Hitman (2007)

Plot of Hitman

Based on the video game about a genetically engineered hero (Agent 47) is raised as a hitman by The Organization.  Something goes wrong and now Agent 47 is on the run from The Organization and must keep himself and his beautiful ally alive.

Review of Hitman

There is nothing wrong with making a movie from a video game. Most of the time the stories are longer and more intricate to keep people interested. Sometimes, when a property crosses to a new medium, things are lost or the creators try throwing too many in-jokes for fans of the game. Hitman doesn't do that. It makes for an above average action flick that balances story with intense fighting while not catering to the fans or dumbing it down for a new audience.

Hitman doesn't waste any time creating a backstory for our hero Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant). Genetically engineered and raised by The Orginization as an assassin for hire, Agent 47 finds that he is setup and is now on the run from The Organization, a determined INTERPOL agent (Dougray Scott), a crooked Russian Politician (Ulrich Thomsen) and his pocketed policeman Yuri (Robert Knepper). All while trying to keep Nika (Olga Kurylenko) alive as she is the only other one who knows what is going on.

There are only three real players in Hitman. Olyphant is a good actor who gives Agent 47 just enough personality for you to not think of him as a mindless killing machine. He shows his adeptness with weapons and then turns around and easily shows how little experience he has with women. Namely, Olga Kurylenko, who really doesn't have much to do except show of her body and cry a bit. Dougray Scott as Mike was the best performance only because I think Olyphant had to hold a lot of emotion back. I can't really back it up with examples because most of these characters are your basic cookie cutter characters, but are fleshed out enough for my taste.

The action sequences are more believable than the Matrix and not shot using todays favorite, the shakey cam. You can actually see what's going on on the screen, imagine that! What is lacking is a bit of backstory for Agent 47, but I understand that there isn't a lot of story given to him in the game either, so I'll let that one slide. Also missing are the blatant nods to the fans of the game... well mostly. There was one scene where 47 crashes into a hotel room where two kids are playing... yep, you guessed it – Hitman. But, that was the only cheesy game reference I noticed.

Hitman is definitely worth a rental on DVD. None of the action is grandiose enough to really warrant seeing on the big screen and parents can't even dump the kids in the theater while Christmas shopping as the film is rated R for violence and a little more nudity than I expected, even if only from Olga Kurylenko. All in all a solid effort by writer Skip Woods and director Xavier Gens. I really wanted to make a joke about how decent of a movie it is for being written by a “Skip” and directed by an “Xavier”, but the film is better than that low of a blow.

7 out of 10

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Mitch E
mitchemerson@hotmail.com

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This review was written by Mitch E. Copyright 2007, All Rights Reserved.