Today’s Prayer Focus
MOVIE REVIEW

Killers

also known as “Friends and Neighbors,” “Kiss and Kill,” “Five Killers,” “Killerid,” “Pan i Pani Kiler,” “Ponas ir ponia Gangsteriai,” “Slepkavu paritis,” See more »
MPA Rating: PG-13-Rating (MPA) for violent action, sexual material and language.

Reviewed by: Laura Busch
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating: Offensive
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Teens Adults
Genre: Action Suspense Thriller Drama
Length: 1 hr. 40 min.
Year of Release: 2010
USA Release: June 4, 2010 (wide)
DVD: September 7, 2010
Copyright, Lionsgate Filmsclick photos to ENLARGE Copyright, Lionsgate Films Copyright, Lionsgate Films Copyright, Lionsgate Films Copyright, Lionsgate Films Copyright, Lionsgate Films Copyright, Lionsgate Films Copyright, Lionsgate Films Copyright, Lionsgate Films Copyright, Lionsgate Films
Relevant Issues
Copyright, Lionsgate Films

Spies in the Bible

Featuring Katherine Heigl (Jen Kornfeldt)
Ashton Kutcher (Spencer Aimes)
Tom Selleck (Mr. Kornfeldt)
Catherine O'Hara
Alex Borstein (Mrs. Baily)
Katheryn Winnick (Vivian)
Rob Riggle (Henry)
Larry Joe Campbell (Pete Denham)
Kevin Sussman (Mac Bailey)
See all »
Director Robert Luketic
Producer Katalyst Films, Lionsgate, Scott Aversano, William S. Beasley, Jason Goldberg, Mike Karz, Ashton Kutcher, Chad Marting, David Mitnik, Peter Morgan, Karyn Murphy, Michael Paseornek, Christopher S. Pratt, Josie Rosen, John Sacchi, Daniel Thom
Distributor Distributor: Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. Trademark logo.Lionsgate (Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.)

“Marriage… give it your best shot.”

Meet Jen (Katherine Heigl) and Spencer, a seemingly ordinary and happily married suburban couple of three years, who met and fell in love in a whirlwind romance while vacationing in France. Much to Jen and Spencer’s surprise, their happy suburban life is soon turned on its head, when she discovers that her husband used to be an undercover government assassin, and he discovers that the career he thought he left behind has come back for him, and now has a 20 million dollar bounty on his head. Jen and Spencer soon learn that they cannot trust anyone, because the killers hired to kill him are their own neighbors, coworkers, and friends. Jen and Spencer’s domestic bliss soon turns into a race for their lives, as they must fight off a neighborhood full of money-hungry killers.

Positive Elements

Married life and settling down are portrayed in a positive light and as something desirable that everybody should want to work towards. Spencer tells Jen at the beginning of the movie that he “wants to put down roots” and after they fall in love he gladly trades the seemingly glamorous life of an undercover international assassin for the domestic life. Spencer and Jen truly love each other and want their marriage to last a lifetime. Throughout the film we see that the health of their marriage and the other person’s well-being are very important to Spencer and Jen.

Jen has a close relationship with her very protective parents (albeit rather eccentric parents). Spencer respects her parents and in one scene asks Jen’s dad for his blessing for their marriage.

As soon as Jen finds out that she and Spencer are going to have a baby, the baby’s well-being becomes her top priority, which is reflected in her statement, “What I wanted stopped mattering as soon as I saw those two bars (found out I was pregnant)”. Jen, Spencer, and her parents are all genuinely excited about the expectant baby.

This film ultimately brings up the importance of trust and honesty in marriage and raises some important questions about lying to your spouse in order to protect him or her, which is what Spencer did to protect Jen.

Negative Elements

Even though “Killers” is not completely devoid of any redeeming qualities or moral lessons, these platitudes about trust and honesty in marriage are mere tokens in a film that is littered with sexual innuendo. The recurring jokes about making love and various characters’ sexual relationships were distasteful, fell flat, and ruined a movie that had comedic potential and the makings of a funny summer popcorn flick.

