“Assassination” isn’t the kind of film that’s too bad to watch but the problem is it doesn’t do anything particularly well and there are other films that are similar yet far superior.

In “Assassination”, Charles Bronson (“Death Wish”, “The Dirty Dozen”) stars as White House bodyguard Jay Killion, who now finds himself looking after the headstrong First Lady (Jill Ireland). After a few explosions Jay seriously considers that someone may be trying to kill her and therefore the two go on the run as they try to evade some deadly assassins. It’s an action-packed premise but it never really delivers on its promises.

Charles Bronson is pretty good as Killion and by far the best part of the film. I wasn’t too keen on Jill Ireland as the First Lady as anybody in that position would be more aware of the dangers they would face. The chemistry between the two really isn’t there even though Mr. Bronson is clearly trying. The villains are very unmemorable like a lot of this type of action film and that’s a real shame because that could have helped out. I kind of liked Jan Gan Boyd as Jay’s partner (both in and out of the office) Charlotte Chong.

“Assassination” reminded me a lot of the better movie “In The Line of Fire” by Clint Eastwood (“Unforgiven”), which came out several years later; that film is better in just about every conceivable way. This film has a few mildly funny lines and I do like Bronson in it but we get action scenes where heat detecting rockets miss enemies and possibly the dumbest First Lady ever put to film. The film does work in a way because its flaws are harmless and we do get some decent bits with Mr. Bronson but I can’t recommend it simply because it isn’t all that exciting and of course you have “In The Line of Fire”, which is much better.