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Hard Kill
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Hard Kill
| image = Hard_kill_xlg.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Promotional poster
| director = Matt Eskandari
| producer =
| screenplay =
| story =
| starring =
| music = Rhyan D'Errico
| cinematography = Bryan Koss
| editing = R.J. Cooper
| production_companies =
| distributor = Vertical Entertainment
| released =
| runtime = 98 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget =
| gross = $111,523
}}
'Hard Kill' is a 2020 American action thriller film directed by Matt Eskandari, starring Jesse Metcalfe, Bruce Willis, and Natalie Eva Marie. It was released on August 21, 2020, by Vertical Entertainment.
Plot
Upset that her revolutionary technology will be misused for military purposes, Eva Chalmers approaches an extremist known as the Pardoner, who promises to help her use it to save the world. When she balks at his terrorist plans, he takes her hostage and attempts to coerce her father, Donovan, into revealing the code to activate it. Donovan hires a team of mercenaries led by Derek Miller to rescue Eva and recover the tech.
Cast
* Jesse Metcalfe as Derek Miller
* Bruce Willis as Donovan Chalmers
* Natalie Eva Marie as Sasha
* Lala Kent as Eva Chalmers
* Texas Battle as Nicholas Fox
* Sergio Rizzuto as The Pardoner
* Swen Temmel as Dash Hawkins
* Tyler Jon Olson as Lt. Colton
* Jacquie Nguyen as Gemma
* Leslee Emmett as Crystal
Production
Principal photography began in January 2020 in Cincinnati, under the working title 'Open Source'. According to the 'Los Angeles Times' and actress Lala Kent, an incident occurred on set when Bruce Willis incidentally fired a gun loaded with blanks on the wrong cue and then did it again on the next take. Nobody was injured but the report said the incident left some crew members "shaken". 'Hard Kill' is one of the last films to star Willis, who retired from acting because he was diagnosed with aphasia.
Release
The film was simultaneously released in theaters and video on-demand in the United States on August 21, 2020. It also received a theatrical release in Saudi Arabia on November 5, 2020, where it grossed $96,534. 'Hard Kill' then became available to stream on Netflix in the USA on November 23, 2020 and was the top streamed film for several weeks.
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews and an average rating of . Frank Scheck of 'The Hollywood Reporter' said that Willis "seems to have settled on making listless appearances in forgettable B-movie action movies as a retirement funding plan". He said that although Metcalfe "boasts the appropriate physicality" for his role, he is "unable to summon sufficient charisma to make his character remotely interesting". Scheck called the other performances "equally lackluster" except for Marie, who "makes for a convincing female badass".
Accolades
References
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