The Matador is a 2005 dark comedy film written and directed by Richard Shepard and starring Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear.

As of February 12, 2006, the film grossed a total of $10.5 million in the domestic box office.

The film was released on DVD on July 4, 2006 and on HD DVD on December 18, 2006

Plot

An encounter in the bar of the Mexico City branch of the Camino Real Hotels, between tired businessman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), hoping to land a life-saving contract in Mexico, and jaded, falling-apart-at-the-seams assassin Julian Noble (Pierce Brosnan), leads both men into an awkward friendship. Noble is confronting the immorality of his profession and experiencing a mid-life crisis that causes him to freeze on a job. His bosses want him dead, so Julian flees and visits Danny at his home at Christmas, looking for a place to stay. That night, he shares the real reason for his visit: he needs help with one last job. His last target happens to be his old boss, who, after much internal struggle and with Danny talking him through it, Noble assassinates at a Tucson horse race track.

Critical reaction

Having been screened at the Sundance, Toronto, and Chicago International film festivals prior to its release, the film was generally well received by critics. Early professional reviews praised Pierce Brosnan's performance, as well as the film's unique and provocative premise and themes.

Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper, on their television show At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper, gave it an enthusiastic "two thumbs up," with Ebert praising the movie as "an overlooked gem" and "Pierce Brosnan's best work to date."

As of September 17, 2007 it has a favorable 74% "Cream of the Crop" rating on RottenTomatoes

Pierce Brosnan was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical Film at the Golden Globes in 2006. However, he lost to Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line.

Soundtrack

Production

Although Julian travels to Vienna, Las Vegas, Moscow, Sydney, Budapest, Tucson and Manila, the film was shot entirely in Mexico City. According to the credits following the film, all bullfights were created using computer generated images. Actress Hope Davis was pregnant during the filming of the movie.

During the commentary for the first deleted scene on the DVD, director Richard Shephard states that the first cut of the film was 2 hours and 10 minutes and was cut down to its current length of 1 hour and 37 minutes.

Cast

Actor	Role
Pierce Brosnan	Julian Noble
Greg Kinnear	Danny Wright
Hope Davis	Carolyn "Bean" Wright
Philip Baker Hall	Mr. Randy
Dylan Baker	Lovell
Adam Scott	Phil Garrison
Portia Dawson	Genevive

References

External links

• The Matador Official Website
• The Matador Trailers
• The Matador Review