It’s just criminal what they’ve done to this cliche

Omid Shabkhiz’s “Banished” is a trite, incoherent tale about a professional assassin, Charlie Vespa (Nariman Norouz), who lives in a gilded nouveau riche mansion, presumably in the vicinity of Beverly Hills.

His love for his beautiful, adoring young wife (Liron Gerti) sparks his conscience when she tells him she is pregnant. He decides to walk away from the criminal life, which as viewers of countless similar but much better movies know, is easier said than done. Not only is his boss and mentor, crime kingpin Ohar Odette (Amir Al Barani), unhappy about this development, he hires another assassin, Theodore Strietzman (Peter Banifaz), a crazed hooligan, to eliminate Charlie and possibly his family as well.

The body count mounts as any sense of continuity to the film evaporates. There’s a world-weary twist at the finish, but it hardly can be expected to offset the bloody, tedious mishmash that has preceded it.

“Banished” itself is likely to be banished from screens after its one-week engagement at the Town Center 5.

“Banished.” Unrated. Strong violence, language. Running time: 1 hour, 12 minutes. Exclusively at the Town Center 5, 17200 Ventura Blvd., Encino, (818) 981-9811.