KILLING SEASON is a two-hander of a film that turns out to be not very good at all, a pity given the irresistible casting of Robert De Niro and John Travolta as adversaries. The plot is slim and pared down, much involved with a back story set during the Serbian war of the 1990s in which De Niro was part of a "peacekeeping" force and Travolta one of the Serb militias. Cut to the present day, where De Niro's idyllic woodland existence is interrupted by chinstrap beard-sporting Travolta with revenge in mind. Most of this plays out as a low budget battle of wits between the two men, but despite the violence it never really convinces all that much. The actors are fun but the below-par script doesn't give them much to work with, and Mark Steven Johnson's direction is equally lacklustre. A missed opportunity, then.

In 1995, a UN platoon executes a group of Serbian Soldiers. In the present days, in Belgrade, the Serbian Emil Kovac (John Travolta) that survived to the execution eighteen years before, gets information about his executioner Benjamin Ford (Robert De Niro) and travels to the remote Appalachian Mountain, where Benjamin lives alone, to revenge. Emil meets Benjamin in the beginning of a cat-and-mouse game.

"Killing Season" is an awful thriller with shallow and shameful story of revenge. It is unbelievable that a man, traumatized by the cruelties of the war, waits for eighteen years to revenge; pays money for the information of his executioner; travels from Belgrade, in Serbia, to a remote area in the United States of America to kill the man; and after a few minutes talking, they almost become friends. Actually I was expecting that the executioner would invite him to a barbecue in family or to drink a beer. Maybe this drama is the further that Hollywood writers might expect from a traumatized man. The decadent Robert De Niro and John Travolta should consider the retirement or change agent to get better scripts to not compromise their brilliant filmographies. My vote is one (awful).

Title (Brazil): "Temporada de Caça" ("Hunting Season")

The film opens in 1992 with a young De Niro shooting a young Bosnian POW in the back. 18 years later Travolta with painted on hair and a bad accent is out for revenge. De Niro has become a mountain man and near hermit. The movie digresses from the expected man hunt to a cripple fight. It tosses in a few seemingly meaningless words on war and life in order to try to make a point.

Travolta was not convincing in his role. De Niro had a few good scenes but mostly was going through the motions. There are better films of this kind out there. Even one with Steve Austin.

Makes for an okay action film rental if you can get beyond the Travolta look and accent. Some apparent CG special effects.

Parental Guide: F-bombs. No sex or nudity.