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Hitman (2007)

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277 comments in total

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329 out of 508 people found the following comment useful :-
Guns, Blood, Boobies = Fun Movie-Going Experience, 21 November 2007

Author: Harbinger70 from United States

Let's keep this short and sweet. If you enjoy the video games, you will more than likely enjoy the movie. It's very easy to follow, the acting can be downright terrible at times (but very solid from Olyphant who was a GREAT choice to play Agent 47), the special FX are loud and neat to look at, there's lots of explosive action-packed gun fights, and the hot chick gets naked. The only thing I have against the film was that it was a little dull and awkward in the beginning, but it picked up about 15 minutes in and kept it rollin' until the ending. Oh, and the hot chick gets naked.

You want to go to the movies and have a discussion afterwards? Go watch "Lions for Lambs." You want to go have a fun time at the movies with your friends? Check out "Hitman." Word on the street is there's lots of blood and explosions (and a hot naked chick).

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226 out of 341 people found the following comment useful :-
Hit-man Movie Review, 21 November 2007

Author: joel massie (MoviePulse_dot_net) from www.MoviePulse.net

As contradictory as it may sound, finding a good mindless action movie is actually a rather challenging task. Luckily we live in a world where adapting stories and characters from mindless action video games is commonplace, and the creators of the Hit-man movie have gone to great lengths to showcase plenty of the blood, bullets, and babes requisite of a proper translation of the popular assassin adventure.

Raised to be an elite assassin, Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant) carries out jobs for a mysterious organization and for a price. When his employer sets him up in a political assassination attempt, the hit-man must uncover the leaders behind the conspiracy while simultaneously protecting a sassy prostitute and being hunted by both the Russian Secret Police and two determined Interpol agents.

Wasting little time with a tedious back story, (and thankfully straying from contrary religious tones as suggested by several trailers), Hit-man jumps right into the plot, full of political conspiracies, secret agency machinations, police investigations, and other reasons to have a gunfight in a crowded location. While those unfamiliar with the source material may question Agent 47's origins, it's actually rather commendable (and practical) to forego such setup and just plunge directly into current events with only the accepted knowledge that our antihero is the most skilled of killers. That being said, the story does convolute itself with excessive setting changes and rehashes of political thrillers mixed with revenge mysteries, but the plot never interferes with that which is most important – the action.

Several unique scenes of bloodshed find their way into Hit-man, and as expected the body count reaches an impressive sum. While not overloaded with meaningless violence, a few sequences stand out as attaining just the right amount of machismo cool, most notably the decimation of a drug lord's domicile and a four-way elite assassin duel apparently inserted to mimic the combat abilities present in the game. At a few points throughout the actioner it becomes evident that everyone involved is trying a little too hard to evoke awe, but some fast hand-held shots and a few guns pointing at the screen later, all is forgiven.

Though Timothy Olyphant is likely not the first actor to enter one's mind on hearing of a Hit-man movie, he accomplishes the surprising feat of impressing upon the audience that he is indeed Agent 47. Plus the sharp black suits with red ties don't hurt. Relative newcomer Olga Kurylenko, who exhibits an appearance resembling a cross between Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sophie Marceau, was also a wise choice, especially to tease the viewer with another staple prominent in the Hit-man games.

Hit-man successfully retains the necessary seriousness inherent in the subject matter and while it rarely covers new ground in the action-adventure genre, it also never slips into silly mockery (and it still provides plenty of references to its video game roots). Sacrificing story for style and bloodshed is much appreciated here, and entertainment of this nature is a rare treat over those that try too hard to be that which they are not. Hit-man doesn't indulge itself in such a charade and the result is a fun and sexy romp through the world of professional carnage.

- The Massie Twins

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212 out of 356 people found the following comment useful :-
Better than expected, 21 November 2007

Author: AMH57 from United States

This by far is the best video game adaptation movie I have ever seen. It stayed mostly true to the games but instead the agents were orphans instead of clones. There were many great action scenes and nods to the games, such as Agent 47 stealing various outfits, his weapons and his odd ways of killing his targets. the movie reminded me of an all new game in itself.

Not to mention Nika (Olga Kurylenko) was amazingly HOT in this movie and has various topless scenes which made me happy :) and she wasn't a bad actress either. I think Timothy Olyphant was THE perfect Agent 47 and captured the character perfectly I would definitely see this movie multiple times!!!!! I highly recommend this movie to fans of the video games or if you love action movies altogether!!!!!

