The slow pacing wasn't so much the problem with "The Last Lullaby." Rather, it was the implausibility on multiple levels that left this viewer scratching his head.

There was some good chemistry between the two principal characters, the hit man named Price and Sarah, whom he has been hired to kill for a cool $1 million. But it turns out that Price has a soft spot in his heart, takes pity on Sarah, and then begins to grow attached to her emotionally.

Sarah was a mild-mannered librarian who apparently led a tormented life following the murder of her mother by her father. Now, two decades later, Sarah is planning to testify and present evidence against her father.

It was a big stretch that the father, Mr. Lennox, would spend a million to murder his daughter when the money would have bought him a dream team of attorneys. And it was beyond the pale that he would order the execution of his second daughter as well.

The film was well-photographed with interesting locations and atmosphere. But it never fully gelled in the character interactions and the plausibility of such a far-fetched last lullaby.

"The Last Lullaby" is one of those movies you'll forget right after the end credits. If you remember anything it's just how awful it was.

I've seen many different actors play hitmen/assassins: Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Forest Whitaker, Denzel Washington, and on and on. Tom Sizemore has to be one of the worst casting decisions for a hitman. He was about as convincing as Pinnochio pretending to be a real boy. He was supposed to be this super badass that always has the drop on everyone else: Jason Bourne in a dad bod.

He took a one-million dollar contract to kill a woman named Sarah (Sasha Alexander). I don't think they even tried to hide the fact that he was going to fall for her; a marshmallowy soft plot and as original as tribal arm bands. He was given ten days to kill her and it had to look like an accident.

The predictable and rote romance all began when he was staking her out. You could see in his eyes the slow crumbling of his will to kill her. How could he kill a pretty auburn-haired dame? On day two or three of his recon mission he saved her from her abusive ex-boyfriend. That led to another encounter which led to them essentially dating. You knew that he was going to have to eventually protect her once it was discovered that he abandoned the assignment, and who better to protect her than a retired hitman?

The acting in this movie was abysmal. There was no spark or chemistry between Sizemore and Alexander. And as bad as Sizemore was (almost like he was reluctantly doing a favor for someone),Sasha Alexander was worse. They could've gotten a wooden plank to play her role. Someone forgot to tell her this wasn't a reading and that the cameras were rolling. I've seen DMV employees with more personality.

But as bad as she was, she wasn't the blame for the script. The script should've been labeled "burn after reading." Tell me, what sane woman isn't concerned that the man she was dating was hired to kill her? Sarah wasn't. After believing that Price (Sizemore) had never even held a gun, she saw him totally dispatch of a would-be assassin, and the issue was never brought up. There wasn't a single conversation of how he is so good at defending her and getting rid of people. Eventually, while they were holed up in a hotel, she said, "Go ahead and kill me. That's what you're here for right?" This wasn't said with passion, anger, or any emotion you'd associate with a person who just found out she'd been dating her assassin. This was said in a nonchalant manner like she was ordering takeout. It wasn't even resignation, though she said she was "tired."

The two of them, now bosom buddies, then hatched a plan to kill her father (he hired her killer) and make more money in the process. Again, that was done with little fanfare, and that was probably the biggest issue with this entire production--it was devoid of emotion. Everything, from beginning to end, was done on autopilot. It was like none of the actors wanted to be there, like they all drew the short straw. Whatever the writer Max Allan Collins had in mind if his short story became a movie, this could not have been it.

The Last Lullaby (2008)

Here's a film that reinvigorates the true moody, classic, slightly low-budget intensity of film noir. It's not latecomers like "Chinatown," Blood Simple," or "Mulholland Drive," which are strong movies on their own terms (and often waved as recent film noirs). "The Last Lullaby" survives and penetrates on the essence of a good noir--a leading protagonist who is lost in the world, a mysterious set of forces out to take him down, a leading female with dubious intentions, and gloomy dramatic filming to create a mood of uncertainty and, frankly, dark elegance.

This is a kind of masterpiece that I think will grow over time. Like some of the great noirs (to keep this theme going for just another thought),the first impression might be flawed, as if there is something too forced and stylized and sometimes even clunky going on. But this is part of what makes for style, and style is what makes for a lasting, unique movie. Think of "The Big Heat" or even "Double Indemnity." (For some reason, "Point Blank" with Lee Marvin comes to mind as as somewhat newer parallel).

Tom Sizemore makes the movie. He's a hit-man seemingly drifting out of the business, but having nowhere to go or nothing to do with himself. And then his skills get called into play, almost by instinct. Sizemore manages laconic better than anyone. He's not weary, exactly, but indifferent because of a long violent life. (The actor might be remembered best for his terrific role in "Natural Born Killers," a good pedigree for this movie.) And of course he meets a woman in an unlikely way, and the plots twists and twists.

But it doesn't spin out of control thanks to Sizemore's steady and yet expressive and really subtle performance. And the woman, played by Sasha Alexander (tons of television, including 20 episodes of "Dawson's Creek"),who has more depth and restraint than you'd expect in this kind of role. In fact, part of the whole thrill of the movie is the way the two leads, who make up nearly every scene, are so low key even as the events are bloody and out of control in their violence.

The cast, crew, writers, and so on are all relatively new, or coming from modest careers. That they all collide and make something this special happen is one of the thrills of collaborative artmaking--movies, above all, with so many components to go wrong, or to go right. You might not find this to your taste, but if you do, it might be one of the great surprises of the year. It was for me.