The latest of 87North Productions’ “retired hitman” slate – including the John Wick oeuvre, Nobody (along with a Nobody 2 coming soon), and Violent Night – smashes its way into theaters today with Love Hurts, another film about a former assassin who made it out of The Life, but at a huge cost. However, there’s a little more joy than expected in films like these thanks to the irrepressible Ke Huy Quan, whose recent resurgence has opened the door for him to step into this leading role with infectious enthusiasm. Merely thinking about his role as an assassin-turned-real estate agent is giving me the grins.
Forget all the action and the Valentine’s Day tie-in love story for a second. The heart of Love Hurts is Quan’s character Marvin’s personal journey, and Quan sells it heartbreakingly well. We first meet him as a go-get-‘em real estate agent who eagerly shows families the possibilities of a new home, but it’s revealed that he used to be a formidable killer in his brother Alvin’s (Daniel Wu) crime family (where Alvin uses the moniker “Knuckles”). Freed from his responsibilities after a heavy final assignment, Marvin loves his job, his co-workers and boss, and life itself. Director Jonathan Eusebio (in his directorial debut following an epic career in stunt work) uses Quan’s natural effervescence brilliantly, allowing us to fall in love with how much Marvin wants the best for his friends and clients… until The Raven (Mustafa Shakir) shows up in his office, and it’s not to discuss mortgages.
We’re just past the opening credits, and Marvin’s been so well-defined as a happy guy to this point – people respond positively to him, even his misanthrope assistant Ashley (Lio Tipton). When The Raven makes his intentions known with knife blades, we see the shadow of something fierce cross Marvin’s face as he reverts to his former persona, matching The Raven’s kicks and punches with practiced ease. As movies like this go, we’re thrown deeper into Marvin’s past while the reason for the current conflict is laid bare: Rose (Ariana DeBose), the woman whose death was his last assignment, has just made contact with Alvin, right-hand man Merlo (Cam Gigandet), and Marvin himself for the first time in years. Why’d Marvin let her go? Out of an unrequited love he kept to himself.
Having been a fan of Ke Huy Quan’s for 41 years (ye gods), it is lovely to see him carry a film like this. He’s come a long way since Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and this role gives him the opportunity to flex his wide skill set, taking us from comedy to martial arts to drama as each scene demands. Quan keeps up with the script and its demands while also remaining welcoming, trying to hold Marvin’s best nature as his north star while bullets fly and glass shatters. Even Marvin’s fights usually end with his opponent waylaid, not dead. But the journey that screenwriters Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard, and Luke Passmore have planned out for him asks us to simultaneously root for Marvin as both a mild-mannered real estate agent and ruthless killer, and Quan is excellent at being both, his building transformation from one to the other being the focal point of the film.
The rest? Merlo, architect and consipirator behind a $4 million theft leading to Rose’s elimination; a worm of a mob accountant who helped engineer said theft; a hitman duo discussing a failing relationship; The Raven, who suddenly finds a deep kinship with an unexpected interloper; and the boba-addicted Alvin, using The Raven and the hitman duo to find and retrieve Marvin and Rose. They’re painted in broad caricature for easy comic relief and unyielding danger, obstacles to be in Marvin’s way as he makes his moves to save Rose and himself. Marvin and Rose are granted the lion’s share of the nuance and depth, and both Quan and Ariana DeBose light up the screen with flair and heart.
Love Hurts is a kind of movie I feel that’s been missing from the cinematic space for a while: the goofy, fun-for-fun’s-sake, stunt-filled movie that used to be Jackie Chan’s bread and butter. While action and martial arts films have gotten grittier and rougher, Love Hurts is a slick update of the small-time gangster movies you used to see in grindhouse theaters, throwing back to the genuinely hilarious combination of inept hitmen, the everyman with the unexpected fighting talents, and the love story that ties them all together. While plot points may seem overfamiliar at times, they’re merely a springboard for Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose to shoulder this film with their intensity and chemistry, which brings Love Hurts to life and makes it an easy cinematic breeze.