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150 out of 256 people found the following comment useful :-
A great movie; how a video game adaptation should be done, 22 November 2007

Author: Dr_Yes from United States

Going into the adaptation of the Hit-man video game series, I was very doubtful of the quality of the movie I was going to see. Video game adaptations don't have a very good history, and are almost always destined to fail except in some rare cases like the Resident Evil series. Hit-man is one of those rare cases. The film kept me entertained from beginning to end and left me wanting more. While it certainly isn't perfect, it isn't a bad idea to see this movie to see how a video game adaptation should be done.

The film has a great mixture of plot and action. The plot is intriguing and interesting, and the action is awesome and has some very nice fight scenes, some of the best I've seen in awhile. The film does take itself pretty seriously, which at some times can be good and at others can be bad. There's the occasional joke cracked here and there, like the two gamers who are playing Hit-man: Blood Money when Agent 47 crashes into the room (which is also a great nod to the game), and Nika adding a bit of humor in here and there, but it mostly remains serious. Like the games, it takes itself pretty seriously in some parts and just gets ridiculous in others. This can amount to both good and bad things. At some parts it is just too serious for what is going on, refusing to have a little fun with it. And in others, it just goes a little over the top, but it doesn't really matter, as that just adds on to the fun. For the most part, the mixture of fun and serious scenes works out rather well.

The actors do a very nice job in portraying their characters. Timothy Olyphant is surprisingly very good in the role of Hit-man. I didn't think he would amount to much as he just isn't the type of actor I would expect to portray Agent 47. But he portrayed the character with a good amount of skill, as if he had already done it before. There is one problem with him. If you have seen his other movies (which consist of movies such as Live Free or Die Hard and Scream 2), you might have noticed that he shows a lot of emotion in his acting. Not necessarily intentionally, but his face just shows a lot of expressions. Agent 47 isn't really supposed to show much emotion. He does an adequate job in holding it back, but sometimes it just really shows. Now, this isn't really a problem to the ordinary moviegoer, but this might irritate a fan of the game. Olga Kurylenko, who plays Nika, does a nice job, especially for one of her very first projects and her being a foreigner having to speak English, which is probably her second language. It will be interesting to see her future in the business. Dougray Scott's performance is pretty good, and he portrays a pretty interesting character. Everyone else does an adequate job in playing his or her characters.

Overall, Hit-man, while flawed in some parts is the right way to do a video game adaptation, and should please fans of the series as well as people who have never heard of it.

8/10

(Sorry about the wrong spelling of H i t m a n, IMDb automatically changes it to Hit-man)

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95 out of 153 people found the following comment useful :-
Hit-man the Movie, 24 November 2007

Author: david collins from United States

First, I've heard mostly mixed comments about this movie. But, I'm glad that for the first time in a long time, an "action" movie has had an in-depth plot. Not to mention, they captured the personality of 47 near perfectly. When I went to see this, I didn't think I would like it because Timothy Olyphant played such a convincing geek in Die Hard 4, but he did an incredible job of changing roles. The basis behind the movie is that the hit-man is sent to assassinate someone, but it goes bad, which results in him picking up Olga Kurylenko. Now, they tried to add some jokes in, and he does do some things that are completely out of character (such as smiling), but for the most part, he plays the part very well. Now, the hit-man games aren't known for the best plot of all time, but, since the movie focused more on plot then on actual action, it feels a bit refreshing since the games are basically "Target, Money, Kill". I'd like to see the next Hit-man game focus more on the plot.

Anyway, it's got a great story, 47 is for the most part, played as he should be, and there is enough action to keep you from getting bored.

Ranking wise, it's definitely no "Die Hard 3" or "Big Fish", but it is probably one of the best video-game to movie transitions thats been done in a long time.

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86 out of 136 people found the following comment useful :-
Better than expected!, 22 November 2007

Author: sir-montag from United States

Being a big fan of the Hit-man games, I was fairly worried when I heard that they were going to make a movie based on it because movies based on video games don't tend to be very good movies...

But after seeing it last night, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. It was actually quite a good movie. It may not win an Oscar or anything, but it's amazing to see Agent 47 up on the big screen. Timothy Olyphant does a surprisingly good job of portraying him too.

The love interest is a bit awkward to anyone who knows Agent 47's nearly complete lack of emotion in that department, but despite what the trailer may lead you to expect, it really doesn't go very far outside of what you've come to know in the games (and what happens when she tries to seduce him is absolutely hilarious and very much in the Agent 47 tradition).

It is indeed a violent movie, and 47 is as cold-blooded as you'd expect him to be. Seeing it tends to make me wish other movie heroes had the same level of guts, just to shoot the bad guy in the face instead of letting him live or anything silly like that. The fight scenes with the other assassins from the Agency are also very well done and quite a treat to see.

All in all, it's quite a good movie. Definitely worth paying to see in the theaters. Hopefully there'll be another one!