Even though this film is free of any actual bedroom scenes, the “Killer’s” sexual content and innuendo is still rather heavy. In one scene, Jen complains to Spencer that her dress is too tight and she asks him to just cut it off, so he does (no partial nudity is seen and he gives her a blanket to cover herself up with, while he turns around). In another scene, it is implied that Spencer and Jen go skinny-dipping in the ocean, as evidenced by the clothes left on the beach. Spencer is seen shirtless in swimming trunks, Jen wears several low-cut outfits and is shown only wearing a bra and skirt around the house after they are married. There is a lot of sexual dialogue including mention of porn and various characters sexual relationships. Also, Jen’s mother’s alcoholism is played for laughs.

God’s name is repeatedly profaned throughout the film and is paired at least once with the word, d—n. One f-word and several s-words are uttered. Other profanities include the words, p---ed, h—l, a woman in a car flips someone off, and several rude terms are used to describe the male anatomy.

This film has many scenes with characters shooting at and killing each other, there are several car chases, and various characters engage in martial arts style violence and beat each other up. The numerous killers, who are chasing Spencer, are killed in various ways throughout the film, some of these deaths are more gruesome than others. For example, a chandelier impales one of the killers. While the violence in “Killers” is comparatively mild to the violence you will see in most Hollywood war films, I still found some of the violence in this film to be a bit too gruesome and dark for its comedic genre.

Summary and Recommendations

Even though this film was not completely devoid of positive elements and had a few funny moments, the “Killers” is yet another example of a potentially enjoyable summer movie ruined by pervasive sexual content and language, and therefore I cannot recommend it to potential viewers.

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Heavy / Sex/Nudity: Heavy

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Positive
Positive—I loved this film; you never knew what would pop out next. The downside of this film was that there were few swear words one f-word, and that’s it, that I heard. This movie is not for children under 14—I repeat not for children. This movie had sexual jokes that a real married couple would make towards each other.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
Daniel, age 18 (USA)
Neutral
Neutral—I must have been sitting to far away from the screen or it’s just my usual ignorance in sexual jokes, but I don’t remember any, though there most probably were. It does have lots of sexual references though. It was funny in a few places, but it is not a movie I would buy or care to see again. GOD BLESS!
My Ratings: Moral rating: Average / Moviemaking quality: 2½
Maureen O'Hara, age 19 (USA)
Neutral—The only reason I marked it “offensive” is because of the language and, which included one f-word at the very end. While the language is not constant, it is there. The violence in the movie is pretty typical of this kind of movie. There are shootings, stabbings, and explosions. Outside of that, the movie is charming funny, witty, and has a lot to offer. Katherine Heigl is a great actress and is very natural. Tom Selleck is, of course, great. Ashton Kutcher, well, probably should have stuck with TV. He could not seem to get rid of his “Kelso” voice from “That 70’s Show.”

Bottom line, “Killers” is a great date night movie, but I would put the kids to bed first.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
Jacob Airey, age 22 (USA)
Negative
Negative—Let me just say that this movie is not worth watching. The pervasive sexual content is, in my opinion, worse than even Christian Spotlight describes. The most offensive elements, I thought, were the crude sexual jokes and references throughout the movie. I kept waiting for the movie to get better, but trust me, it doesn’t. The movie may have some goood qualities in it, but they by no means make up for the evil content that continues through the movie. Do not see this movie, as it holds nothing for the Christian viewer. It may be rated PG-13, but I find it to be more offensive than its rating implies. I am sorry that I walked into this movie, and I would strongly discourage Christians from seeing this movie.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Very Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 4
Kodi, age 18 (USA)
Comments from young people
Positive—I thought this was a pretty cute movie when I saw it. The fact that they got married early in the movie pleasantly surprised me and the love they showed towards each other was evident. The plot was great, the action was fun and the twists were shocking. There weren’t that many bad scenes but there were a number of bad words. This is definitely not a kids’ movie, but I really think that older more mature people will find this a funny movie about a husband and wife who find out that trust is one of the best things to have in a marriage.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Offensive / Moviemaking quality:
Sara, age 17 (USA)