The Matador

The major pleasure afforded by The Matador lies in watching former 007 Pierce Brosnan trash his James Bond persona with such wicked zeal that you might forget he's the same guy who's played the smooth, sophisticated secret agent for the past decade. And though the rest of Richard Shepard's black comedy—the familiar tale of a principled man who falls in with a rotter and struggles against being seduced by the Dark Side—doesn't match Brosnan's performance, it's still reasonably diverting. In this case, the good guy (Greg Kinnear) is a floundering Denver businessman, who hopes to land a deal that could turn his luck around in Mexico City, but once south of the border he's drawn to a nonchalantly abrasive, bedraggled fellow (Brosnan), who just happens to be an international assassin. Fortunately, Shepard's script is a cut above the usual mismatched-buddy movies (with some unexpected twists) and his direction is mostly stylish, but what makes the picture a real winner is Brosnan's willingness to play against type, ebulliently deconstructing the suave persona he's cultivated from Remington Steele through The Thomas Crown Affair. Recommended. [Note: Available in either widescreen or full screen versions, DVD extras include two audio commentaries (one with director Richard Shepard; the other with Shepard and costars Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear), 11 deleted/extended scenes with optional commentary (17 min.), an eight-minute “making-of” featurette, two audio-only radio program segments “The Business” and “The Treatment” featuring Shepard, and trailers and TV spots. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a mostly winning film.] (F. Swietek)