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Hitman (2007)
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Movie Review by Jarrod
November 22nd, 2007
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When I first heard about 'Hitman', I instantly thought the title role should go to Jason Statham, a really great action star, who is never one to let much emotion show in his movies, whether The Transporter, or as a dirty cop in Cellular, or in the frenzied Crank. He is practically bald anyway, so not much would have to be done in that regard, and he certainly possesses the physical attributes needed to play the part convincingly, he is good with a gun, and also an effective martial artist, though the former is much more important in this movie than the latter, though I imagine Agent 47 is as deadly with his bare hands as he is an Uzi.
Yet, Statham (and probably many others) were passed over for Timothy Olyphant, a surprising choice, because he is not someone I associate with films like this, even though he was the villain in Live Free and Die Hard. From Scream 2 to The Girl Next Door, Olyphant has been rather diverse, though there is not a whole lot he has done that would qualify him as someone of extraordinary acting talent, but he is adequate, I suppose, certainly good enough to portray a humorless, emotionless assassin, which is what you get with Agent 47. 'Hitman' is based on a video game series, predominantly on PS2, and I have played every installment, and Agent 47 is indeed a total badass. The games never really explained much of Agent 47's backstory, but did seem to show that he was simply a clone, much like a robot, trained only for murder, a product of science. Here, we learn a bit more about him, but again not terribly much. He was an orphan (a human), raised by a shadowy organization called The Agency, which has turned him into a ruthlessly efficient killing machine. He has a barcode on the back of his head, which certainly makes him stand out, he should really wear a hat to cover it up, but he doesn't. Is it used for tracking him?
I am not sure, it could be, because The Agency always knows where he is, and he, like Jason Bourne, travels across at least three continents in a relatively short time frame, to carry out his duties. Now, the movie obviously goes beyond the plot of the games, or at the very least tackles it from a different perspective, but I suppose if Agent 47 is a clone, there had to be an original human prototype, and that is maybe what we are seeing here, the original 47. 47's primary task is to eliminate the president of Russia, Belicoff (Ulrich Thomsen), mostly for political reasons, which is why nearly any head of state is overthrown, because he or she goes against the wishes of powerful opponents within and without his or her respective nations. Ever wonder why the United States funded coups against Mossadegh in Iran and Allende in Chile? Both men had different agendas then we did, so they had to go. Belicoff apparently survives, however, which is weird since 47 has never failed a mission. The Agency has deceived and betrayed him, and he is also being chased by Interpol official Mike Whittier (Dougray Scott) and the Russian secret police (it's still the KGB, isn't it?). Trying to catch and subdue someone like 47 is difficult, almost impossible, because he is the best, and if he is the best, then that means no one pursuing him stands much of a chance of outsmarting or outfighting him. Why bother? The Agency has made sure to make 47 the best at what he does, and then decides to turn against him, earning his enmity, which seems incredibly foolish to me, but then Jason Bourne's employers never learned that lesson either.
Olyphant is sufficient, but then is not required to do much. Most interesting is his relationship with Nika (Olga Kurylenko), a young Russian woman held in sexual slavery by Belicoff's slimy brother. She makes advances that he rejects, as intimacy (or any kind of human interaction or emotion) is unfamiliar to him, but she sees him as her savior, of sorts, and he allows her to tag along. I was reminded of Natalie Portman and Jean Reno in The Professional, but that relationship had more depth, and was more like father-daughter, not sexual, and this relationship could be, though Nika is not really taught the tools of the trade by 47 at any point. He protects her, I guess, and both have a number of things in common, mostly how they have been abused and exploited by others, and it is this similarity that even 47 seems to respond to. The action is fast and intense, but often looks fake, with a high body count, as if they are trying to recreate scenarios from the game, where you basically stand back as enemies pour through doorways or narrow hallways, and you pick them off with flawlessly accurate weapons.
But nonetheless, 47 is a fascinating character, and the movie itself is entertaining, and also quite dark and brooding, so it does capture the tone and atmosphere of the games well enough to make fans of the franchise happy, but I don't know if it will have as much appeal to general audiences.
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