The Virtuoso parents guide

The Virtuoso Parent Guide

From its gory beginnings, it's an uphill struggle to drag this movie back into tense thriller territory.

Overall D

Digital on Demand: In the dangerous underground world of professional assassins, anything can happen. So when a killer codenamed "The Virtuoso" strolls into a small town's out-of-the-way diner, everyone inside is at risk.

Release date April 30, 2021

Violence D
Sexual Content D
Profanity D
Substance Use B

Why is The Virtuoso rated R? The MPAA rated The Virtuoso R for violence, sexuality/nudity and language.

Run Time: 110 minutes

Parent Movie Review

An unnamed assassin, known only as The Virtuoso (Anson Mount), has had a successful career for one reason: He’s a very, very careful man. He diligently observes each of his targets, maps out exits, learns the area… but even with extensive preparation, killing someone unobserved is no mean feat. And failure can mean capture, death, or collateral damage. When one of his assignments goes awry, the collateral damage leaves him with more guilt than he’s used to.

For his next assignment, his employer (Anthony Hopkins) sends him on a simpler mission to a remote diner. The only details he’s given are the words “White River” and a time. So when the assassin walks into the restaurant and finds it full of strangers, he has his work cut out for him: Identify and eliminate “White River” without being compromised. And that’s not going to be easy…

I will admit, I had low expectations for this movie, not least because I recently had the misfortune to review Vanquish. For those of you who have been spared that cinematic misadventure, it sees Morgan Freeman ordering a professional assassin around the city for mysterious reasons…sound familiar? And since Vanquish was operating with the same combination of Oscar winning actor and an assassin, I was expecting The Virtuoso to be equally terrible. Mercifully, it isn’t quite that bad. Don’t get your hopes up. It’s not particularly good either.

Any movie that opens with a scene of a man getting shot in the unmentionables while having sex with a prostitute isn’t terribly interested in subtlety. From there, it’s an uphill struggle to get the film back into tense thriller territory. Our protagonist is slightly less interesting than dry white toast, which is never good, and Anthony Hopkins barely has any screen-time, which is worse. Abbie Cornish certainly puts in some work trying to make this interesting, but the overwhelming blandness of the script pretty much buries her anyway.

As you will have already guessed, this is not a good choice for teen viewers. Nudity and bloody violence are the biggest issues here. There’s comparatively little profanity, though, so if that’s all you’re worried about you should be alright. Unless, of course, you also care that the movie is interesting – which this really isn’t. Even if it’s not as aggressively unwatchable as Vanquish, The Virtuoso has a long way to go before it gets good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go watch a nature documentary or kids TV show and try to forget that I just watched some schmuck get shot in the family jewels.

Directed by Nick Stagliano. Starring Anthony Hopkins, Abbie Cornish, and Diora Baird. Running time: 110 minutes. Theatrical release April 30, 2021. Updated

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The Virtuoso
Rating & Content Info

Why is The Virtuoso rated R? The Virtuoso is rated R by the MPAA for violence, sexuality/nudity and language.

Violence: Several people are shot and killed. A man is shot in the genitals while having sex. One person is killed outright in a car accident and another is set alight and burns slowly to death. A person is stabbed. An individual is poisoned. One character is seen suturing an open wound. A brutal massacre of women and children is described in detail but not shown.
Sexual Content: There are two sex scenes which both feature female toplessness.
Profanity: There are three extreme profanities and occasional use of mild profanities and terms of deity.
Alcohol / Drug Use: An individual is seen drinking and is unwittingly dosed with a medley of prescription medications.

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Although broadly different, this shares plot elements with Bad Times at the El Royale. Other films which pit assassins against one another are the Jason Bourne Trilogy (comprised of The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum), John Wick Chapter 2, and Atomic Blonde. Fans of this film may also enjoy Hitman or Hitman: Agent 47.