“Killshot” is a pretty natural fit for me. It has a lot of things I like, such as Thomas Jane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Diane Lane, and Rosario Dawson. It even has Mickey Rourke which I like but not quite as much. Combine this top notch cast with a screenplay based on an Elmore Leonard novel and you get a pretty enjoyable crime flick with some pretty great performances.

As a story, “Killshot” is pretty straight forward. Rourke plays a seasond hitman on the lam from a rival mafia boss. It seems he killed one person too many on his last hit. As he lays low, he happens across Joseph Gordon-Levitt, an insane criminal with no sense of order or style. Feeling a familiarity with the younger killer, Rourke takes him under his wing and together they attempt to extort money out a real estate agent. When they arrive, they happen to mistake Thomas Jane as the agent. He’s only visiting his wife, Diane Lane at work. The job goes foul, the criminals flee. Rourke is a professional though; he can’t leave witnesses to his crimes alive.

As I said, pretty straight forward as far as hitman movies go. With this kind of plot, the attention falls squarely onto the shoulders of the cast to carry it through. In “Killshot”, they manage to do a pretty damn good job of it. There are several undercurrents at play here between the characters, such as Jane and Lane’s failing marriage and their being forced back into each others company under the witness protection program. They are both endearing though Lane isn’t really doing anything she hasn’t done before here. Thomas Jane however does take a new turn as a out of luck and past his prime steel worker still hoping to pull his marriage back together. Dare I say it, he’s a bit loveable and you easily fall in to feeling bad for the guy.

The real excitement here comes from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and surprisingly, Mickey Rourke. As I said, I like Rourke for the most part. He generally tends to rely too heavily on his tough guy routine which just makes him come across as comical. Here however, he has a quiet danger that runs underneath the surface; restrained, held in. You feel he is a dangerous man, methodical in his murder, detached and unfeeling. Rourke handles it quite well and goes a long way towards making this movie teeter into the enjoyable catagory over merely watchable. When paired with Gordon-Levitt’s unhinged maniac, the two play off each other well. Gordon-Levitt is trouble and lives it. He’s frenetic and haphazard, he’s unpredictable, he’s dangerous as well but for an entirely different reason.

Other than the cast, there’s really not much to say about “Killshot”. It’s a good story if not a groundbreaking story. It really relies on the cast to make it work. You’ll find yourself sucked in pretty easily and there are a few jolting moments later on in the film that work nicely just as the film manages to lull you into a rhythm. An above average crime drama to be sure.