Pierce Brosnan sure is fast as a hitman avenging the late James Caan.

The loss of James Caan hasn’t gone out with a whimper. As a kid, I’ve learned his name through the holiday comedy “Elf,” and as I grew up, I knew him as a great actor with memorable roles in “The Godfather” and “The Gambler,” among others. He will always be remembered for what he has given in the entertainment world.

His final performance, which he filmed months before his death, comes in the pulp action movie “Fast Charlie.” You’ve never heard of this movie, because it’s released on a smaller scale. And he doesn’t steal the movie, because Pierce Brosnan is the leading man, and he does a much better job playing a criminal than he did in the awful comedy “The Out-Laws.” Unlike that piece of crapola, this actor plays the character Charlie Swift, or Fast Charlie as the nickname, with a certain kind of charm and style that reminds us on how he became a household name.

Set in New Orleans, Fast Charlie is a fixer (or “problem solver” as he likes to refer to himself), who drives the cocky young assassin Blade (Brennan Keel Cook) to take care of a character named Rollo, but he handles the victim in ways that destroy the evidence that he is the man they’re supposed to kill. Luckily, the dead man has a Rollo tattoo on his body, so Charlie gets paid. I say just Charlie, because Blade stupidly kills himself. Probably for the best, because he all violence and less brains.

Among the people Charlie is associated with, there’s his Alzheimer’s stricken boss Stan Mullen (Caan), who serves as a buddy to him, and Benny (Toby Huss), who runs his strip club. The rival boss is Beggar Mercado (Gbenga Akinnagbe) who has his men take out them out, including the old timer.

Being the last of the bunch, Charlie is warned to get out of New Orleans while he can, but he’s willing to play the game. In fact, when he and Beggar have a phone call, the hitman calls his bluff, especially for what Rollo had on him. He even has support from Rollo’s ex-wife-the taxidermist Marcie Kramer (Morena Baccarin), and even when things look bleak for her, she knows how to handle things.

And there’s an interesting connection between Charlie and Marcie, as they’re both learn about each other’s ambitions (and she’s smart enough not to take his loan offer), while trying to figure out what Rollo had to lose.

Do I understand everything going on in the story? No, because it becomes confusing at times, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy “Fast Charlie” for what it intends to be. As I’ve mentioned above my review, a pulp action movie. One that uses its humor and consistency with a sassy attitude, all stylishly directed by Phillip Noyce (“Clear and Present Danger,” “Salt,” “Rabbit Proof Fence”) and written for the screen by Richard Wenk, both of whom adapt Victor Gischler’s novel “Gun Monkeys.”

Even with the loss of James Caan, the movie doesn’t glamorize that on their poster. It gives as much to credit to Brosnan as we do. We’re seeing him having a good time, that kind when he actually plays a criminal we can root for. “The Out-Laws” may have been a hit on Netflix, but it was nothing. “Fast Charlie” may be small, but it is something. And plus, Caan doesn’t go out like John Candy did with “Wagons East,” so that’s a plus. R.I.P. Walter Hobbs and Sonny Corleone.

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