The Assignment AKA Tomboy (2016)

[faye-raye 109]

My dad buys a lot of cheap, crappy DVDs and I caught him watching this steamer and knew I had to bring it to attention. Heaven knows why Sigoney Weaver signed up for this. She plays a pyschotic, rogue plastic surgeon who captures the mafia hitman who murdered her playboy brother and, wait for it, gives him a sex change. Michelle Rodreguez plays the titual character. So many whys for the team. Why not cast a man in the role? Why go to all that trouble when you could've just killed him? Why are the wanted posters cartoon? Why did Weaver need to be in a straight jacket for the 'twist' ending to 'work? Would love to hear a LBGT performer's view on this film as I think it's really transphobic.

 

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4268537369?playlistId=tt5034474&ref_=tt_ov_vi

[e_thegiant 1]

Michelle Rodriguez starts out this movie as a MALE assassin, who wakes up to realize that he has been given a revenge gender-reassignment surgery by the evil doctor played by Sigourney Weaver. That's how this movie STARTS. Directed by Walter Hill of Warriors fame, and literally batshit crazy.

[RyanSz 3140]

I just started watching this on Amazon and could not believe that rather than have a male actor play the hitman before the operation, they horribly glue on the worst fake beard and mustache on Michelle Rodriguez's face and have her speak in a slightly lower tone of voice. Then to further push the point of the character being male they give a full frontal shot of pasted on chest hair, CGI porn star dick, before having her turn around showing Rodriguez's ass. It's like they forgot to change her whole body's appearance so you have front as computer generated male while the back is Rodriguez's own body. On top of that Walter Hill admitted that he was trying to make a sleazy, modern-day exploitation film, but this just comes off as absurd and flat.

[NundercoverBrother 174]

A hit man is taken prisoner by a mob cartel who force gender reassignment upon him, turning the hit man into Michelle Rodriguez.

 

https://youtu.be/tIzrvxBM3O0

 

Ive got my dvd already in the mail.

 

Havent seen this yet, but it sounds BONKERS.

 

Walter Hill is the writer/director.

[GrahamS. 803]

“ I killed a lot of guys. They were worthless pieces of shit, but I killed them.”

So intones Michelle Rodriguez (in a monotone) as a hit...person(?....more on that in a minute) in the opening moments of The Assignment.

The latest film from Walter Hill is fucking bonkers. If you’ve seen his director’s cut of The Warriors—where he inserts comic panels into the movie—know that his love of comic book imagery continues here.

He’s also setting up a VERY fractured narrative that hardly ever seems to stay in the same timeline for five minutes. 

Further more, Sigourney Weaver is playing a surgeon who’s been locked up in a psych ward and is being interrogated by Tony Shalhoub. She is guilty of performing unauthorized and unasked for medical experiments. 

One of those experiments involves Michelle Rodriguez, who plays Frank Kitchen. Try and follow me through this next part: Mr. Kitchen IS NOT a transgendered person, he is a man. Rodriguez has a beard, somewhat resembles Oscar Isaac, has a flat, hairy chest and possibly a dick (I didn’t look close enough). He/she fucks a woman. After a run-in with his (?) employer, Rodriguez/Kitchen is knocked out, operated on and turned into a woman, much to his/her/their horror.

This (and much more) all happens in the first 10-15 minutes. If this appeals to you, this film is streaming for free on VUDU for one more day.

Here’s the preview. I don’t blame Rodriguez, but I don’t think she was up to this task (who would be? Feel free to make suggestions. That would make for an excellent game. Natasha Lyonne, for example, would have worked).

 

 

[GrahamS. 803]

I will add that Michelle Rodriguez does put it all on the line here (including nudity) and it’s a performance that takes guts. I just don’t think the part is right for her.

Also, when I initially posted this, I couldn’t find the listing for the film, so if my comments seem redundant, that’s why.

[GrahamS. 803]

As to whether this film is transphobic or not, it throws so many things at the wall I honestly can’t say. This film felt more misogynistic to me than anything else.