When Lane and her estranged hubby (played by Thomas Jane) cross paths with Rourke's Blackbird, they are sent to witness protection where they successfully live a life of worry-free bliss.
Yeah, right.
Tonally scattered like a spider web, the film, directed by Shakespeare in Love's John Madden, has a helluva time trying to decide exactly what it wants to be when it grows up. In the end, it settles for a mixture of levity and brutality, but never the twain do mix.
Some characters, such as Joe Gordon-Levitt's would-be thug and Johnny Knoxville's... well, best not ruminate too much on his addition, seem as though they've screen tested for completely different films. Other actors, such as Lane and Jane, spend most of their screen time looking off into the distance, perhaps to find their agent to get them out of this mess.
In the center, though, is Rourke. Bronzed to shades of orange that would make pumpkins jealous, speaking with a strangely hypnotic accent all his own, and generally flipping the switch between hushed line reads and brute physicality, he owns the picture though perhaps not for all the right reasons.
Neither Killshot nor Winged Creatures would achieve blockbuster status at the box office, even riding a big crest of their stars' popularity. Creatures, in particular seems as though it is plotted just right for commercial breaks during an airing on the Lifetime Network. Even so, I will take Winged Creatures stab at humanity over the completely synthetic He's Not That Into You, and Killshot's junky fun over Paul Blart's antics on the big screen any day.
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