Killers -- 1997 -- R

Ok, this was a low budget thriller about a group of people who go into an abandoned warehouse for the purpose of buying drugs that they can resell for a profit. The bad news is once they get in there, the actual owners of the drugs show up and want to take the theft that the original seller committed out of everyone's butt.

For a fast paced action thriller, the characts are fairly decent. They're simplistic enough to understand quickly and allow the plot to move along. There was some suspense to be had here, and a lot of those moments were done very well. The lead, Heather, had a decent character arc moving from little girl who wouldn't hurt a fly to being a backup for Ellen Ripley in case the aliens finally get her (to clarify, that was an expression; no aliens here).

I do like simplicity, though, and this one had it. One location to hold all the action. The warehouse was a big maze with 5 floors up and a basement below, not to mention a few flights of stairs and a slew of rooms. This space was used very well, and they even remembered to post a guard outside, albeit one with cancer and coughing fits.

There are a few moves that I found annoying such as multiple opportunities for one person to finish off another and the opportunity is blown. I understand that not everyone can be killed THAT quick, but when the opportunity is deliberately thrown, it just comes off cheap. I also found it odd that the bad guys are searching rooms from the ground up, but when the good guys are found, instead of going down to where it has been searched, they go up to where it hasn't.

I caught some weird continuity errors in the ending, but when I watched the deleted scenes and saw the full alternate ending (2), the case of the missing gun and missing pants was solved.

I will confess that until I watched the deleted scenes with the commentary, I missed the "journey" from man to animal that the two main characters took. That was an enlightening perspective on the whole thing. I'm beginning to think I'm watching these movies too quickly, but then again, when am I going to find time for a second viewing?

In the end, it was a good little movie with a simple but engaging plot long with a deeper and more profound meaning behind its simplicity. Like anything, it is not without its faults, but if you just want to kick back and watch something, it works.