The movie itself is styled in the late 80's/early 90's B films. The soundtrack is built into the cinematography. Yes!!!! There is a lot of action, a lot of killing but again relatable to the B genre films of past. Sure we have stars (again of the 80's/90's) in Berenger, Sizemore, Biehn and even Russo. It is not a stupendously acted story but has a unique flavor to it. We have a female antagonist who powers the film and others fall flat in their roles. A film to watch if your busy doing something else.

I was expecting very little from this, given the low rating here, but found myself pleasantly surprised. This is really a much better film than it's being given credit for. There's a depth of characterisation in the script that you don't find in the average B-movie. The cast, too, are well above average. Most of the actors are past-their-prime Hollywood notables who may not earn the big bucks any more but can still turn in a decent performance.

The action sequences are decent and, for the most part, realistic.

I was surprised to discover that the burly cop was actually the writer of the script.

All in all, this is definitely worth a watch.

This seems to be a typical example of the movie industry, trying to push movies that are so bad, I am missing words to describe it.

It had a rating of 8.0 (!!) and a vote-count of 50 when I decided to give it a shot. Meanwhile the rating has gone down, but it still isn't reflecting the "quality" of this C-movie that looks like it's budget was around 50 bucks.

And no, I did not watch it to the end, after 30 minutes of stupid "story" and remarkably bad acting, I could not stand it anymore.

Don't be fooled by hired goons and fan boys, this is not worth watching by any means. It's just utterly bad.

Nuff said ...

This ultra violent female revenge film does not reveal the motivation for all of Stana Katric's carnage until it's almost over, so what precedes the revelation seems like random nonsense. If you are into this for the cast, beware that Tom Berenger is corpulent with dyed blonde hair. Tom Sizemore actually gives the best performance, expounding priceless dialect inside a strip joint, but his part is small. The movie has many problems, confusing and meaningless script, mostly bad acting, and zero likable characters. The ending is especially weak and a ridiculous conclusion to everything that precedes it. Very definitely, a movie to be avoided. - MERK

I just watched STILETTO, a film about a female assassin who is killing members of a ruthless criminal organization. One of her victims survives, a crime boss whom she shared a past with but her betrayal breaks his heart, so he hires a crooked homicide cop to track her down before the police get to her.

I read nothing but negative reviews about this, so I am the first to write a positive review! It's a very good film...if you like violence! It is brutal, I mean you get savage beatings, lots of stabbings people getting shot (including one brilliant scene!) and best of all it's all on-screen.

The acting is fine by all, I really don't know what people expect from a film, if you think you like the sound of it going by my write up, I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Raina (Stana Katic - "Castle", Quantum of Solace)is out for revenge. She takes it in the opening on a former lover (Tom Berenger), who manages to survive only, as he jokes, because of his lifestyle - a big belly! He puts Beck (Paul Sloan) on her tail, but she is hard to catch as she pops up all over the city like Jason, slashing her way through various bad guys, even Tom Sizemore, who imagines himself a player after leaving a group of Nazis who sell crack to teen girls before turning them out.

At the same time, we are seeing Amanda Brooks really do a dance on some others. She & her boyfriend Lee (Michael Biehn - Aliens, The Terminator) have an interesting way of removing tats; some massive gunfights, and lots more deaths.

A good slasher/gangster film.

I had to write this after reading a few reviews. Especially the guy who says he quit watching after 30 Minutes. What do you want a Oscar performance. This movie is better than a lot of the trash with bigger names in it. This movie is non stop action. Very brutal killings done really well. Even a couple ways I've never seen before and I've seen a lot. I just don't want anyone not to see it due to one idiot. What don't you like revenge flicks? Lack of adventure? Sit back and enjoy something different. So what if the story isn't A-1. The short attention span of most will be consumed with this one. A lot of familiar faces. Check it out. Not for the faint at heart or those with a weak stomach

Raina is a annoying and not a very likable girl on the hunt to avenge and uncover the truth about her sister's kidnapping. When she discovers that her former lover, mob boss Virgil Vadalos, and his associates are directly responsible, she is out for vengeance. The thing is, I just didn't care for any of the characters, especially Raina the protagonist. In fact when it started to get closer to the end of the film, I just wanted her to die. This is a pretty bad revenge movie plain and simple. The twist was even predictable and don't even care for it at all what so ever, it is weak. It's a boring revenge flick, there is plenty of better films of this type of genre not even really worth the price of rental. The cover seemed a bit promising, but don't judge this film by it's cover cause it sucks.

