| Killing Season | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Mark Steven Johnson |
| Screenplay by | Evan Daugherty |
| Produced by | Paul Breuls |
| Starring | John Travolta Robert De Niro Milo Ventimiglia Elizabeth Olin |
| Cinematography | Peter Menzies Jr. |
| Edited by | Sean Albertson |
| Music by | Christopher Young |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Corsan Pictures FilmEngine |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.1 million[1] |
Killing Season is a 2013 Americanactionthriller film written byEvan Daugherty and directed byMark Steven Johnson forMillennium Films,[2][3][4][5][6] as the first on-screen pairing ofJohn Travolta andRobert De Niro.[3] The film pertains to a personal fight between anAmerican and aSerbwar veteran.[7] Daugherty's script caught the attention of producers after winning the 2008 Script Pipeline[8] Screenwriting Competition.[9] The film received negative reviews from critics.
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During theBosnian War, American troops witness atrocities and shoot Serb soldiers whom they hold accountable.
In present-dayBelgrade,Serbia, formerScorpions soldier Emil Kovač, who survived the shootings, meets his informant to retrieve a file on American military veteran and formerNATO operativeColonel Benjamin Ford.
Meanwhile, Ford has retreated to a cabin inSevier County, Tennessee, to try to forget the war. Now a recluse, Ford meets Kovač, posing as a European tourist, during a hunting trip. The two men become friendly until Kovač reveals his true identity.
Intent on revenge, Kovač initiates a gory game of cat-and-mouse with Ford. The latter is badly injured but is quick to rebound. It is revealed that Ford shot Kovač in the back, crippling him for years.
After a showdown, Kovač is overpowered by Ford. They reach a peaceful compromise, however, after understanding each other's predicament. Kovač quietly returns to Serbia, happily stating, "I am healing", when the injuries to his face are shown while Ford visits his son, who is making up for missing his grandson's baptism.
The project was originally set in the 1970s and titledShrapnel. It was being considered by John Travolta andNicolas Cage as a project to follow up on their filmFace/Off and by directorJohn McTiernan as a directing vehicle.[10] Subsequently renamed and modified to take place in modern-dayAppalachia,[11] and co-financed and co-produced by Corsan,Nu Image andMillennium Films, filming began on January 16, 2012,[4][5][6][12] in theAppalachian Mountains of northernGeorgia.[2] Major filming was scheduled forTallulah Gorge State Park andBlack Rock Mountain State Park. The locations inRabun County were chosen by directorMark Steven Johnson to create the effect and mood that he had previously seen in the filmDeliverance.[3] Other minor filming locations includedSofia,Bulgaria,[13][14]Sweetwater Creek State Park,[15] and the Pine Mountain Gold Museum in Stockmar Park,Villa Rica.[16] International sales forKilling Season, offered by theAmerican Film Market, commenced on November 2, 2011, inSanta Monica.[12] American cellist/singer/songwriterBen Sollee contributed solo cello performances as well as an original song,[17] "Letting Go",[18] for the end credits.
Killing Season was released in the United States on July 12, 2013, in alimited release and throughvideo on demand.
OnRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 10%, based on reviews from 20 critics.[19] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 29 out of 100, based on reviews from 9 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[20]
Boyd van Hoeij ofThe Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film would be better off as a "small-screen item".[21] Joe Neumaier of theNew YorkDaily News awarded the film one star out of five, panning Travolta's character's Serbian accent.[22]
David DeWitt ofThe New York Times stated that "[i]t's not worthless, but it's not good. As a genre film, it's too ambitious; as an art film, it's too obvious."[23]
Peter Sobczynski ofRogerEbert.com called it "badly written, ineptly staged, horribly acted, historically suspect and boring beyond belief".[24]
Variety's Alissa Simon wrote, "The sight of Robert De Niro and John Travolta sharing the screen for the first time reps the one and only selling point ofKilling Season."[25]