Written and directed by Michael Matteo Rossi, when the old mentor of 7 killers finds out he has terminal cancer, he gives them all an opportunity at his fortune to prove themselves for one night only to exact revenge. Starring: Marnette Patterson, Vernon Wells, Ana Ciubara, Jackie Moore, Paul Logan, Haley Victoria Hunt, Daniel O’Reilly, Antje Utgaard, Kyle Colton, Jordan James Smith, Danny Arroyo and Vanessa Angel.
Jumping into The Charisma Killers there’s an immediate feel of 1980s action, à la Jean-Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal. It has that air of mischief while embracing violence, setting the scene for its rogue group of killers. The introduction itself moves a little too slowly and the editing is rough, tending to overlap and move to still images that pause things unnecessarily but the tone is there.
Although, as the film moves forward, the tone is something that it struggles with. There’s the intention to bring a big energy and a chaos but it’s lacking a score or soundtrack to achieve that. It needed its own personal hype man to drive the scenes further and add a suave, sadistic quality. In a similar way, it doesn’t feel like there’s enough building to the story, a countdown or more competitive edge to its progression. Something to bring viewers to its big showdown, and it ultimately feels short lived.
It’s perhaps a little too easy, it needed a few more layers of complication for its killers, making the location harder to get into, giving them the chance to come up with some more creative plans. Especially as The Charisma Killers can’t go too heavy on the blood and gore, it cleverly makes most things offscreen, else it would rack itself up a hefty effects bill. It’s missing a balance to compensate for that, something to make things livelier. It also never truly feels like a competition as the characters tend to keep that team vibe going.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing as this ensemble do make for a good team. They each bring slightly different skillsets to their characters. Some have much bigger personalities than others, which can occasionally go overboard but in classic action fashion. Although touching upon cannibalism broaches crossing the line and falls flat. It’s also a shame to see it bring a fair amount of misogyny to the table, while trying to create strong female characters. It’s a clash of attitudes that doesn’t work well.
The Charisma Killers throws back to the easy-going, fun and unapologetic action of the 1980s. Fans of the genre will have a good time but there was some untapped potential. Its shootouts and fight scenes needed something to take them to the next level, a score or soundtrack to inject a bigger energy. The direction is solid and doesn’t rely too much on effects which was a smart choice, but the story feels unbalanced. It’s as though we’re getting the middle of the story and not the complete picture.
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