Hitman
Directed by: Xavier Gens
Starring: Timothy Olyphaunt, Olga Kurylenko, Dougray Scott, Ulrich Thomsen
Rated: R for strong, bloody violence, language and some sexuality and nudity
Parental Notes: This is a fairly standard action movie — high on body count, low on graphic gore. There’s a fair amount of sexual tension in places and several shots of the female lead wearing a g-string and nothing else, but no graphic sex.
Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphaunt, “Live Free or Die Hard”) is a deadly assassin with a flawless record: over 100 kills in countries all over the world. “Hitman” is the kind of movie where that sort of career is possible for a man who almost never wears a disguise and has a barcode tattooed on the back of his shaven head. But it’s okay — this isn’t a movie about plausible events, it’s a joyride through a ridiculous plot as we follow our antihero through schemes and assassinations and international espionage. “Hitman” is the latest movie-based-on-a-video-game-franchise to hit theaters and it is a solid entry in that genre. With the exception of one moment, it is fairly unorigional — but it is also not gratuitously terrible.
It all starts with a mission: Agent 47 is hired to take out the popular, moderate Russian President Bellicoff (Ulrich Thomsen, “Kingdom of Heaven”). He does so, with charicteristic precision, only to see the man giving a speech live the next day. 47 is then ordered to take out a witness to the shooting, the lovely Nika (Olga Kurylenko, “The Serpent”). She’s never seen him before, which tips 47 off that all is not right in the underworld. He abducts her instead of killing her, and soon the pair are on the run from Agency assassins, the Russian secret service, and Interpol.
The rest of the film is largely about how clever 47 is and how many rounds of gunfire director Xavier Gens (“Fronteirs”) can fit into any given scene. There are some well-crafted fight scenes (including one four-way, all-Agency throwdown involving eight short swords), lots of neat gadgets, and a smattering of dark humor. There are a few precision hits and one massive firefight in which a room full of men with machine guns serve largely as target practice for the hitman.
There’s also 47’s response to Nika’s attempts to seduce him, the one bit of the film that caught me by surprise and genuinely made me grin. Good stuff. Kurylenko does her best with a script that has her alternately a femme fetale and a helpless waif. Olyphaunt turns in a performance that’s better than is necessary, making 47 interesting enough that I wished we’d gotten a closer look at his character. But “Hitman” isn’t a movie about character, it’s a movie about gunfights and blowing things up.
There isn’t much else to say about this kind of movie. “Hitman” is fun while you’re watching it if you’re looking for an action movie of this sort, but the script and acting are not particularly gifted and it’s a lot like watching some fairly talented dancers go through a familiar routine without much passion.