ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 7, 1995                   TAG: 9510100007
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GETTING WITH `ASSASSINS'

``Assassins'' is a textbook example of Hollywood filmmaking at its best - and worst.

All of the tools and resources of a sophisticated industry are employed to create a cheerfully violent story with no substance. Like producer-director Richard Donner's ``Lethal Weapon'' films, it's slick, well-acted escapism that will probably be a box office hit.

The conflicts involve time-honored movie cliches tricked up with contemporary gimmicks. Donner also tosses in little political asides to warm the hearts of limousine liberals. The film is anti-National Rifle Association - despite its enthusiastic gun violence - and anti-fur, pro-choice, pro-Internet and pro-cat.

Our hero is Robert Rath (Sylvester Stallone), the world's number-one hitman, who's ready to retire. Miguel Bain (Antonio Banderas) is an ambitious number-two who keeps trying to hijack Rath's commissions. After a lengthy introduction, the scene shifts to Seattle, where a computer whiz known only as Electra (Julianne Moore) is trying to sell stolen data on a floppy disk.

Rath is offered $2 million to kill her and get the disk. Bain is after the same things. The rest of the tale is mostly car chases, explosions and shootouts that rely heavily on John Woo's Hong Kong action movies.

The overall level of violence is relatively restrained for the genre, and so is the body count. The three stars don't do bad work either, though this kind of material really doesn't call for acting. Instead, they provide star power. Stallone actually manages to bring a certain dignity to his role. Banderas makes the most of his hunka-hunka-Latin-lover image, and Moore holds her own with them even though her character has less to do.

In the end, it's easy enough to criticize the business for investing so much money and effort in such flimsy stuff. At the same time, it's hard to argue with the profitability of the results. ``Assassins'' delivers exactly what it promises - no less, and certainly no more.

Assassins ***

A Warner Bros. release playing at the Salem Valley 8 and Valley View 6. 126 min. Rated R for violence, language. 


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