Reviews by Matt

The history of videogame movie adaptations is long and full of complete and utter disasters. Every now and then a “Tomb Raider” will emerge and the studios will think that it is a good idea to make more videogame-based movies. Most end up as a waste of time and fail. “Hitman” is one of them.

Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant) is a Hitman for “The Agency” who one day finds himself the target. He is determined to find out why and to want ends he is involved it a larger conspiracy.

That is really all it is and to see the plot as anything more, is to give this movie more credit than it deserves.

Having never played the game on which the movie is based, I do not know how true to the game it stayed.

What I do know is that Olyphant either delivers the worst performance ever, or the most brilliant in movie history. He is so unemotional, so cold and so dull. He was good in “The Girl Next Door” and “Live Free or Die Hard” and showed some emotion, but here the choice may be to keep Agent 47 the cold killer he is supposed to be, but it is not good for a movie.

The movie is all about the hits and the uncovering of the conspiracy. Hit by hit 47 starts to put together what is really going on. He begins to kill his way to the answer. He kills who he has to in order to get to the one person pulling the strings. During all of this he has to avoid being caught by Interpol, who have been alerted to his part in multiple murders.

The movie is not overly violent despite the source material. The kills made by Agent 47 are no more violent or brutal than any other movie where people are killed. The movie is truly a series of kills with a story between. Even then the story is weak at best and relies on the hits way to much. It is good for pure escapism purposes. You are not required to think at all and it is easy just to sit back and enjoy the ride.

5 out of 10
Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity.
100 min