average, straight-to-video, white-knuckled crime thriller with Christian Slater cast as her wealthy husband. "Soldiers-of-Fortune" scribe Robert Crombie and "Shadows in Paradise" actress Sofya Skya share the helm on this exciting but improbable chick flick actioneer with enough suspense and surprises to make it a rewarding experience. Freshman scenarists Diana Cohen and Sergey Veremeenko penned their damsel-in-distress screenplay from a story by executive producer Mikhail Gutseriev. Obviously, these people have seen their share of Alfred Hitchcock movies because they employ the "Psycho" surprise of killing off their leading man in the first half-hour. Indeed, fans of the "True Romance" star should know this from the outset because they might not want to waste their time on the film. The practice of killing off celebrity actors has been done to death, but it really succeeds here because the heroine is a slim, trim, and supple ballerina who discovers that her businessman husband has rubbed out a group of ruthless Russian mobsters. Although these thugs have put Christian on ice, they still need the important documents that will legitimate their hostile take over. Naturally, these greedy dastards and the mystery man lurking in the background are determined to do whatever it takes. They try to tie up the loose threads by framing our hero's grieving widow on a narcotics possession charges and abducting their cute little daughter.

After the murderous gangsters knock off billionaire businessman Michael Mason (Christian Slater) at a remote railway crossing, they turn up the heat on his pretty wife, prima ballerina Maya Letiniskaya (Sofya Skya), who dances the Swan Lake. A rival dancer, Ballerina Olga (Svetlana Tsvichenko of "Lost in Siberia") persuades Maya to give her a ride to visit a sick relative. Olga uses the opportunity to distract our heroine so she can plant a baggie of cocaine in Maya's dressing room. After our heroine drops off Olga, the police pull Maya over, and she winds up in prison. Eventually, Maya will give Olga her just comeuppance with a little surprise in her slippers when stands on her toes! People who like women-behind-bars exploitation thrillers will enjoy our heroine's brief stint in the penitentiary. Maya hides a ring that Michael gave her, but one of her evil cell-mates spots her admiring it. During their exercise time outside, this inmate insists that Maya cough up her jewelry. When Maya refuses, the inmate starts kicking the crap out of her. Surprisingly, Maya musters the gumption to fight back and deploys her skills as a ballerina to smash her opponent into submission. A prison official intervenes and the fat, sloppy, female guards confiscate the bauble. Later, Maya's angry cell-mates exact revenge on her later. They slash her wrist and leave the knife behind so it will appear for all practical purposes that our heroine committing suicide. Fortunately, a prison official discovers Maya in time to pack her off in an ambulance with a trio of slimy medical technicians. When it appears that Maya is flat-lining, these technicians wield the paddles on her to restore life to "the whore" as they call her. One of the technicians cannot take his eyes off Maya breasts and decides to rape her. Maya surprises them and manages to escape. Later, with the help of one of Michael's associates, Roman (Cole Hauser of "Pitch Black"), our heroine is able to fly out of the country with the documents intact, but not before she kicks the crap out of two beefy Russian thugs. In America, she is promptly captured and interrogated by Sheriff Nash. The filmmakers exploit this extended interview session as an excuse to pace the story piecemeal so as to heighten the suspense.

Mind you, I doubt that Maya could deliver enough momentum to knock down the over-sized gorillas that chase her into the bathroom at an airport, but it makes for an exciting sequence. Sure, Cohen and Veremeeko rely on predictable, time-honored, melodramatic tropes to pump up the action, but "Assassins Run" will keep you entertained throughout its 90 minutes, even if you suspect you know where it is taking you. Angus MacFadyen makes a cameo that is largely a waste of time. He qualifies as the proverbial red herring, and Cole Hauser cements his persona as a villainous turncoat. The idea of a ballerina kicking the living daylights out of her adversaries on more than one occasion is enough to make this movie worth watching more than once. If this idea has been used before, I'd love to know the title of the movie that I missed that contains such ballerina fu.

Acting lessons and she'll be good

[carlman-98246 · 7/10 · 25 May 2020]

Enjoyable? Yes. A decent plot? Meh. No real surprise.

For those that remember Kurt Thomas, this is Gymkata, only much better.

I hope she continues to act, and isn't reliant on stupid opponents. She could be a star.

Worth seeing solely for Sofya Skya

[gridoon2024 · 5/10 · 5 July 2014]

You have to laugh at the absurd marketing of this movie: Christian Slater and Cole Hauser (who both have bit parts, really) are on the DVD cover in military gear and carrying big weapons, while the true star of the film, Sofya Skya, is nowhere to be seen! Skya is an exquisite creature, graceful and beautiful; the action in the film is slow to kick in (no pun intended) and even when it does it's limited, but Skya can - and does - deliver some amazing kicks from every position and angle you can think of. The story is standard and poorly thought out (the ending is particularly bad), but the direction (in which Skya also contributed) is sure-handed. ** out of 4.

