Killing Season (film)

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For the 2015 Australian Documentary, see The Killing Season (TV Series).
Killing Season
Killing Season film poster.jpg
Teaser poster
Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
Produced by Paul Breuls
Screenplay by Evan Daugherty
Starring Robert De Niro
John Travolta
Milo Ventimiglia
Elizabeth Olin
Music by Christopher Young
Cinematography Peter Menzies Jr.
Edited by Sean Albertson
Production
company
Nu Image
Millennium Films
Corsan Pictures
FilmEngine
Release dates
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  • July 12, 2013 (2013-07-12)
Running time
 91 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $39,881 (domestic)
n/a (international)[1]

Killing Season (previously titled Shrapnel)[citation needed] is a 2013 American action thriller film written by Evan Daugherty and directed by Mark Steven Johnson for Millennium Films,[2][3][4][5][6] as the first on-screen pairing of actors John Travolta and Robert De Niro.[3] The film pertains to a personal fight between an American and a Serb war veteran.[7]

Daugherty's script caught the attention of producers after winning the 2008 Script Pipeline[8] Screenwriting Competition.[9] The film received negative reviews from critics and was a box office bomb.

Plot

In Belgrade, Serbia, former Scorpions soldier Emil Kovač (Travolta) meets his informant to retrieve a file on American military veteran and former NATO operative Colonel Benjamin Ford (De Niro). Ford has fled to a cabin retreat somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains, to forget the war. Now a recluse, he meets Kovač, posing as a European tourist, during a hunting trip. The two men become friendly, until Kovač reveals his true identity. Intent on revenge, he initiates a gory game of cat-and-mouse with Ford. The latter is badly injured but is quick to rebound. After a showdown, Kovač is overpowered by Ford. They reach a peaceful compromise, however, after understanding each other's predicament. Kovač quietly returns to Serbia, while Ford visits his son, to make up for missing his grandson's baptism.

Cast

Production

"It's thrilling, imaginative, unexpected and dominated by two extraordinary characters on a collision course"
— Paul Breuls, Corsan's Chief Executive Officer, when asked about the film.[10]

The project was originally set in the 1970s and titled Shrapnel. It was being considered by John Travolta and Nicolas Cage as a project to follow up on their film Face/Off and by director John McTiernan as a directing vehicle.[11] Subsequently renamed and modified to take place in modern day Appalachia,[12] and co-financed and co-produced by Corsan, Nu Image and Millennium Films, filming began on January 16, 2012,[4][5][6][13] in the Appalachian Mountains of north Georgia.[2] Major filming was scheduled for Tallulah Gorge State Park and Black Rock Mountain State Park. The locations in Rabun County were chosen by director Mark Steven Johnson to create the effect and mood he had previously seen in the film Deliverance.[3] Other minor filming locations included Sofia, Bulgaria,[14][15] Sweetwater Creek State Park,[16] and the Pine Mountain Gold Museum in Stockmar Park, Villa Rica.[17] International sales for Killing Season, offered by the American Film Market, commenced on November 2, 2011, in Santa Monica.[13] American cellist/singer/songwriter Ben Sollee contributed solo cello performances as well as an original song,[18] "Letting Go",[19] for the end credits.

Release

Critical response

Killing Season was released in the United States on July 12, 2013, to both the home screen and in cinemas. Boyd van Hoeij of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film would be better off as a "small-screen item".[20] The film has received unanimously negative reviews from critics, and as of January 2016 holds a 11% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, out of 19 reviews counted.[21] Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News awarded the film one out of five stars, panning Travolta's character's Serbian accent.[22] David DeWitt of The New York Times stated that "[i]t's not worthless, but it's not good. As a genre film, it's too ambitious; as an art film, it's too obvious."[23] Bill Simmons, who is not a film critic but has done movie reviews and often refers to films in his career of writing about sports for ESPN.com and Grantland, loathed the film, saying that it showed both Travolta and De Niro were past their prime and also that they "still owe me $4.99" for the money Simmons felt he wasted in buying a pay-per-view showing of it.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Script Pipeline
  9. ↑ http://www.scriptpipeline.com/interviews/evan-daugherty
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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