The Assignment
Saban Films | Release Date: April 7, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
34
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
6
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Village VoiceChris PackhamApr 6, 2017
The film is wallpapered with beatings, shootings and bloodshed, so its genuine sensitivity to trans issues is welcome and surprising. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthySep 12, 2016
The somber tone and low-end production values may not be exactly in tune with young neo-noir enthusiasts, but more seasoned fans of the genre and the filmmaker will recognize and embrace Hill’s use of noir to play with and comment on topical issues in a deliciously subversive way, political correctness be damned. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiApr 7, 2017
This is a modestly scaled B-movie by one of the best genre filmmakers of our time, Walter Hill, that has enough skill and personality going for it to make it worth checking out, even if it doesn’t quite live up (or down, depending on your perspective) to its borderline sleazy premise. Read full review
75
The Film StageEthan VestbySep 12, 2016
(Re)Assignment is ultimately canny in genre-play and unique in its time, factors that don’t necessarily make it great, but, beyond old-man-auteurism apologia, still hold somewhat of a flame in the modern age. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekApr 6, 2017
Not all of Hill’s movies are great, and The Assignment certainly isn’t. Maybe, in the strictest terms, it isn’t even any good. But even a mediocre Walter Hill film has more style and energy — and a finer sense of the sweet spot between joy and despair — than ninety percent of the action thrillers that get made today. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenApr 6, 2017
Weaver’s Kay is a fanatic. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyApr 4, 2017
It has no clue what it’s going for. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Apr 6, 2017
The Assignment is a movie about a heartless assassin, a mad doctor and a forced surgery. But it’s the movie that should be sued for malpractice. Read full review
40
The New York TimesGlenn KennyApr 5, 2017
Because Mr. Hill is still, in most respects, Mr. Hill, a lot of the movie is more watchable than it has a right to be. But ultimately, The Assignment ends up being ridiculous even by its own nonsensical standards. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoSep 19, 2016
Rodriguez’s transformation is hackneyed and ham-fisted, Hill’s action lacks excitement, unnecessary comic-book panel swipes add “character” – there’s nothing noteworthy about this hunt for retribution. Read full review
40
Screen DailyWendy IdeSep 12, 2016
This is a film which doesn’t take itself very seriously, and it will work best with an audience which takes the same approach. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChuck BowenApr 2, 2017
Walter Hill and Michelle Rodriguez seem to share Frank’s confusion over the precise difference between cosmetic and biological reality. Read full review
33
IndieWireEric KohnSep 14, 2016
Cheesy without being self-aware, hobbled by rampant transphobia that the screenplay’s too dumb to address, this inane burst of campy stupidity can’t get beyond the sheer absurdity of its very existence. Read full review
20
The GuardianBenjamin LeeSep 12, 2016
Every single decision made by Hill is bad. Read full review
20
ScreenCrushMatt SingerSep 12, 2016
If (Re)Assignment played more like a spoof of vintage pulp and less like a tacky rehash of it, that choice could have worked. Instead, it just comes off as clueless — about gender as well as filmmaking. Read full review
20
VarietyDennis HarveySep 12, 2016
Nobody — not even viewers willing to settle for good, unclean B-movie fun — is done any favors by something as crude as (re)Assignment, which gracelessly mashes together hardboiled crime-melodrama cliches and an unintentionally funny “Oh no! I’m a chick now!!” gender-change narrative hook. Read full review
16
ConsequenceSarah KurchakSep 13, 2016
Once the giddy critical pile-on and hate-watching settles down, the (justified) moral outrage that (re)Assignment tries to thwart will end up being the regrettable and forgettable film’s only lasting legacy. Read full review
16
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthSep 12, 2016
Walter Hill’s legacy of pushing the edges of genre conventions made the prospect of (Re)Assignment, at least on paper, potentially dangerous. But the filmmaker’s touch is completely lost here, and the only danger the film winds up posing is to the time spent by those who choose to watch it. Read full review
0
Los Angeles TimesMichael RechtshaffenApr 6, 2017
There’s howlingly awful and then there’s The Assignment, a thoroughly ridiculous, numbingly slow neo-noir thriller. Read full review
0
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeApr 3, 2017
The Assignment is reprehensible, yes, but it’s also dull and inept. Fans of Walter Hill should treat his latest effort like the kind of car crash from which it’s best to avert one’s eyes. Read full review
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