Ballet-Fu???

[occupyyourmind11 · 12 October 2013]

Did I read that right? "Does what ever she can using her skills at ballet," I'm sorry, i have complete and utter respect for the training and discipline ballet dancers go through. But without any formal Martial Arts training ballet would be about as affected as putting out a fire with rubbing alcohol. No vote for I will not be seeing this one. You can set this one next to Gym-kata for worst skills to mix with kung-fu. And the shameless use of Christian Slater as a star to get people to see the movie is reprehensible. Has he fallen so low that he has to use whatever crap that comes along to get some airtime?? oh wait... Oh yeah, Hollow Man II...

The title is good but the movie...not quite

[adi_2002 · 5/10 · 5 September 2013]

Michael is a powerful American businessman who came to Russia to develop a big deal but now he is in danger of losing possessions because learns that the Russian mafia is about to take over his business. He is married with a beautiful ballerina dancer Maya. They have a daughter Nina who means everything to them. Michael is killed and to Maya is hatched a trap and she will go to prison. For their daughter to be safe it appeals to a good friend of Michael to take her to her parents in Las Vegas. Things get complicated when she finds that Nina has been kidnapped and now Maya must escape in order to go to save her daughter from the hands of the mafia who are looking for stocks that are worth much money.

The story is not bad but it is spoiled by stupid idea as a dancer can become a great martial artist and by using the dance moves can beat even three strong men.

Some flaws but otherwise good

[drjgardner · 7/10 · 21 May 2019]

The best part of this film is the martial arts section where the ballerina figures out how to use her gifts as a prima ballerina to fight, first in prison and later in a variety of situations. The worst part of the film is the continuous flashbacks that are truly overdone. Less would be more. Another good feature is the acting which is more than acceptable, especially the hit-man who draconicly puffs his lips after each kill. There are some continuity problems in the script and a few scenes that don't ring true, much less even possible. But with the ballerina fight scenes, it's worth a visit.

Very Good Movie

[danybarosoft · 10/10 · 15 May 2013]

Indeed it is clear that it is a low budget movie but the story film is very good, maybe it is a little exaggerated Chapter drama, but the director manages to combine very nice drama leaving room for intrigue with action very subtle. The main role is also played very well and is surprisingly well knows how to fight a simple ballerina. Leaving aside the struggle with learning techniques, I can say that it would be possible for a dancer to learn some fighting techniques soon pretty good considering the complexity of the movements they perform in training - in short worth seeing. I personally I gave it 10 for originality and not only ...

It was a good movie

[ghcheese · 7/10 · 25 August 2019]

It had a good story. Good characters. Yes it has it's weak points but not enough for the low rating it got. It is a B movie. But a good B movie. I would tell people to watch it.

You'll surely become Sofya Skya fans after watching this

[tarbosh22000 · 7/10 · 20 April 2017]

Maya Letinskaya (Skya) seems to have the perfect life: she's a highly-trained professional ballerina, her husband Michael (Slater) is a high-powered businessman, and they have a young daughter and a beautiful family together. However, things take a 180-degree pirouette when some evil Russian (duh) gangsters eliminate Michael, kidnap the daughter, and send Maya to prison on a trumped-up charge. With baddies hot on her trail, Maya penches on the only training she knows, and taps into the awesome power of BALLET. Using the discipline, athleticism, and flexibility she previously used Swan Lakin' it up to now do high kicks and spins on her opponents, Maya must now prepare for the ultimate performance - saving her daughter's life, as well as her own. Will she show us all the true meaning of MOSCOW HEAT? (er, sorry. Wrong movie.) Will the ASSASSINS go on a RUN to find Maya? (Yeah, we know it makes no sense. But neither does the title for this movie).

The Russian Ballet. Direct-to-Video action movies. Why it took until 2013 for anyone to put these two things together is anyone's guess. Much like the McDLT - which, as you will recall, kept the hot side hot and the cool side cool - Assassins Run features an unorthodox combination of textures and temperatures and manages to make everything come out well and satisfying. For the DTV world, this is a classy and stylish gangster drama that goes full-on action after a certain point(e).

