Search - Project: Kill (1977) on DVD

Could someone order a script please?

Martin Andrade | Minnesota | 05/08/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I have to admit it, I like Leslie Nielson. His performances over a broad range of parodies and spoofs have been excellent. Everything from the Naked Gun movies to the unheralded 2001 a Space Travesty is in my movie watching rotation. I feel bad, he's approaching the age of 80 now, and his movie making days are coming to a slow halt.

I also have to admit that I knew Nielson had a serious acting career before he found fame as a comedy actor. You might remember one of his serious roles as the captain of the ship in "The Poseidon Adventure" and played Commander John Adams in my favorite 50's sci-fi flick "The Forbidden Planet." If you ever get the chance, see "Day of the Animals." Let's just say there's a scene with Nielson and a bear, funny as hell, it wasn't supposed to be.

However, very rarely is it that I find myself looking at a serious film that is starring Leslie Nielson. Project: Kill was just such a movie, and this movie flops, despite an excellent effort by Nielson.

In fact, Nielson's serious acting ability bounces well off of the collection of terrible performances that surround him. He plays this chemically enhanced secret agent that rebels against his organization and goes into hiding. Of course, the "agency" sends his apprentice, played pathetically by Gary Lockwood, to hunt him down.

Unfortunately, this film never gets going. It's carried by Nielson the entire time, but even he couldn't save this work.

Seriously, I was paying close attention, I don't think anything important happened. Here are my notes while watching this film:

-Character introduction, Nielson's escape, tolerable.

-20 min nothing important has happened yet...

-35 min still waiting...

-42 min romantic introduction, superfluous

-45 min nothing important

-60 min some people died, not interesting

-72 min Kinda hungry

-80 min Lockwood unbearable

-annoying soundtrack

Yeah, that's right, nothing important happened at all. The character development they tried failed, the storyline was both confusing and ridiculous, and the martial arts scenes were mechanical and slow, even by the standards of the time.

This film is completely unmemorable.

"