Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
Ace assassin Frank Kitchen is double crossed by gangsters and falls into the hands of rogue surgeon known as The Doctor who turns him into a woman. The hitman, now a hitwoman, sets out for revenge, aided by a nurse named Johnnie who also has secrets.
The Assignment offers a genuinely provocative premise — a forced sex-change revenge thriller — that gives it some curiosity value and distinctiveness, but the execution is deeply uneven. The plot is convoluted and poorly paced, relying on a framing device (Walter Hill's comic-book style narration panels) that feels gimmicky rather than inventive. Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver both commit to their roles with energy, lifting the acting above the material, though neither is given enough to truly shine. The cinematography is functional but unremarkable, with the stylized panel overlays being the most distinctive visual choice. The ending is anticlimactic and fails to deliver satisfying closure on the film's more provocative ideas. Overall a mid-tier genre curio that squanders an unusual premise.