Seeing the cast list for this, is almost like a "who-is-who" of a lot of known bit part players from the 80s! Really good actors too. If I'd started listing them IMDb would tell me, that I have no more room to write an actual review. Suffice to say, that whether you know those people or not, they do deliver.

Whose not fully delivering, is Katic! Which is a shame, because her role is the crucial one. And while I love looking at her (even while or when does horrible things),I have to admit, that she cannot carry this movie as she should. The action on the other hand is nicely filmed, the plot/story is decent enough too. With a better lead, this could've been a winner! As it stands, it just is above average (and still cut by a lot of minutes in Germany, a version I refused to watch, so the rating and review goes for the uncut version)

A Russian immigrant's sister is raped and brutalized by a gang of Neo Nazi scum(Tom Sizemore and James Franco are two of them)and she believes her wealthy Greek mobster lover, Virgil Valados(Tom Berenger)is responsible for covering it up(Dominique Swain is a hooker who was there when the poor girl was gang banged and tortured). This immigrant, Raina(Stana Katic),attempts to kill Virgil and almost does so, also running away with two million dollars from a safe..this means someone within Virgil's organization helped Raina out because she didn't know the combination to the safe. Raina begins hunting down all the human dirtbags who participated in her sister's mistreatment(found in a garbage dumpster after three days, the experience leaving her mentally destroyed beyond repair, her face scarred from a bottle broken across it),stabbing each one in the heart with a special knife she carries. Michael Biehn is Virgil's loyal enforcer, Lee, with a nasty streak, who has been locked up for a while, having returned to help his boss find Raina. Virgil calls on a dirty cop, Beck(Paul Sloan),who owes him for helping him keep his brother out of harm's way, to bring him Raina, drawing the ire of Lee who believes he(and his devious English girlfriend junkie Penny, played with a Cockney accent by Amanda Brooks)can do the job himself sufficiently. Meanwhile, Virgil's brother Alex(William Forsythe)might know more about this entire situation than he's revealing. Alex and Lee are always at each other's throats, mainly it's because both want to be Virgil's closest confident. While Beck looks for Raina, he must somehow keep his partner, Hanover(Kelly Hu)in the dark, not an easy task. Virgil's wife, Sylvia(Diane Venora)knows that her husband is deeply in love with Raina and this definitely ruins their marriage.

Nick Vallelonga's Stilleto is quite a showcase for the beauty Stana Katic(who would not longer after show up in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace)and essentially follows her as she kills a hell of a lot of people. Stilleto is without a doubt a quintessential rape revenge crime thriller, except in this case, Raina is assassinating those behind her sister's rape and torture. Stilleto is full of unpleasant, unsavory characters and I think the audience for this movie will have no problem siding with Raina as she buries her knife in the chests of each and every one of these rotten apples(although, she also uses a gun when necessary). This movie is a real blood bath as it features savage violence and cruelty..we go into an underbelly and are presented with real trash. The plot reveals a mastermind who had orchestrated everything, which does eventually become known after a carnage of dead bodies is left behind Raina. Betrayal, manipulation, backstabbing, and distrust all play a hand in the way Stilleto shapes itself over the running time. Poor DB Sweeney gets worked over real good by Lee and Penny as they fish for information, thinking he knows who was behind the robbery(his face pummeled into unrecognizable twisted flesh, his arm torn apart by a sand blaster). A crowbar is rammed into a victim's throat(and through the skull),a bullet blows a hole through a face, machine guns and pistols are used on a consistent basis considering the lifestyles of those involved in this movie's plot, and, as mentioned above, Raina takes delight in slowly pressing her knife into the chests of those who have forever damaged her beloved sister. Once again, Stilleto is a movie which takes us into a world of dangerous and sleazy people, and these low lives die one by one for their roles in a heinous act that, to be honest, justifies vengeance..not an advocate of violence, but you certainly can see why Raina responds the way she does. Beck is pulled into this and decides to help Raina, really wanting her to get out of town. Beck's investigation might turn up evidence establishing secrets yet unraveled.

Wickedly violent revenge drama with Tom Berenger as a Greek crime boss who, along with other people, is being hunted by a young Russian girl who used to be his mistress. The whys and who's of the affair take the full running time to unravel so I won't say more than that. What I will say is that this is a mean and nasty film with violence exploding usually in ways we least expect it, in a manner that is really in your face. This is a movie that makes you frequently sit up and go "whoa". Well stocked with a fantastic cast of character actors (William Forsythe, Michel Beihn, James Russo, Tom Sizemore among others) this is as solid a "B" crime film as I've seen recently. (and I mean B as in the classic definition of a B film, the sort that was carefully crafted to play on a double feature, that was made with care and not just thrown together). If there is any real flaw, or if there is going to be any point that may trouble some viewers it's that the film is very complex, or at least it doesn't reveal anything until the stand in for the audience, the cop working for Berenger, finds anything out. This makes for several scenes that seem like they are coming for left field, when in reality they are not. (I'm also sure that the end will leave some people annoyed, but I'm not one of them, I think it works). Worth a bucket of popcorn and a soda for anyone wanting a dark little crime film to "brighten" up their evening.