Hitman

First let me preface this review by saying that I have NOT played any of the Hitman games, so this is a review of the movie as a movie and not a review on how close it ties in to the video game. I liked Hitman… the reason being is because first of all I am an action hound and it more than delivered in that respect. Other than that this movie skims the line of box office versus dvd rental due to it’s lack of originality and deliverance.

Hitman the movie, loosely based on the video game is a tale about an assassin, raised in a sect of the church with similar clones, and trained to be the consumate killer. (Here’s where it starts sounding familiar so brace yourself) After personally carrying out numerous hits, our protagonist Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant) finds himself the victim of a double cross. Fighting to gain “peace” from his now enemy brothers, 47 has to play detective as well as guardian to a cute ex-prostitute by the name of Nika (Olga Kurylenko) . The meeting with Nika starts off as an intense interrogation that evolves into a bit more, with an odd sexual tension that showcases the professionalism and focus of 47. Were this a lesser man like James Bond or Jason Bourne, little Nika would have downgraded to Agent girl status after many nights of secret agent sex but 47 is not a simple man. This part of the film was the unique part for me because any of us can write an agent flick; you know the orphan with no memory who learns all the martial arts and gunplay to become a weapon for the government. Is trained to kill, gets double-crossed, turns on his/her trainers/agency, becomes rogue, gets an unlikely sidekick of the opposite sex, he/she falls in love with our dark hero, gets sexed up and then dumped or killed at the end of the movie. Hitman went against the grain in this respect and I really loved the relationship 47 and Nika has throughout the entire movie, it shows the ultimate in strength for a guy to keep as cold as 47 and still maintain professionalism even when having a sexy, nude, gyrating hottie like Nika trying desperately to get some action. James Bond would have had Nika probably every other scene in this movie and he is the king of movie agents.

The selling part to Hitman as it should be, is the action. Dual guns blazing, martial arts, katana blades, sniping, bone-breaking, you name it. The director saves us the boring “how I became a hitman” portion of the movie by giving us flashbacks within the intro credits. This was done very well and through imagery, answered many questions about 47 without wasting thirty minutes of film. I cannot really say there were any dull parts to this movie, it started out a bit slow with the double-cross but grows on you when Nika comes into the picture. Of course you have the keystone cops who are chasing 47 as in any good agent movie, but they were not very memorable in my opinion and if left out of this film would not change anything (yes they were that irrelevant). The musical score was typical, and got average scores from me, it was a blend of the church and action movie type sound. It was relevant but certainly not memorable. Acting on a whole was a bit fractured, our two main actors in Timothy Olyphant and Olga Kurylenko were good but a few of the antagonists were subpar in their believability. I am hoping for a sequel because I believe with a budget and some better locations, this could join the ranks of decent action movies.

I liked Hitman enough to warrant purchasing it on DVD when it is released. I must re-iterate that this is due to my love of action and the main character, I really like how he is portrayed. Agent 47 was a bit like the Transporter with a Bourne Identity type of attitude. Now that’s my type of flick!