Directed By: Xavier Gens
Written By: Skip Woods
A Hitman (Timothy Olyphant) who has been genetically-engineered and trained to be an elite assassin since he was a young boy is hired by a group called ’The Agency’. This Hitman, known only as Agent 47 finds himself entwined in a political conspiracy that has not only Interpol, but the Russian military, and some of his own Agency in pursuit of him. The Hitman now has a hit on himself. If that weren’t complicated enough for the killer, he finds himself feeling emotions for a stunning and intriguing Russian slave girl (Olga Kurylenko), which changes his goals as he takes her with him.
Hitman is a movie full of intense explosions, gun fights, and suspenseful chase scenes with a pretty thin plot that adds random twists and turns to make for an interesting enough action film. With seemingly everyone hunting the hunter, it makes things very tense. Occasionally the story would lose it’s footing, such as the scene with all the bald guys throwing down. It was just a little too over the top, even though the sword fight was a lot of fun. The fights scenes were packed full of “R” rated violence and while not all entirely original still a lot of fun to watch.
Kudos to seeing Dougray Scott in this film. He plays the detective from Interpol after Agent 47, and gives the film a strong anchor of legitimacy. I hope this is a sign of more feature films to come from Scott, as he has an amazing charisma and is a very talented actor. His counterpart, played by Timothy Olyphant left me dry at times. I was not completely sold on him as a hard core assassin. He plays a great maniacal bad guy and so it makes sense why it was assumed he was the corret choice for this role. At times he just felt really awkward, almost as though he was trying too hard to remain the straight faced killing machine.
The Russian girl tagging around with him is pretty annoying, but they try and make her useful enough to have a legit reason for keeping around. It seemed her exotic beauty was definitely a reason to keep her onscreen, as she is pure and simple eye candy. The absurdity of their relationship is easy to ignore after the first few scenes and then becomes a source of character development. When the sexual tension between Agent 47 and Nika begins to build, it actually plays well. Her attraction from one bad man to another seems believable and the fact that 47 stays true to his personality and self preservation before any possible feelings he’s having makes it work.
Hitman is a pretty standard action movie. There are many considerably better and many considerably worse. This one may get lost over time but it was worth the two hours of my time to see it. It’s probably not for people who aren’t hard core action buffs, but to those who are, it is worth a rental. Two out of Four Stars.
