Writer/director: Joe Casey
Rated: n/a (violence, language)
Cast: Jonathan Browning, Scott Brick, Mariah Robinson, Nicholas Lanier, and Roger McDonald

Hit ParadeEx-hitman Jerome Archer (Browning) is forced out of retirement when a pair of Census Bureau agents recruit his help to track down a dangerous contract killer. I will ignore the fact that I have no idea why they chose the Bureau of the Census as their heroic force in this movie, but then again it just adds to the uniqueness of this movie.

Speed Razor (Lanier) is the young, flamboyant, and dangerous hitman making a load of noise on the streets. The overachieving “agents,” Frank Donnolly and Alice Fresno (Brick and Robinson), are on his tail and enlist the help of Archer, a now bookstore manager happy with his crime-free life. Archer’s dive back into the crime world makes him reflect upon his own life and forces him to make a series of decisions that will alter his future.

What I like about Browning is that he’s a normal looking guy. While we’re typically used to the stereotypical action hero, like the Bruce Willis type, Browning seems like a genuine nice guy who you’d never suspect as a killer. To me this was a breath of fresh air, it rids the pretentiousness of Hollywood actioners and brings some unseen realism into the picture. Lanier on the other hand is a quirky individual who’s as equally unsuspecting as a killer. Together the two are a strange duo that, while take some getting used to, make this movie something original.

The story itself is nothing we haven’t seen before. A veteran is called out of retirement to settle some score or solve some conflict with his own life. Even so, it is still enjoyable with this film. The movie also brings much comedic elements as well. The two agents provide some wacky dialog and there are some fairly humorous villains.

My main problem with the film is that there simply was not enough action. Now before you say something along the lines of “stupid American needs to see things blow up to be entertained,” I was happy with the dialog and setup of this film. However, had it had some glorifying shootouts similar to that of Smokin’ Aces in which the film’s ads compare it to, it could have been much more exciting.

Lack of action and basic storyline aside, Hit Parade was a fun oddball crime thriller with a few original attributes to it. Joe Casey, co-creator of Ben 10 and writer of many popular comic books (such as Uncanny X-Men) made his directorial debut with this film. Casey definitely knows the ropes when it comes to creative characters and decent action stories, so I’m very eager to see what comes from him in the future.
IMDb | Trailer (YouTube)

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