Hitman

I found this solid and competent. The curious thing is that what it did well, it did not because of what it is, but because it did not stick closely to the world of the video game. This is also why the fan base rejected it.

Apparently, the agent in the game is one of the 47th generation of clones, where the movie has him as the best of a collection of specially trained orphans. Instead of a name, he simply has the number 47.

I also liked the mashup, conventional as it is: Russian mafia, secret supercapable murder enterprise, worldwide conspiracy of priests. Its the spice of the priests that matters, after the Dan Brown conspiracy to make it seem ridiculous and taking the style out of it. It is easier somehow to believe a cabal lead by a Moscow Patriarch instead of the inept Rome.

The girl does what the girl is supposed to do: claim that she is sexually exploited, and then proceed to be exploited by us in much the same way. The assassin does what he is supposed to and does it well: show us unexpected ways that he can manipulate the world, anticipating coincidences and odd subplots. Our designated watcher, the typical American detective, also does his job: watching at a distance.

Why this film deserves a comment and others I see do not, is the way it ends. The form here is reverse noir. In noir, we have a hero, an everyman, who is manipulated by the world of the viewer. He is subject to cosmic coincidences that come not from any natural unfolding, but from our need to have a structured narrative. The watcher unconsciously manipulates the character.

In reverse noir, the character somehow can control the world, so that minor coincidences are anticipated, even controlled by a plan he has that we do not know. We, the viewer, are placed in the thing to be befuddled as we end up as the manipulated soul. I am not sure when this reversed form first appeared; I am hoping a reader can advise. But the form is common enough now to have some endemic problems, the most challenging of which is how to end the film.

This film does that admirably, and it can be said that all the automatic stuff in the middle of the film is arranged to set up this satisfactory ending. The film starts with the beginning of that ending, with the remainder an implicit flashback (meaning only that the story is recalled and not repeated aloud). The ending is set up emotionally as our hit man is incapable of controlling the world so far as a mate, a family. We see him tortured about this. Yes, it is a juvenile portrayal of such an emptiness, but we get it.

So the only way he can get the pleasure of a family is the same way we get the pleasure of killing scads of bad guys: by watching. So while for 90 minutes our detective has been our surrogate watcher, giving us expected thrills and surprises, we reverse once again at the end: now the hit man is the watcher of love and family. We know he will never approach 'the girl' or the detective again, but that he will watch, which we see him doing through the only instrument available, a rifle sight.

This is good writing my friends, where the screenwriter understands the form well enough to manipulate it and us. He was able to give the fanboys something; he was able to give the studio bosses their key elements (boobs, explosions, creation myth, societal anchoring); and yet he was able to give himself a cleverly well ended story. Of how many films can you say that? I see he is working on the next Bruce Willis 'Die Hard.' Bet it is well written too.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

.. despite the fact that the longest period i have spent playing hit-man the game was 10 minutes , i really did enjoy this movie

I've seen some comments call the movie horrible and disappointing , as i can see the movie was very good , but being short was the only bad thing about it .. IMHO there should have been more to watch maybe another target for him to kill .. still i highly recommend the movie even if you aren't a big fan of the game.

Timothy Olyphant was great in the way he performed agent 47 .. the way he walks , the way he moves or look , he literally rocked .

After all , i wish that the 20th century would think of producing another hit-man as good as this one or maybe better .

Hitman (2007) tells the story of Agent 47, a hitman with a barcode on the back of his neck. Watching the film today, it feels old but not bad. It has an engaging atmosphere, decent-to-good action scenes, and occasional slow pacing that gives the audience time to breathe instead of keeping them in constant high tension - these are the things the film does well. However, what it doesn't do well keeps it from becoming a classic. The script is mediocre - not terrible, but far from great. Although the ending is unpredictable, there are moments when the story doesn't make you curious about what comes next. The action scenes are generally good, but sometimes the gunfights look like the shooters don't know how to use guns, which rarely but noticeably breaks the immersion. Overall, it's a good movie, but one that's best watched just once.

Viewers unfamiliar with the video game won't be disappointed - this is a well rounded action movie in its own right. Those who have played the video games from which the film characters are derived should enjoy the way Olyphant brings the anti-hero to life on the big screen.

In places the movie skirts on the borders of the usual action movie clichés: our ice-cold protagonist appears to thaw due to good-hearted "victim of society" hooker, for example. However, this is reasonably well handled in this movie and thankfully we don't get a serving of love interest cheese.

Dougray Scott's detective in pursuit character is another overused "good cop against the establishment" device, although again this is handled in a way that doesn't unduly distract. The fact that Dougray repeatedly pulls out a cigarette that he never once lights does become slightly distracting. If Dougray is an ardent non-smoker, why bother with the cigarette prop at all? Hard cops don't have to be smokers.

As with all movies of this genre, realism gives way to visual impact. If it bothers you that someone can emerge victorious but unscathed from a 10-against-1 firefight, this may not be the movie for you. For the rest of us, put your brains into neutral and enjoy the show!

Normally movies based off of video games are really bad; in terms of being filmed, written and acted poorly. But Hitman hit the mark right on. It's not the greatest film in the world, but it's very entertaining. I'm a big fan of assassin films and this one caught my attention. I loved the actor they picked to play agent 47, he did a great job with his role. The filming was great and the lines weren't cheesy in anyway. The storyline was easy to follow and decently entertaining. I just wish they would have made the film longer!