while it must've been fun to create a noir story set in the modern age, it's all so preposterous that the end result feels like parody rather than an homage
this is a committedly mediocre movie. The script reads like a rough draft that should be gathering dust. The execution lacks any originality, playing like a lazy mash-up of a slew of tawdry thrillers from the '90s
the central puzzle fizzles more with each turn of the plot, and "The Virtuoso" finally feels like a game, a not particularly compelling brainteaser. The payoff makes sense, but it delivers far less than intended
silly hitman thriller; A pedestrian curio which sometimes threatens to be a little more interesting than it is, this is a strange, gloomy little piece about a career assassin, played by Anson Mount, who goes unnamed
Anthony Hopkins isn't awful in "The Virtuoso," but the movie that surrounds him is; everything looks flat, cheap and derivative, shot in a digital format better suited to the small screen
an implausible neo-noir thriller; "The Virtuoso" covers well-worn territory - the assassin story is almost a genre unto itself - and director Nick Stagliano, hampered by a predictable script, can't bring much new to the game
a dull hitman thriller; this mystery story is much less clever than it thinks it is; Once you've worked out the big climactic twist after 15 minutes, you'll know this story of a strictly amateur master assassin is firing blanks
"The Virtuoso", directed by Nick Stagliano from a script by James C. Wolf, misses its shot in a spectacular, and sometimes spectacularly pretentious, fashion
by David Lewis [San Francisco Chronicle ]