2.8/10

Main Flaw Low Budget attributing to shortened story telling and cheap cinematography. Knowing Stana Katic was playing lead in this movie i knew that there must be some intelligent attribute to this motion picture, having seen her other efforts previously particularly "Castle" and "Faceless". Both of the former mentioned i recommend. The main flaw of the movie is that it suffers from low budget and short script. Budget is something that can be acquired after-wards if the script demands it but if it doesn't have much potential for a memorable experience for the audience then a high budget cant save the movie. The low budget is evident in the shortened city scape footages and the cheap camera technology used (cheaper in comparison to wild things III, which i think didn't have a decent enough script to be given some very good camera action angles and cinematography and colors). The main attribute that would really appall audiences is the hasty and cheap cinematography. It could be said that Stana Katic's performance is wasted in this movie having seen her in this endeavour she can make a decent action-heroine if not the best, rivaling 'Carrie Anne Moss'. All in all i would not say that it suffer from bad acting as almost all front and lead actor in this movie with the exception of "Stana Katic" and "Paul Sloan" are or were mainstream cinema veterans having starred in well known movies. i also can't say that it suffers from bad script or bad dialogue because it struggles hard not to sound clichéd or contrived , which is an intelligent attribute.

negative: low budget:(true)-1 point hastened storytelling:(true)-1 point bad cinematography(camera-everything):(true)-1 point needed something more:(true)-1 point All leads needed more air - time :(true) -1 point Explanation for the main characters killing skills: (true) -1 point ending needed more:-1 the cover gives a false impression of major motion picture or a high octance good budget action flick within the league of punisher(2004): -1 positive: good acting from all lead actors: +1 not a bad scrpit: +1 good casting:+1 main actor(Stana Katic) good performance:+1 All kills warranted:+1 ending was apt:+1

negative:positive -8:+5 movie:lost whether to watch it : Will be disappointed due to poor cinematography, but won't be by Stana katic's performance, i would recommend instead watching any of her Castle episodes or "Faceless", but then a huntress/killer Stana you'd be deprived of. Watch only if you wanna watch a killer-Stana with a feminine rage and a masculine charisma for killing.

Don't listen to any of these negative reviews posted about this so far. They are very wrong, If you are into crime or revenge films you will love this. It has a Kill Bill & Thriller: A Cruel Picture vibe with a female assassin taking revenge on the ones who wronged her in the past in a different setting & different motivations obviously but you get the point. Anyone see the new TV show "Castle"? Well this features the co-star of it Stana Katic (24, Feast of Love, Quantum of Solace, The Librarian 3, & The Spirit) as the lead character looking for vengeance.

Writer Paul Sloan co-stars as the cop stuck in the middle of this mess. Tom Berenger (Big Chill, Platoon, Major League 1/2, Sniper Trilogy, Training Day, & Detective) chews up the scenery as the main villain with henchmen Michael Biehn (Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Navy Seals, Tombstone, The Rock, Magnificent Seven, & Planet Terror) & William Forsythe (Halloween, Devil's Rejects, Deuce Bigalow, Gotti, The Rock, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, Out for Justice, Dick Tracy, Extreme Prejudice, & Raising Arizona) helping him control the chaos caused by Katic.

Plus this film has an amazing supporting cast with Diane Venora (Heat, The Insider, & The Jackal), Kelly Hu (X2, No Way Back, & Friday the 13th 8: Jason Takes Manhattan), James Russo (Beverly Hills Cop, Extremities, Dangerous Game, & Donnie Brasco), Tom Sizemore (Heat, Point Break, Passenger 57, True Romance, Natural Born Killers, Witness to the Mob, & Saving Private Ryan), Dominique Swain (Face/Off, Lolita, Out of Season, & Alpha Dog), Tony Lip (The Sopranos, Donnie Brasco, Goodfellas, Pope of Greenwich Village, & Year of the Dragon), D. B. Sweeney (Eight Men Out, Spawn, & Jericho), Robert R. Shafer (Bob from TV's The Office), David Proval (Star Chamber, Monster Squad, Mean Streets, Romeo Is Bleeding, Shawshank Redemption, Four Rooms, Smokin' Aces, & The Sopranos) plus two former Leatherfaces in cameo roles R. A. Mihailoff (Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Trancers III, Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, & Fallen Angels) & Andrew Bryniarski (Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake/TCM: The Beginning, Black Mask 2, Any Given Sunday, Higher Learning, Street Fighter, Batman Returns, & Hudson Hawk). Highly recommended, Check it out ASAP....

Here's a bad female assassin film attempting to be a cross between le femme nikita and the godfather; both far superior movies.

A Russian woman(Stana Katic who is actually Croatian and Serbian) as a deadly girl seeking revenge for her sisters' gang rape by a bunch of neo-Nazis somehow tied in with a Greek mafioso type played by veteran actor Tom Berenger in a Brando like Don Corleone lite. what's missing is Coppola and every other aspect of the great Godfather and of course the awesome Marlon Brando.

