Hitman (2007) starring Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott, Olga Kurylenko, Robert Knepper, Ulrich Thomsen, Henry Ian Cusick directed by Xavier Gens Movie Review

Hitman (2007)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Timothy Olyphant in Hitman (2007)

Hitman Scores a Hit

Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant) was an orphan but taken in to an agency where he was trained from a young age to be a self reliant killing machine and now as an adult he is good at what he does. Sent to Russia to assassinate Russian President Belicoff (Ulrich Thomsen) Agent 47 is convinced he has done the job except minutes later it appears Belicoff is still alive. Not only that it seems he has been double crossed by someone within the agency and forced to go on the run whilst protecting a woman called Nika (Olga Kurylenko). The trouble is not so much for Agent 47 staying on the run but dealing with Nika as none of his training taught him how to interact with humans especially for women for any length of time.

It has been a long time since I really played video games and as such have never played the game on which "Hitman" is based. But to be honest you don't need to have played the game because "Hitman" is a simple formula driven movie as we have an expert killer betrayed by the agency which he works for not sure who he can trust and saddled with a woman he doesn't know how to interact with because he has never been taught. As such it shares some similarities to "The Bourne Identity" but because it is based on a computer game the action has more of a superhuman quality where people can jump from a tall building and into a canal below and walk away unscathed.

Olga Kurylenko in Hitman (2007)

Now for the most "Hitman" is just a straight forward action movie with style, pace and big effects but it does have the interesting side of Agent 47 never being trained how to interact with humans especially women. This is not the movie's USP as it will only be of interest for those who want to look past the action but it does make it more interesting for those who need more than just a variation of a familiar theme.

Aside from that what "Hitman" has is Timothy Olyphant who with the shaved head brings an unflappable almost robot like quality to Agent 47, even down to the way he walks and stands up after jumping through a window has an automated feel about it. It makes him an entertaining and interesting character who you find yourself quickly championing despite being so cold and ruthless.

What this all boils down to is that considering "Hitman" is based on a video game it is not bad. But it is not bad because it sticks to a recognizable story and so doesn't alienate anyone who has never played the game.


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