Movie review - Kill Shot

Kill Shot *1/2 (out of 5) (NR) There have been forests full of “thrillers” about one or more people who go for a woodsy getaway only to find that they’re pursued by one or more bad guys, just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Here’s another, and it’s nowhere near the top of that heap.

Two ex-models, Rachel Cook (not Rachel Leigh Cook) and Rib (not a typo) Hillis star respectively as a woman who wants to hunt moose and spread her father’s ashes in the rough terrain of Montana as a tribute to him. Hillis plays her guide. She’s beautiful; he’s ruggedly handsome and his wife just dumped him for spending too much time in the boonies, rather than with her. That sets up a possibility for romance to blossom in the wild.

Coincidentally, some mercenaries stole a fortune in Afghanistan, but lost it when one of them had to bail out of his plane with the loot somewhere in that area. They’re armed to the teeth and scouring the woods for the briefcase with their booty (the cash type, not the recreational). Our eye-candy couple just happens to stumble upon it first. Most of the running time is spent running, as a seemingly inexhaustible supply of henchpersons pursue the two. In fact, there are many more of them gunning for our protagonists than what appeared to be the size of the crew that stole the dough at the beginning of the flick.

Though ridiculously outgunned and outnumbered, they fare pretty well, managing to knock off most of their unintended foes along the way. The scenery is lovely, but the chase requires suspending more of that pesky disbelief than the norm. Trained ex-soldiers fire a Hell of a lot of rounds without hitting anyone, even when our targets are traversing open ground. Admittedly, a couple of plot twists partly atone for the rest, but not all surprises are assets.

The two stars give decent performances, and there’s plenty of action for one’s adrenaline fix. Just don’t expect the story to be a treat.

(Kill Shot debuts on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital formats on 8/15/23)