It’s exactly what you expect.
What They Say:
An assassin teams up with a woman to help her find her father and uncover the mysteries of her ancestry.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Having not seen the first film or played any of the game material related to it, Hitman: Agent 47 isn’t exactly a film that would ordinarily call out to me. But when that first trailer hit and I saw it theatrically first, well, it made an impression. One that I could figure out instantly. It’s all about the style over substance. Yes, I expected there to be a semblance of a plot in order to connect the action sequences but I also knew that it was inconsequential and simplistic. Enough so that you could figure it out from the trailers – more so with the second one that actually features the female lead in the film – and that works just fine. I wanted nothing more than something stylish that takes the core of the idea of the games with a highly skilled and modified killer that is cold, ruthless and seemingly able to see every variation to what will go down. I wanted the style without the substance.
And Hitman: Agent 47 largely delivers it. if anything the film falls apart more when it takes the time to slow down and connect the characters a bit. Hell, in a movie like this the sequence where Hannah Ware’s character of Katia either spends a few minutes in the shower or goes for a swim in a rooftop pool ends up slowing things down because it doesn’t feel right for it. We’re not here for the sexual fetishism and male gaze of this character. We’re here to see 47, played by Rupert Friend in a role that was originally going to Paul Walker before his untimely death. Friend hits the right not here with what he does in coming across with just enough emotion to be accessible but enough cool smoothness to play the high end assassin that does it all in style. All while looking pretty damn sharp in a suit and red tie.
it’s pure male wish fulfillment fantasy. To be the badass motherfucker that doesn’t let anything get in his way and deals with it coldly and efficiently because they’re just obstacles. Not people or cars or anything else. Just obstacles. 47’s pursuit of Katia is one that’s born of a connection the two have as she’s searching for a mystery man from her childhood that she hasn’t quite figured out is actually her father. it should be obvious but she also suffered a lot of trauma as a child and has been modified herself in a different way from other Agents in the program that her father was the lead scientist on. With her trying to find him, there’s a company called the Syndicate that wants to find him too because only he can restart the program. And they want their Army of Agents to be able to use and control the world with. Big Bad Corporation, check. Al the basic pieces are here with a small cast, an enigmatic and uninteresting man behind the curtain running the Syndicate and a similarly tough agent of their own to use in John Smith, played by Zachary Quinto.
While the plot is paper thin to be sure and the characters simplistic I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the film. Mostly because it does stick to doing what it does best in the form of the action. Nothing here is terribly original nor is the choreography something fantastical that stands out. But there’s a confidence and competence to the style that allows it to carry it in a strong way, particularly thanks to Friend. And while some of Ware’s moments once she’s “unlocked” a bit look a little forced and almost a little silly, she does mostly carry it off as the junior to his senior in this endeavour. The film was written by Skip Woods and I’ll easily say his films are not my favorite works, from X-Men Origins: Wolverine to The a-Team and most definitely not A Good Day to Die Hard. But this one has me curious to check out the original Hitman to see how it holds up in comparison.
One area that really got to me with the film though is Óttar Guðnason cinematography. There’s naturally a lot of aerial establishing shots but the choices are well made and, coming from an American perspective, really engaging. It’s James Bond light in a sense as it spends its time in Berlin and then Singapore but each locale offers up some really striking areas – both in the exterior architecture as well as the interior. There’s this sense that comes from the Singapore segment of the film that really shows the way that architecture in the US is bland and pathetic. And having grown up with the block material of the Boston area, well, I crave for there to be a lot more creativity and experimentation with design in public spaces and corporate spaces. What the film showcases here with its actual on location pieces are tantalizing areas that show you can definitely do a lot more. Contrasting that with Berlin and the very dense nature of it – but also the lack of skyscrapers that’s very noticeable – is really interesting. The choices made whether from above or below and within buildings, garages and especially the airport really add a lot to the film that swept me up into the moments a lot more than I was expecting. It’s not the slick glamour of a bond film but it’s working along those lines with its own path.
In Summary:
While I’m giving the movie a C+ and I can see plenty of people giving it worse, there’s a part of me that wants to do better by it. There are easy flaws in the film and it’s weak on story as it’s mostly going for a quick adventure. The cast by and large doesn’t have enough meat to chew on here to make their characters come alive outside of the title character and that’s only because he’s distilled down to his essence and Rupert Friend carries it off perfectly. The film hits all the right style buttons for me and it plays the outlandish elements just right without blinking an eye – though make a few smart remarks as it goes on to point out the silliness of it. The end result is a splashy film that clocks in at ninety minutes but also feels like it’s longer. It’s not a film that feels like it flies by but that’s not a bad thing. The action sequences draw you in, they’re well paced and the end result is a fun movie that takes you out of the world for awhile to simply enjoy a lot of stylish violence.
Grade: C+
