Stanley Orzel is a film-maker that has been working in Hong Kong and China for over a decade, mostly on commercials and acting as creative consultant on movies such as Hero and Fearless. His first attempt at helming a feature-length fictional picture, Four Assassins (recently put on Netflix streaming under the title 4 Assassins) initially holds some promise, but unfortunately never seems to be able to bring everything together to produce anything other than an average effort.

The movie's setup finds the titular assassins holed up in a hotel room while they wait on the fate of one of them, Marcus (Will Yun Lee), after he has botched his last job. They kill the time waiting to hear back from their employer by trading barbs and relating stories of how they got into the business. This structure will be ultimately Four Assassins' biggest downfall for many viewers. Most of the movie takes place in a hotel room and is devoid of any real action. This is most definitely not the sort of Hong Kong bullet ballet you might be expecting, given the title and cover art.

Even though there is very little in the way of gunplay and bloodshed, this film still held my interest -- at least enough to stay away from the fast-forward button -- due to the strength of Will Yun Lee and Miguel Ferrer's performances. Since appearing in Robocop, Ferrer has proven himself to be one of Hollywood's more dependable actors, with his brooding intensity being a welcome addition to any cast. Will Yun Lee is a rising talent who looks to be stepping into the A-list with such upcoming roles as the Silver Samurai in the new Wolverine movie. His role as Wei Shen in last year's hit video game Sleeping Dogs breathed new life into the well-worn trope of an undercover officer who's gone in too far.

As good as Ferrer and Lee's acting is, they don't have much to work with. The script (which was also written by Orzel) throws forth gruff street smarts inspired by Peckinpah and Tarantino, but comes off as disjointed and, at times, full of itself. The ending comes off as a cop-out, with a couple of twists thrown in that don't really add anything to the story, and, in fact take away from it by making things come off as far too pat and convenient. Combined with a pace that can best be described as sluggish at times, especially with the other actors involved not exactly pulling their weight, Four Assassins isn't as cool as it wants to be.

RATING: 5