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53 out of 76 people found the following comment useful :-
Unsatisfying action and a largely incoherent story makes this a movie not worth watching, 27 November 2007

Author: Gravesofthetrust from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A disturbing trend that seems to have no end in sight is the constant making of movies based upon video games. The fact of the matter is that these movies largely end up being horrendous misinterpretations of the source material. As evidenced by such cinematic horror shows like the Resident Evil movies, Street Fighter, Super Mario Brothers, Tomb Raider, and every movie by Uwe Boll. Of course there is the occasional movie that proves the maxim wrong, I for one enjoyed the Final Fantasy movie: The Spirits Within. Granted it had next to nothing to do with the game series apart from the name, but I was able to enjoy it. There was also the Silent Hill movie, that was great due to the fact that it was able to maintain a majority of the atmosphere from the games, and the plot was largely consistent with the mythos of the Silent Hill series. Unfortunately the latest movie to try to adapt a video game has largely failed to take even the smallest modicum of what made the games enjoyable.

Hit-man, a movie based on a good action series, isn't exactly a bad movie. If you go into the movie without having played the games by IO Interactive, then you'll in all likelihood be entertained by the action this movie has to offer. Fans of the games however will most likely be left feeling cheated by the movie, and it's radical changing of the main character of the series. In the movie it explains that 47 and the other bald headed assassins were chosen at birth to become guinea pigs of a top-secret plot to breed trained killers who feel no remorse. Now if this reminds you of anything, you're a nerd, and yes it's totally ripping off part of the plot for the old TV show: Dark Angel. I don't mean to go all nerdy video game fan boy on you, but, in the games 47 wasn't chosen at birth to become the bad ass assassin he is today. He's a clone of four major criminals and a scientist to make a flawless human. Not once in the entire series of games do they state whether or not 47 has a childhood. If they had felt the need to do an origin story for 47, why not just base it off the story elements of the original Hit-man: Codename 47 game? And throw in bits of the missions from Contracts.

Before I continue on with the review I would like to state the fact that this movie was written by Skip Woods. The man that brought us the terrible movie Swordfish. While I had nothing overly against that film, it bears mention due to the fact that at times the plot of that movie was positively horrid, and as such Woods needs to be beaten with an oar.

The movie starts out with an Interpol agent returning to his home, 47 is there sitting in his chair. Aiming his gun at fearless Dougray Scott. The movie then keenly informs us that the bulk of the story takes place three months prior to this scene. 47 has been hired to take out the Russian prime minister Mikhail Belicoff. The hit goes off with seemingly no problem, but Diana, 47's handler for the Agency (called "The Organization" in this) informs him that there's a witness he needs to eliminate. The witness, Nika is played by the wonderful Olga Kurylenko, when 47 goes to eliminate Nika another hit-man from Agency arrives to kill 47 and Nika. 47 escapes and confronts Diana about how Nika wasn't a witness, and whether or not someone at the agency double crossed him. While this is happening the Russian police is sending in its crack squad of cops who look like they were stolen from the anime Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, to capture or kill 47. Dougray has a problem with this as he wants 47 alive for questioning, as he's wanted for multiple hundreds of murders across the globe. How he was to establish it was only 47, I'll never know.

After a moderately decent action scene 47 kidnaps Nika and takes her to a St. Petersburg train station where he's attacked by a cadre of Agency trained hit men. The problem I have with this part is the fact that the assassins are fundamentally working toward the same goal, kill 47. At this point when 47 is outgunned by three other assassins, instead of just ventilating 47 they aim their guns at each other. At which point 47 proposes that they die with honor, and brandish some wakizashi swords and proceed to fight. The fight scene is decent enough, but it was just pointless. Where was 47 hiding those little buggers, and why didn't 47's would-be killers just kill him and then go knock off for a while at the nearest bar? I would go further into the plot, but really, I don't feel like spoiling it any more than I already have. Suffice to say that I didn't exactly enjoy the story to the movie. It took far too many liberties with the character of 47, and far too much of it seemed implausible from the perspective of realism. Also there's the questionable choice in casting Timothy Olyphant as the cold steely eyed assassin: Mr. 47. I don't hate the guy, it's just that I think he's a highly inappropriate choice. Granted he was a decent enough actor in that atrocious show Deadwood. He just looks too young, and not at all what a ruthless killer should look like.

Overall the movie is a mediocre action film that people who've never played the games will most likely enjoy. Fans of the series however would probably hate it due to the large number of liberties they take with the character and source material. Overall the movie is not worth the time to watch it.