Sofya Skya - that's Sofya Andreevna Shchetinina-Arzhakovskaya to you - will certainly be one to watch going forward. Not only is she an accomplished ballerina and star of the movie, she also co-directed it and sang the end credits song, "Before You Slipped Away" (a duet with a guy named John Kahn, for those keeping track). Surely someone as multitalented as this has a bright future, and we look forward to what she does next. Helping her out is a true fan favorite, Christian Slater. He spends a lot of his time on the phone, but, then again, with his inimitable voice, wouldn't you want to talk to him on the phone? We also have Angus Macfadyen on board to provide further interest, and Cole Hauser, who, in this movie at least, looks alarmingly like noted/forgotten-about boil on society, Spencer Pratt.

Sure, after about 45 minutes there's a bit of a lull, but that's a common problem, and it picks up shortly thereafter. On the whole we found Assassins Run to be original and refreshingly different. Yes, there's the time honored shooting, fights, and it becomes a prison movie at one point, but we just loved the idea of a ballerina who uses her lifetime of training in that art who then turns it into a Martial Art. Maybe it's something about the Russian psyche that that rings true for them. To ironically paraphrase Yakov Smirnoff, "What a country!" (if reading this silently to yourself, make sure you say that in a jovial yet thick Russian accent).

Like us, you'll surely become Sofya Skya fans after watching this. After all, it is all about her in the end. Despite the great Christian Slater, this wouldn't be much of a movie if it wasn't for the presence of Skya. So be sure to check her out giving the baddies the true meaning of batterie as she plies all over their beaten-up bodies. We found the experience winning, not to mention culturally enhancing.

It's like a bourne film eventually. But then it really is.

[face-819-933726 · 9/10 · 2 November 2013]

Watch this movie. It takes about the first 50 minutes for this to hit it's first real mark, but when it does it brings you something you may have never seen before, and that is a kick ass ballerina. The movie has so much wrong with it, and almost all of the male characters are just there as background props for the real show, and the little girl dancing alone in the theater is so well done. If you like Taken, or Transporter then you will really like this. I have to say it though these days even when Christian Slater's character lives through a whole movie, I bet he is still dying inside like his poor career. If Nicolas Cage, and John Cusack would stop taking every roll there might be better options for Slater, and good old Stephen Dorff gotta mention him since I'm ranting. Nuf of that See this movie!

I'M A SWAN

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 11 April 2019]

Michael (Christian Slater) is an American business man in Russia. He is married to Maya, a ballerina (Sofya Skya, professional ballerina). They have a daughter (Marianna Khalifman). His position is resented by the Russian Mafia who want him killed because of the way he has "raped" Russia. The carnage starts 23 minutes into the film. Maya, uses her ballerina skills in hand to hand combat, eat your heart out Milla Jovovich. The film sets up for a sequel that promises to be better because a certain actor won't be in it.

I liked the idea of the ballerina fighting, perhaps the next reality TV show. The plot or editing appeared to need some work. In spite of the killings, there was no lead up or excitement. Maya spoke very softly and her voice seem unnatural as if it was dubbed. The Russians are all made out to be cold, which translated into a lack of characters. The film just didn't seem to have it together.

I have mixed feelings on the ballet style fighting, a serious waste of artful talent to entertain us lowbrows. What next? Opera stars doing rap? A good film if you need a quick Milla Jovovich fix.

Parental Guide: Brief stripper Nudity, strip searches with no nudity. No sex. Don't any recall F-bombs.

An Excellent Well Thought Out And Played Russian Mobsters versus Ballerina Storyline

[fredgfinklemeyer · 10/10 · 17 July 2018]

07/16/2018 An IMDb 4.3 rating for this excellent movie is absolutely way to low so I'm giving it a solid 10/ten stars to hopefully offset those undeserved low reviews and possibly encourage some other prospective viewer like myself to give this above average movie a chance. This move is really about an 8 stars+/plus but definitely no 4.3. It's very well done with excellent acting/actors and an exceptionally well thought out Russian mobsters versus a high ranking Russian Ballerina storyline. I assure you that any viewer who watches it will not be disappointed, with the exception that when it ends, they'll only be wanting a continuation. Don't take my word, watch for yourself and decide because it's a sleeper. Bon Appetit

Just Enjoy It

[fkhjtzswys · 8/10 · 2 December 2022]

So many people like to nitpick everything. The movie isn't perfect, but it's a lot of fun and says a lot about misplaced trust.

The lead actress is quite talented. I'd like to see her in more roles. She does a wonderful job of transitioning from being scared and fragile to being a warrior. The bad guys put her on Sun Tsu's "fatal terrain," and paid the price.

I've noticed that a high percentage of negative reviews are chock full of misspellings and grammatical errors. I'd give most of these "expert" reviewers one star. If you can't write English, you should have the decency to keep your opinions to yourself.