When is a hit man a terrorist? That's a question discussed in the subtext of Robert Duvall's newest movie, Assassination Tango, a quirky drama that I admire. For this film, Duvall wears four hats: director, writer, producer, and star, ensuring that he will bear primary responsibility for the success or failure of the project. Like 1997's The Apostle, this is very much Duvall's movie from top to bottom.

He plays John, a veteran hit man who is contemplating retirement so he can care for his new family - a girlfriend (Kathy Baker) and her daughter. John's latest, and perhaps last, job is to assassinate a political figure in Buenos Aires. He knows nothing about the man he is supposed to kill, nor does he care about the particulars. This is just another job for him - he wants to get in and out. Thus, there is the unspoken question: Is John acting as a terrorist? Ask his employers and they would say no; he is killing a monster. Ask the victim's backers and they would say yes. Ask John and he would shrug his shoulders. Labels don't mean much to him.

Because of a snafu in the plans, John ends up stuck in Argentina for several weeks longer than planned. While waiting for the go-ahead to kill his target, he becomes intrigued by the South American form of the Tango, and convinces the dynamic Manuela (Luciana Pedraza) to teach him the steps and the philosophy. Those of us familiar with movies like this will be expecting John and Manuela to end up romantically entangled, but Duvall's writing is smarter than that. The script doesn't deny the attraction, but it deals with the situation differently than we expect.

The film's tone is slow and deliberate. There are moments of energy, when the level of suspense is ratcheted up, but this is not primarily an action-oriented motion picture. The focus is on the "Tango" portion of the title, not the "Assassination". To that end, we are treated to a fair amount of dancing, and several conversations about the importance of the Tango to the Argentinean culture. In large part, dialogue is Assassination Tango's most obvious strength. Duvall has scripted the conversations so that they closely mirror the way people actually speak. Instead of being force-fed lines that only movie characters would utter, we hear the participants talk with rhythms that sound natural.

John isn't particularly likeable, although I suppose he has a certain charm. Assassination Tango skims the surface of a number of genre films, but is quirky and original enough never to immerse itself fully in any of them. Like The Apostle, it exists off the beaten path and will not satisfy mainstream viewers. Yet, for those who do not demand a firm adherence to formulas and genre-driven expectations, this movie offers the chance to see something a little different.