The Virtuoso *** (2021, Anson Mount, Anthony Hopkins, Abbie Cornish, Diora Baird, Eddie Marsan, David Morse, Richard Brake) – Movie Review

Producer-director Nick Stagliano’s satisfying and strong 2021 action crime thriller The Virtuoso stars Anson Mount as lonesome assassin The Virtuoso, who must find and kill a rogue hitman to satisfy an outstanding debt to The Mentor (Anthony Hopkins), who informs him of just a time and a location – 5pm at a rustic diner – and a cryptic clue: White Rivers. It is kind of Agatha Christie meets The Bourne Identity.

When the assassin arrives at the diner, he finds several people there, any of whom who could be the possible target, including the county deputy sheriff (David Morse), The Loner (Eddie Marsan), Handsome Johnnie (Richard Brake), Johnnie’s Girl (Diora Baird) and the diner’s sexy waitress (Abbie Cornish), who clearly fancies him.

Written by James C Wolf, this twisty, teasing thriller is good, solid mystery entertainment, quite weird and oddball, but slick and stylish and quite engrossing, building up nicely as it goes along, and the bodies pile up. Nick Stagliano knows what he’s doing, exactly what he wants, and how to do it. so we are in capable hands. Anson Mount is intense and credible as the robotic, emotionless assassin, Abbie Cornish is credible too as the tough, self-assured woman he cannot resist, perhaps because she is exactly like him, and Anthony Hopkins and David Morse add some weight and gravity to the film.

It has a nice smart look to it too, thanks to director of photography Frank Prinzi’s sharply chilly neo noir visuals, and the eerie music by Brooke Blair and Will Blair also helps its cool surface.

It was partly filmed in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Its release date is 30 April 2021.

Anthony Hopkins won the 2012 Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for The Father (2020), becoming the oldest winner in a competitive acting category at 83 years old. He also won the BAFTA Film Award as Best Leading Actor.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Movie Review

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