Hard Kill
Promotional poster
Directed byMatt Eskandari
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Nikolai From
  • Clayton Haugen
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyBryan Koss
Edited byR.J. Cooper
Music byRhyan D'Errico
Production
companies
Distributed byVertical Entertainment[3]
Release date
  • August 21, 2020 (2020-08-21) (United States)
Running time
98 minutes[4]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$111,523[5]

Hard Kill is a 2020 American action thriller film directed by Matt Eskandari, starring Jesse Metcalfe, Bruce Willis, Natalie Eva Marie, Lala Kent, Texas Battle, Swen Temmel, Sergio Rizzulto, Tyler Jon Olson, and Jon Galanis.[6] The film follows a CEO who hires a group of mercenaries to retrieve both a piece of technology and his kidnapped daughter. It was released on August 21, 2020, by Vertical Entertainment, and was critically panned.

Plot

Upset that her revolutionary technology will be misused for military purposes, Eva Chalmers approaches an extremist known as the Pardoner, who promises to help her use it to save the world. When she balks at his terrorist plans, he takes her hostage and attempts to coerce her father, Donovan, into revealing the code to activate it. Donovan hires a team of mercenaries led by Derek Miller to rescue Eva and recover the tech.

Cast

Production

Principal photography began in January 2020 in Cincinnati,[11] under the working title Open Source.[12] According to the Los Angeles Times and actress Lala Kent, an incident occurred on set when co-star Bruce Willis incidentally fired a gun loaded with blanks on the wrong cue and then did it again on the next take. Nobody was injured but the report said the incident left some crew members "shaken". Hard Kill is one of the last films to star Willis, who retired from acting because he was diagnosed with aphasia.[13]

Release

Hard Kill was simultaneously released in limited theaters and video on-demand in the United States on August 21, 2020.[14][15] It then became available to stream on Netflix in the USA on November 23, 2020, and was the top streamed film for several weeks.[16]

Box office

As of October 29, 2020, Hard Kill grossed $111,523 in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.[5][17]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 0% based on 21 reviews and an average rating of 2.7/10.[18]

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter said that Willis "seems to have settled on making listless appearances in forgettable B-movie action movies as a retirement funding plan". He said that although Metcalfe "boasts the appropriate physicality" for his role, he is "unable to summon sufficient charisma to make his character remotely interesting". Scheck called the other performances "equally lackluster" except for Marie, who "makes for a convincing female badass".[2] Kevin Maher of The Times gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "I can only hope that Bruce Willis managed to squeeze a house out of the producers of this breathtakingly poor mess about a, ahem, 'quantum' military computer program that can either destroy the world or save it."[19]

Accolades

Award Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Supporting Actor Bruce Willis (also for Breach and Survive the Night) Nominated [20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ WCPO-TV (January 30, 2020). "Bruce Willis returns to Cincinnati to shoot another movie". Dayton Daily News. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  2. 1 2 "'Hard Kill': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. August 25, 2020. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  3. ↑ Grater, Tom (February 19, 2020). "Bruce Willis Thriller 'Open Source' Sells To Vertical Entertainment". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Hard Kill". British Board of Film Classification.
  5. 1 2 "Hard Kill (2020)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  6. ↑ Rice, Briana (January 30, 2020). "Bruce Willis is returning to Cincinnati to film another movie". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  7. ↑ "'Yippee ki yay!': Bruce Willis back in Cincinnati to shoot another film". WCPO-TV. January 30, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Bruce Willis is shooting a movie in Cincinnati -- again". WLWT. January 30, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  9. ↑ Kiesewetter, John (January 30, 2020). "Bruce Willis Shooting Fourth Movie In Cincinnati". WVXU. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Bruce Willis filming his third movie in Cincinnati". WKRC-TV. January 30, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Bruce Willis filming new movie in Cincinnati". WXIX-TV. January 30, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  12. ↑ Grater, Tom (February 19, 2020). "Bruce Willis Thriller 'Open Source' Sells To Vertical Entertainment". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  13. ↑ James, Meg; Kaufman, Amy (March 30, 2022). "Concerns about Bruce Willis' declining cognitive state swirled around sets in recent years". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  14. ↑ Stewart, John (July 18, 2020). "Bruce Willis' 'Hard Kill' Goes Digital in August". The Slanted. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  15. ↑ Foutch, Haleigh (July 16, 2020). "Bruce Willis Is a Billionaire Breaking out the Big Guns in Exclusive 'Hard Kill' Trailer". Collider. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  16. ↑ Bean, Travis (November 23, 2020). "New Movies On Netflix This Week". Forbes. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Upcoming Movies in Saudi Arabia Cinemas | VOX Cinemas KSA".
  18. ↑ "Hard Kill (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  19. ↑ Maher, Kevin (September 12, 2020). "Hard Kill review — a martial mess of quantum nonsense". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  20. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (March 12, 2021). "'Dolittle,' Sia's 'Music,' '365 Days' Lead 2021 Razzie Awards Nominees". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
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