Killers is a 2010 American action comedy film directed by Robert Luketic and starring Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher. The film centers on a young woman (Heigl) who meets the man of her dreams (Kutcher) who turns out to be an assassin. The film was theatrically released on June 4, 2010. It was panned by critics and only grossed $98.2 million worldwide against its $75 million budget.
Plot
Jen Kornfeldt travels to Nice, France, with her parents after a break-up. She meets Spencer Aimes, and agrees to join him later for drinks. He sneaks aboard a boat, planting a bomb on a helicopter, then arrives for his date with Jen. When the helicopter takes off, Spencer triggers the bomb. After a night of drinking, Spencer, unaware Jen has fallen asleep, reveals he is a professional assassin. Despite the advice of his boss, Holbrook, Spencer quits contract killing and begins a relationship with Jen, eventually asking her father, Mr. Kornfeldt for his blessing to marry her.
Three years later, Spencer and Jen have settled into married life. When she surprises him with tickets to Nice for his birthday, he is less than enthusiastic, which Jen's friends convince her is a sign he is bored with their relationship. Spencer receives a "romantic" postcard from Holbrook with an ultimatum to take another assignment. Trying to refuse the job over the phone, he hangs up suddenly when Jen's father arrives, prompting suspicion; he also notices the postcard. Mr. Kornfeldt brings Spencer to a surprise birthday party, where Spencer's distraction over the assignment strengthens Jen's doubts about his commitment, further fuelled in the morning when he rushes her off on her business trip.
Jen decides to return home, and returns home to find Spencer fighting off his best friend Henry, secretly a fellow assassin who reveals that a $20 million bounty has been placed on Spencer and that anyone in his life could be an assassin.
A sniper opens fire on the house, and Spencer and Jen flee. They lead Henry on a car chase through the neighborhood and ram his car onto rebar, killing him. After they find Holbrook dead in his hotel room, Jen vomits and realizes she might be pregnant.
At Spencer's office, Jen takes a pregnancy test, and he is attacked by his secretary Vivian. But Spencer, with Jen's distraction, manages to kill her. Jen's test is positive, and despite Spencer's pleas, she drives off alone. Spencer is attacked by a delivery driver, who is run over and killed by one of Spencer's co-workers, Olivia. She tries to run him over, but Jen returns and rams Olivia's car into a fuel tank, which Spencer shoots. The car explodes, killing Olivia in the process.
Spencer and Jen discuss their future together and return home, evading a couple next door, Mac and Lily – also assassins. Making their way through the neighbourhood block party, they enter the house to retrieve Spencer's bug-out bag. Spencer subdues the neighbours, while Jen's best friend Kristen, another assassin, holds Jen's mother hostage in a Mexican standoff with Jen.
Jen's father arrives and kills Kristen; in a standoff with Spencer, he reveals that he ordered the hit. Aware of Spencer's career all along, Mr. Kornfeldt explains that he was a former operative himself, and had been Spencer's target in Nice; he embedded the assassins in Spencer and Jen's lives. The postcard from Holbrook led Mr. Kornfeldt to believe that Spencer had resumed his old job, so he activated the assassins.
To prove he has truly left his old job behind, Spencer drops his gun, assuring Mr. Kornfeldt he has no intention of killing him. Jen, now convinced, reveals her pregnancy to her parents. And her father, after killing one last assassin, drops his gun as well, and the family makes peace by building a trust circle.
Months later, Spencer – growing a moustache to emulate Mr. Kornfeldt – and Jen leave her parents to babysit their child, guarded by lasers.
In addition, Usher (credited with his full name, Usher Raymond IV) has a cameo as Kevin, the K Mart manager, while Mary Birdsong briefly appears as Jackie, Jen and Spencer's obnoxious next door neighbor.
Production
Originally announced in September 2007 under the title Five Killers, the film was written by Bob DeRosa as an action thriller to be directed by Mark Helfrich.[2] Ashton Kutcher was cast in the lead in October 2008, with Robert Luketic directing instead of Helfrich and reformatted as an action-comedy rather than an action thriller in a rewrite by Ted Griffin.[3] Katherine Heigl joined the cast in February 2009 playing opposite Kutcher.[4] Filming began in the fall of 2009 and took place in the Tributary community in Douglasville, Georgia, Nassau and Villefranche-sur-Mer doubling for Nice.[citation needed]
Home media
The DVD and Blu-ray of the film was released on September 7, 2010.[5]
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 10% based on 110 reviews, and an average rating of 3.30/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Dull, formulaic, and chemistry-free, Killers is an action/comedy that's largely bereft of thrills or laughs."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 21 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[8]
Rob Nelson of Variety wrote: "Bullets fly and jokes land with a thud in Killers, a deadly dull hubby's-a-hit man farce that alternately resembles a knockoff of 2005's Mr. and Mrs. Smith and a rehash of Knight & Day avant la lettre."[9] Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times warned "Unless you're trapped on an airplane or enjoying movie night at the penitentiary, you have no excuse for watching Killers. A brain-deadening collision of high concept and low standards."[10]
The film debuted at #3 at the box office behind Shrek Forever After and Get Him to the Greek, with $15.8 million in its opening weekend. Against its budget of $75 million, Killers took in $47 million in the United States, and $51.1 million in other territories, the film grossed $98.2 million worldwide.[1]