Every gangster cliché is used here from missing money to torture scenes and rival Mexican bad guys in night club shoot out that borders on the ridiculous. I'll give it a 5 as a very average crime- drama with decent acting and a by the numbers script.

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)

Stiletto kicks ass. It's the chick from La Femme Nikita up against the hilarious gangsters from Ghost Dog with the violent special effects of Friday The 13th thrown in (in particular, a scene involving an electric sander and another involving a tire iron had me exclaiming "Whoa!" out loud). Our hero goes on a real I Spit On Your Grave rampage against an all star cast of bad boys. This one is not for the children. Every other word starts with F and every other minute someone is getting murdered in inventive ways. But for the adults, it's a whole lot of fun, especially because, even though it serves as a parody of the genre, it isn't resorting to any slapstick or forced campiness. I liked it. If you like gangster movies and horror movies, this will be your cup of tea.

"Stiletto" has a better than average cast, which elevates it above comparable low-budget direct-to-video fare. Berenger, Biehn, Forsythe, Hu and others bring complexity and conflicting loyalties to their roles. I was disappointed in Stana Katic as the stiletto wielding avenging assassin. Her role is quite similar to Zoe Saldana's role in "Colombiana." But Zoe was convincing as a lean, mean, killing machine driven by hatred, willing to risk her life for revenge and capable of murder with her hands or a variety of weapons. Stana was less convincing.

The script seems under-written. It's a familiar story that has been told better dozens of times. It's populated by interesting characters and there are a few surprise twists and turns, but somehow the audience is left uninvolved. We don't see or understand one character's obsessive love for the assassin or understand how it colors his actions. The assassin's motives are not revealed until the third act, so we're not sure if we should sympathize with her.

The action choreography is nearly non-existent. There is one unnecessary car chase that seem more like an elaborate product placement than something that drives the plot. The gunfights and fistfights are unimpressive. The assassinations seem way too easy, although the make-up effects aren't too bad.

It's a better than average low-budget B movie, worth watching for the performances of a group of talented B list actors delivering credible performances.

After watching hundreds of films, you almost know what's going to happen next and often becomes somewhat predictable. Not so with this film. The minute you recognize the main movie star and his acting is par, you can sense the movie is going to be interesting. That's what this film is all about. It was entitled 'The Velvet Spider' 's abroad, but " Stiletto " in America and tells the story of a vengeful female assassin (Stana Katic) who believes some mobsters and their leaders are responsible for her sister's death. However, the main gangster is unaware of her assumptions or her quest, is only concern with the recovery of his two million dollars. Although aware of the assassin, he believes a single cop (Paul Sloan) can stop her, if not his top hit men (Michael Biehn and William Forsythe) in his organization will. The movie is exciting, action-packed and strewed with murder, violence killings and general mayhem. The actors in the cast are superb and very convincing. It's not often a director like Nick Vallelomga and a writer like Paul Sloan are teamed to create a gritty film like this one. ****

Just watched Stiletto - great movie. Lots of action. Well known cast -Amanda Brooks is showing all her range - a must see. Think the ensemble cast work really well together. Original revenge story - and you have to wait till the very end to connect the dots. Nice to see Michael Biehn again after an absence for a while. This is the second Villalonga movie i have seen and i like his work. For action lovers its a real treat. Berringer plays a great crime boss - but not in the Italian style. Chemistry between Biehn and Brooks is electric. Amanda Brooks is really hitting her stride. You can feel the anger flowing out. Very convincing in this role.

So,I skipped out of the office early today and fired up Showitme.

Wham, the first movie I ran into was just starting. STILETTO. The cast is filled with names and faces you'll immediately recognize. Hey, that makes the movie worth investing a bit of time to begin with.

Plot, who cares to begin with. The movie is dark and dreary with Mob affiliation and peeps getting whacked immediately. Watch it alone with a strong drink or six and in the evening.

Some may say the cast is beyond Over-The-Hill and Has-Beens. Tom Berringer as a Greek is a bit of a stretch; Stana Katic(Canadian) is great as the psycho-chick assassin, bent on revenge and killing anyone(males mostly), related to her anger and pain. Whatever.

The plot is about revenge...blah-blah-blah! I'd watch her cut vegetables. She can be/was seen on ABC's Castle. If you like hot brunettes, this is for you, plot be damned!

I watch a movie to be entertained and escape reality for a couple hours.

The cast of retro/comfortable characters let me do just that. Think Terminator, Platoon, etc.

There's not social lecture, just revenge, blood and advice. I'm only 45 minutes into the movie and I've already sent an email to a slimy acquaintance that can get ANY movie on DVD while it's still in the theater. The acquaintance loved Stiletto too! Preliminary audiences didn't, obviously. And now, back to the movie and another scotch, with Stana of course.