20 Worst Movies Of 2021 (So Far)

Nick Stagliano's The Virtuoso stars Anson Mount as the stoic titular hitman whose latest assignment lands him in a wealth of hot water.

Right from its opening scene, however, the film is difficult to take seriously as the gritty, urbane thriller it clearly strains to present itself as. Mount's hilariously wooden voiceover narration, for one, makes it near-impossible to view this as anything but an undercooked, ill-conceived mess.

At least Anthony Hopkins shows up periodically to class-up proceedings, though even his over-committed performance struggles to polish what is a fundamentally clunky script.

When the supposedly expert assassin is presented as incompetent from the start and this perception never changes, it's tough to buy into the movie's hard-boiled vibe. That it's additionally stiff and humourless to a fault seals its fate.