Oh man. what can I say. I so wanted this film to be good. I waited so long to actually see it, finally got my hands on it, and then...the letdown. I really don't know exactly where it went wrong for me, but even just watching the theatrical trailer, I already had the idea that it couldn't possibly work for me.
Perhaps for the characters; John, a hitman, a despicable creep of a man, old, unattractive, a bit greasy, with a somewhat creepy attachment to a young girl who his live-in girlfriend's daughter. Fact remains, she isn't his own, hence, the creepiness. And his split personality; from a cold mafioso hit man, to a doting, overly-concerned psuedo-dad...he even follows her to school to make sure she's safe. This polarized personality is clearly intentional in the character's development, but it doesn't carry for me. It just makes me dislike him as a man. Then, when he is in Buenos Aires, pursuing other women (Manuela) and then in bed with a prostitute whom he makes call him "Daddy", well i just wanted to turn him off completely.
I didn't understand the attempted interweaving of stories, either. I didn't understand John's paranoia, his political detachment, his fascination with Manuela (who appears mannish in the face and voice), i didn't understand the hit job in Buenos Aires as a subplot to discovering tango (or vice versa), and most importantly, I didn't like the cheesy use of dream sequences to show off Robert Duvall's dance moves (his real life tango with his real life girlfriend).
this movie was not what i had hoped, it was unlikeable. It was boring. It wasn't even beautiful. I was more aware of Duvall's only vanity than anything else.
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