RATING: 2/5 Cast: Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott, Olga Kurylenko, Robert Knepper, Ulrich Thomsen
Director: Xavier Gens
Genre: Action
MPAA: Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity. Complete Your Favorite Albums Now. $7.99 or Less. Download on iTunes now.
Parental Guide:
Nudity: R equivalent; 2 scenes of female nudity
Profanity: R equivalent; approx. 20 “F” word. PG equivalent; approx. 25 profanities
Sex: R equivalent; seduction
Violence: R equivalent; bloodshed, murder, dismemberment
Other: None
Being an assassin must be a lonely life. You must remain a ghost, without residence, without loved ones. You must live as though you were never born, without fingerprints, identity, emotion. Romantic relationships are out of the question.
A hitman's motivation: economic gain, those millions resting in a bank account (an account rarely touched for extravagant spending is out of the question—you purchase to prolong your employment, getaways, weapons). Another likely motivation is power and control.
For Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant), an assassin with no name, his destiny was involuntarily forced at a young age, where he like many orphans were manipulated, brain-washed into killing machines. Agent 47 had no choice...killing is a way of life.
Early on we are made aware Agent 47 is socially undeveloped, socially retarded, easily terrified by those come thither looks from strange women. Our confident killing machine isn't so confident when in the presence of a woman, especially an arousing Russian prostitute named Nikka Boronina (Olga Kurylenko). Here is one of the many examples where Hitman fails to fully explore a potential opportunity.
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One of my guilty pleasures is occasionally grasping my wireless Xbox 360 remote and playing overly violent games like “Hitman” (a personal favorite). In the video game the character Agent 47 is a ghost, a myth to society for he executes his target(s) and escapes without apprehension (his executions are usually staged as suicide attempts). To become a ghost, a silent assassin, you must use stealth and cunning to execute targets rather than firepower. With firepower comes the likelihood of witnesses. In the 2007 film outing Hitman our Agent 47 conceals such skills and instead explosive firepower is the chosen method for assassination. 47 comes off reckless and inhuman (in reality his recklessness would likely deliver him to the wrong side of his enemies weapon).
Excluding this major flaw, loud noise over stealth and cunning, my biggest complaint was the casting of Agent 47. Back when I had wished for an adaptation to the big screen I had envisioned Jason Statham (The Transporter) in the lead role. When learning the studios were considering Hitman and Vin Diesel (Pitch Black) as 47 my spirits rose; despite my pick for Stratham Vin Diesel could provide an interesting take. But then disappoint kicks-in when Diesel pulls out and an unknown actor named Timothy Olyphant shaves his head to resemble the hired killer. And as expected Olyphant is in robotic form, never engaging audiences, failing to take advantage of his character's mysterious nature and restrained emotions.
Hitman unfortunately executes more like Aeon Flux (Charlize Theron) then The Bourne Identity (Matt Damon). So even with low expectations, Hitman still disappoints.
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