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153 out of 281 people found the following comment useful :-
Excellent, 21 November 2007

Author: Tony from United States

As we are all well aware of most film adaptations of video games are usually very poor. This is not the case with Hit-man. Hit-man has done something that no other video game film has been able to pull off before. It is entertaining to the general audience who has not plaid the video game, by use of witty remarks, dark humor, and excellent action scenes. On the other hand fans of the video game series will be pleasantly surprised that Hollywood has not butchered the concept of the video games. There has been much debate over the actor who played 47; all actors did an excellent job. I was very pleased.

Bottom line: If you enjoy the video games – see it. If you don't know anything about the video games but want to see a movie similar to Bourn Identity then see it.

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23 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
I'd definitely see it again if they paid me 15 dollars..., 10 December 2007

Author: seaton60 from Australia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

It was dull, it was boring, the acting was terrible, olyphant was not believable, Olga was pretty good, the Scottish guy was sometimes out of sync and T-Bag's (Knepper's) accent was poorly executed and sometimes not even there... The action scenes were okay, the plot was pathetic and somewhat fantastical, everything was preplanned so perfectly, oh i'll give them a key to the church in my briefcase because i definitely know that they'll find me, i'll kill the brother and they'll have the ceremony in that exact church, then i'll wait in the room and get arrested and make my escape... There's a man who thinks ahead. I heard that it was rubbish and what not so i was hopeful that it would be better than I thought but it wasn't... I might be harsh, but it's just a warning to those that could spend their 12 dollars elsewhere... I would wait till it comes out on DVD then hire it on one of those cheap days, one dollar Monday's or something...

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55 out of 93 people found the following comment useful :-
Hit-man on Target, 26 November 2007

Author: jon.h.ochiai (jochiai@socal.rr.com) from Los Angeles, CA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

As Agent 47 played by Timothy Olyphant aims his gun at Interpol's Mike Whittier (Dougray Scott), he asks, "How does a good man decide when to kill?" That is the paradox of Director Xavier Gens's slick "Hitman". The screenplay by Skip Woods is based on the video game "Hitman". I am unfamiliar with the game. Movie genesis from video games usually does not bode well. However, "Hitman" surprises with narrative and visual style, and the charismatic Olyphant as Agent 47. Olyphant (recently seen in "Live Free or Die Hard") has a decidedly dark air about him, and wisely underplays the role. Also a surprise is Olga Kurylenko who plays Nika, the woman 47 must protect in the enveloping conspiracy. Kurylenko is stunning naked, and surprisingly she is a genuine and compelling actress. She embodies vulnerability and smarts in what could have been a one dimensional victim. Analogous to "The Fugitive" narrative pretext, director Gens expediently overlays the origins of the mysterious 47 as a youth bred and trained to become the perfect assassin in the opening credits. Is he really a "good man"?

"Hitman" is puzzling in that the movie trailers appear more polished than the actual movie. Perhaps Gens was a music video director? Or "Hitman" is resourcefully produced on a medium budget? Some of the action sequences in "Hitman" are breathtaking. There is the automatic weapons orchestrated mayhem in the Russian night club. The deadly fight scene with 47 and assassins from his own Agency is an amazing martial arts display—knife fighting, joint locks, and close in boxing. Olyphant may not be a trained martial artist, though he is a graceful athlete. The slow motion and slick editing evoke the dramatic. On a very basic level "Hitman" delivers with its darkly powerful hero, beautiful women, spectacular action, and engaging story.

As played by Olyphant, 47 is the classic enigmatic hero—in the sense that we really don't know if he is really a villain from the start. 47's paying client hires him to assassinate Russian President Mikhail Belicoff (Ulrich Thomson). Belicoff is a merciless despot. 47 completes his mission; however, he has been set up. His employer informs 47 that there was a witness to the assassination attempt: the President's prostitute Nika (Kurylenko). She must be eliminated. Investigating the assassination coup is Interpol Agent Mike Whittier (Scott). Hindering the Interpol investigation is KGB Agent Yuri Marklov (effective Robert Knepper) claiming KGB jurisdiction. Whittier believes Belicoff's assassin is the "ghost" killer he has been tracking across the globe.

47 distinguishes the conspiracy and becomes the inadvertent protector of the vulnerable Nika. Their relationship reveals the more human side of 47. Humorously awkward and touchingly believable Olyphant and Kurylenko's partnership is an undeniable strength. They have a sublime chemistry that works. And 47 emerges as a hero and a man of honor.

"Hitman" is solid entertainment that benefits from Gens's stylish direction, and star-making performances from Timothy Olyphant and Olga Kurylenko. "Hitman" is a great hero story about an essentially good man vanquishing great evil and protecting the innocent. The movie is engaging fun.

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