First let’s just take for granted that video game movies usually suck and if, they don’t suck, they are usually, at least well below average. Now this is not to say that Hitman is in the same league as a video game to movie translation like Bloodrayne. No Hitman can be watched without making one wish they too were dead. I do, however, hate films like Hitman. Films such as Hitman fool you, at least for a bit, into thinking they might be decent only to slowly fall apart like a greasy meatball sandwich.
One of the big problems with the film is that it assumes that you are somewhat familiar with the video game lore-I am not. Watching Hitman you realize that the lore is supposed to give the film additional depth, maybe it does, if you have played the video games. That said, I doubt anything could have made the script more coherent. The script isn’t a total mess, its not Charlie’s Angel Full Throttle or anything of that nature, its just not polished. You can probably follow the plot but with a film like Hitman, should you really have to work? And should a screenwriter really expect the audience for this type of film to work to follow what is going on? Come on. Which brings up another point, who the heck is this Skip Woods guy? He is listed as the writer but I can’t seem to dig up much on him, except that he is penning all sorts of big budget scripts such as Logan’s Run. Bizarre.
So are you still curious as to what this film is about? The hitman in question was raised from birth by a secret organization to be a fine tuned killing machine. Our nameless killing machine is sent on an assassination mission in Russia only to betrayed and then hunted by the “Organization.” Oh yes you have seen it all before. Hitman also sports lots of gunplay and fighting, of course, but not as much as you might expect, and is sprinkled with quality cinematography. Believe it or not some decent acting helps to salvage the Skip Woods “script.”
It is a tad unusual to have a film of this type saved by its acting but the work of Deadwood’s Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott and Olga Kurylenko really keep Hitman from being a horrible time. It is hard to follow, but it often looks pretty sharp. If you are into this sort of mindless cloak and dagger gunfest then you will probably be a little confused but satisfied.
Story D+ (Who the heck is this Woods guy? How did he get his job? And why isn’t there more known about him? Maybe I just missed it somehow during my research as I am far from perfect. Regardless, Woods produced a really weak script that doesn’t deliver anything new.) Acting B (The acting in Hitman is a shocker, the cast performed in a professional manner even though the script was amateur hour.) Visuals B- (Some good fight sequences and nice cinematography help keep Hitman from being completely painful.) Originality/Innovation D- (Like so much of the new highly conservative Hollywood’s scripts, Hitman is terrified by the concept of originality.) Enjoyability Grade C- (Despite the sorry script, the film looks good and the acting is above average for a action film.) Home Theater/HD Factor B+ Overall Grade C- (This film exploited the name recognition and following of the video game to pull in something around $100 million dollars, so who knows maybe Olyphant will be shaving his head again soon. Regardless let’s just hope the script is better next time. We deserve it and so do the actors.)
