Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

angelsunchained Hey, I like Robert Duvall, and have been a face of his since the mid 1960s. However, this film is nothing more then Duvall's tribute to his Argentine wife, who he met and later married. He is so in love with a woman 41 years younger than himself and her Tango dancing skills, that he spends countless time showing people dancing Tango. He should of made a 30 minute video on Tango, instead of surrounding a nothing story around the dance. A hit man in Argentina falls in love with the Tango. Tango is presented as "Life". Nothing is more important than dancing Tango, drinking whiskey and smoking. And Mr. Duvall as the leading man in an action film just doesn't go over. He's a senior citizen with a pony tail and a wife young enough to be his grand-daughter. Hey! more power to him! Let him use this excuse for a artistic film as a home movie.

mlg-895-17188 One of the things that draws me to Duvall's movies, especially as he has aged, is the realism he tries to inject. Shrek's explanation of being layered like an onion is true of us all, we are not one thing but many. Think of his movie characters from the 15 years and remember the characters that talk to themselves, that repeat themselves in a sort of sing-song cadence, that are hot tempered; he plays reflections of himself. It has been almost 10 years since this movie was released and I still remember a short interview he did from his home in support of the movie. He knew it wasn't going to do well commercially, but he had discovered the intricacies, the balance, the practice required to do it correctly and fell in love with the Tango and wanted to expose it to others. There is a line in the movie that you are never too old to learn, I'm sure he interjected that because he discovered the Tango in his 60's and dances it to this day. The dialog isn't wired tight, nor is the plot; his dispatchment to Buenos Aries for a hit seems contrived at best (they couldn't find a local?) but it puts him at the birthplace of the Tango and to see the masters at work is lovely. The ending credits are run under a couple dancing outside that is breathtaking. The dialog of mostly normal people having normal conversations to me was one of the strong points of the movie; it is to greater effect than line by line recital although it did occasionally drag down the pace for sure. One of the female characters comments on dancing club Tango versus competitive Tango; one you must concentrate on every move and one you soar with the eagles and enjoy. While watching the movie, I recommend the club Tango.

Joe Allen This film follows the well trodden path of an ageing hit-man (John J) sent on what may well be his last job in Argentina which also sets the backdrop for a second stand of the story: John J's love of Tango. Between the dancing and the hit-man underworld we move from light to dark and subsequently John J's character becomes difficult to like and yet difficult to dislike. And this is what makes this film stand out for me. John J is a real person. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad. The interplay between characters has also got a fresh kind of realism to it ala Ken Loach. The touching café scene in particular between John J and Manuela feels like a docu-drama with its unscripted pauses and moments of awkwardness. If you are looking for action but are sick of the wooden black and white characters we get from Hollywood then this film is for you. I loved it.

d_patton As with Max Von Sidow's "Joubert" in "Three Days Of The Condor, Robert Duvall's John J. Anderson lives a life of opposites. He seeks meaning in a life where he takes other lives without meaning. He seeks passion where his work does not allow it. As Joubert is deeply committed to his grandchildren, Anderson is to his adopted families wherever he finds them and, if only temporarily, to the fabric of life that accompany them.The movie leaves unresolved issues; what becomes of Manuela, her son, her friends and the fantasy-life of Tango they live in, all of whom Anderson has quickly come to love to the extent he can. What becomes of Miguel and Orlando who recruited him. It is part of the ambiguity of Anderson's life, stepping on and off the stage that he must continually leave these and similar accounts open, yet he adds meaning to the lives of others and they his as he passes through....and as he takes lives.This is a movie in an older and more sophisticated style. What is left out is not omission but rather is left to the viewer to ponder. The movie is not satisfying and is not intended to be. It is, however, compelling and worth seeing.