Martin Blank is a freelance hitman who starts to develop a conscience, which causes him to muff a couple of routine assignments. What am I gonna say? Martin left Grosse Pointe the day of the graduation prom never having returned. Tom Jankiewicz's script scratches 'em off with witty fleshed-out punchlines, driven by alert tongue-in-cheek dialogue and well-written, idiosyncratic stretches of exposition; scenes where Blank chats with his therapist play out as hilarious skirmishes of mental intimidation, while the subject of his employment crops up in zany, clever ways while he reintegrates with his high-school chums. The music largely sounds rather splendid, where the percussion and rhythm of classic '80s tunes flicker-'n-shine amid the overall design. Naturally, the most important factor to consider here is verbal clarity, which comes through clean, clear, a little bright and thin and occasionally forced against the track's upper shelf but overall pleasing enough to experience. Sure, you could get hung up on some of the story's improbabilities and its imbalance between the movie's dark and lighthearted tones, even though they play into its overall whimsy. Oatman as Marcella as Steven Lardner as Paul Spericki as Ken McCullers as Bob Destepello as Felix La PuBelle as Bert Newberry as Mary Blank as Amy as Assassin 3 as Cosmo as assassins as assassins as Waiter as Dan Koretsky as Eckhart as Tracy as Jenny Slater as Tanya as Bartender as Ken as Arlene as Mrs.
Kinetta as Ken as Tracy as Amy as Bob Destepello as Bartender as Tanya as assassins as Jenny Slater as Waiter. Sure, there's more to the story, but it all leads back to that central idea: after unexpected circumstances botch one of his jobs, Blank most travel to Detroit to compensate for the screw-up, which happens to bring him within the vicinity of his 10th High School Reunion. Beneath Grosse Pointe Blank's farcical side, though, lies a competent expressive underbelly that focuses on Martin Blank's issues with moral bankruptcy and his obscured identity, or lack thereof, giving weight to his cavalier attitude as a philosophically torn individual returning to the society he's been so detached from for years. The comedic timing here stays snappy and vibrant as it rides a wave of nostalgic '80s-driven music, while it consistently exploits the situational gag of a trained assassin doing what anyone might do when coming home for their high school reunion, fueled by the numbed confidence of somebody who's been murdering for years. Well, unless you count a scrumptious trailer for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, arriving on Blu-ray later in 2012.
Martin Blank is a contract hit man. With more refinement of the visual transfer and a few interviews or behind-the-scenes features, this would've shot much higher on my scale of recommendation. With the blessing of his reluctant therapist Alan Arkin and his secretarial handler Joan Cusack , and a few deadly folks following him, he heads to Grosse Pointe. In the process, he stood up his prom date and serious girlfriend at the time, Debi Newberry. However, Martin's game has been a bit off lately; he's no longer happy in his work, and both his secretary Marcella Joan Cusack and his psychiatrist, Dr.
Martin Blank is a freelance hitman who starts to develop a conscience, which causes him to muff a couple of routine assignments. While in Grosse Pointe, Martin discovers that his high school sweetheart, Debi Newberry Minnie Driver , is still living in town, and still holds a grudge against him for standing her up on prom night. Presented in its original 1. Grocer Dan Aykroyd , a fellow hit man who wants Martin to join forces with him and form a union and isn't keen on taking no for an answer. Jankiewicz's work isn't an academic exercise or anything, but it does balance the zanier outlandish humor on the scales with a darker, introspective approach, not unlike a bizarre take on a John Hughes film mixed with a little Pulp Fiction and The Big Chill.
In general, outside of the robust music, there's not a lot of forceful lower-frequency activity to mention; an explosion or two makes an attempt to dip into the lower frequency, while a few of Blank's gunshots and kicks make an effort at delivering something with a firmer punch. Making it up to Debi may not be as easy as Martin wants, despite both still being attracted to each other. While Martin tries to sort out his past and tie up loose ends with Debi whom he still loves , he discovers someone in Grosse Pointe is out to kill him; he's also confronted by the highly unstable Mr. On its own, that'd be tolerable-enough when evaluating its broad quality, and a few instances of fine detail in close-ups, fine details in backgrounds, and robust palette and skin-tone presentations -- especially during the reunion -- make it generally satisfying at a cursory glance. Here, he's smack-dab in the middle of both, operating mostly on his own charisma as a brooding black-cloaked assassin without an identity; the ticks, smirks, and gazes that accompany his sarcastic lines are populated with the baldfaced virtue he exhibits in his '80s teen comedies, working almost as a secondhand portrait of who Blank was before he picked up his heavy artillery. Oatman Alan Arkin , who is more than a bit nervous about having a hired assassin as a patient, think that Martin should accept an offered assignment in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, his old home town, which would conveniently coincide with his ten year high school reunion. It's pretty unfortunate that a trailer for another Blu-ray release ends up being the most exciting supplemental inclusion.
Oatman, who is reluctant to help him through his issues because of his business. Picture the details, for a second, that accompany a return to one's hometown after disappearing post-graduation --- bumping into old friends, visiting a childhood house, and, of course, meeting eyes with the great love who got away -- and envision them punctuated by the fact that the once-promising individual retracing these roots now kills others people for a living. There's improvement to be seen, sure, and it'll be occasionally gratifying for fans, but not as pronounced as one could expect and hampered by a few searing flaws. Kinetta as Nathaniel as Terry Rostand as nurse as Marie as Melanie The Waitress as Marie as Arlene as assassins as Melanie The Waitress as Nathaniel as Felix La PuBelle as nurse as Cosmo as Eckhart as Assassin 3 as Dan Koretsky as Mary Blank as Ken McCullers as Bert Newberry as Terry Rostand as Mrs. Martin Blank is a freelance hitman who starts to develop a conscience, which causes him to muff a couple of routine assignments.
. In addition, Martin learns the hard way that someone else has taken a contract out on him. In short, it's a blast to watch several times over, and it hasn't lost its vivacity since its release in '97. On the advice of his secretary and his psychiatrist, he attends his 10th year High School reunion in Grosse Pointe, Michigan a Detroit suburb where he's also contracted to kill someone. There's plenty to appreciate here, though, and it services the core purposes of the track suitably.
Cusack's charisma matches up with Martin Blank close to perfectly, a sarcastic hitman who's pondering the moral emptiness of his profession and identity, and the ways that he interacts with his teachers, friends, and loved ones in Grosse Pointe -- namely his missed opportunity at love, Debi -- mesh well with the violent undertones and occasional bursts of peril. Some will find it a display of too-disparate extremes, but Jankiewicz's writing sells the illusion by tidily integrating them for an effervescent stranger-in-a-strange-land effect. Final Thoughts: Personally, I think nearly everything about Grosse Pointe Blank is terrific. As expected of a hired-gun killer, he hasn't had much contact with those in his earlier life; in fact, his abrupt disappearance around graduation made it so he's barely had marginal communication with even his mother, and nobody else. Because of one of his contracts not having gone down quite according to plan, Martin is forced to take a job in Detroit for the same client pro bono. Director Armitage understands the equilibrium he's out to achieve between black comedy and embellished absurdity, and pushes the envelope inside those boundaries; Blanks unloads waves of bullets, coldly kills people, and dodges the pursuit of government anti-terror spooks, then later allows his reawakened, almost-innocent emotion to emerge around the girl he's been hung up on during his ten-year disappearance.