Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Hope Davis
Cert: 15
Released: 3rd March 2006

Julian (Brosnan) is a hitman on the edge. He is at the top of his game and the best in his field but he's not entirely happy with his lot. He eschews confidence and lacks any sense of conscience or moral obligation, which means he just does whatever he wants to. Obviously there's the killing without remorse but there's also the constant drinking and indiscriminate sex.

He's on a path of hedonistic self-destruction, on the verge of a breakdown brought about by his need to alienate himself from everyone around him. He has no family, friends or permanent residential address.

Danny (Kinnear) is a middle-class, salesman seriously down on his luck. After losing his job he went into business for himself and that's been struggling. He loves his wife, Bean (Davis), dearly but their life has not been the same since their son was killed in a traffic accident. They are filled with doubt and despondency.

These two men meet by coincidence in a hotel bar in Mexico on Julian's birthday and although the drunken assassin yearns to make a genuine human connection he cannot help himself from being his usual boorish, alienating self. Danny takes an instant dislike to him but after some insistent badgering and apologising the two begin to get along. So much so that, eventually, Julian confesses his profession.

Their paths split again after Julian asks for assistance on another job to which Danny refuses on moral grounds. However with the contract he is bidding on slipping through his fingers to his rivals, Danny is desperate to get his work, life and marriage back on track. But how desperate?

A year later and Julian appears on Danny and Bean's doorstep citing that he has finally had a full-blown breakdown, botched two jobs and, with being a marked man himself, has turned to the only friend he has in the world for refuge, solace and, perhaps, help.

I have never been a Brosnan fan, as such. I have always found his film choices to be rather staid and his performance to be likewise. Even his Bond turned me off the franchise but perhaps that was as much to do with the storytelling than him, personally. So it was with a fair amount of trepidation that I decided to watch The Matador.

I am completely happy that I did because Brosnan was a delight to watch. I have never seen him as animated as when he played this morally devoid, disrespectful, drunken murderer suffering a persistent anxiety disorder. His callousness regarding his life and that of those around him is refreshingly unrelenting. He is an incredibly unpleasant person and unapologetic for it but you can see that he knows he is falling apart at the seams.

The relationship that builds between the two men (and later with Davis) is an amusing dynamic with Julian genuinely enjoying some 'normal' company and Danny escaping in his friend's incomprehensible existence. They are quick to connect and bicker like a married couple; Julian the harangued husband who turns to drink and verbal abuse and Danny the put-upon wife who continues to take her man back after every sober apology.

The premise and storyline are quite novel considering it is about a hitman; there is very little violence involved and no huge Mexican stand-off with an all guns blazing finale. At every juncture I was expecting something seedy and nasty to happen to this amiable and down-on-their-luck couple for doing nothing but be nice to Julian and was pleasantly surprised to learn it is purely about what makes these men tick and their building relationship.

The Matador isn't over the top at all. The script is plausible and deftly written but does make Julian the comedy focus. He is a laughable fool as he tries to deal with his against-type circumstances. Then there is his truly obnoxious ethos where he only ever feels anything the more shocking he can get, whether it be verbally or physically. Then, as mentioned, there is the matrimonial synergy between them. Ultimately this is a funny film about relationships rather than relying on the typical 'hitman' comedy of horror ingredients of blood and violence.