Watching the new film "Hitman," an adaptation of the highly successful Eidos video game series (which I have never played), you get the feeling right from the opening credits that this will be a hit-or-miss-type of movie. Like a pistol that's loaded, cocked and ready to rock & roll, "Hitman" succeeds by remaining true to its source material (even if only in a few instances) and becoming a stand-alone picture in its own right. That's where the hits mostly come from.
But the misses are mostly in the screenplay and frenzied direction of Xavier Gens. In a plot that mixes the assassin looking to rediscover his humanity, the hooker with a heart of gold, the video game adaptation, shady politics and the frenetic direction of European action movies, "Hitman" should be an action fan's wildest dreams come true. While skilled in these areas, the problems arise in trying to bring it together as a wholesome film and trying to tell a coherent story.
"Hitman" centers on the mysterious and world-renowned assassin Agent 47 (a perfectly stoic Timothy Olyphant), who becomes embroiled in a political conspiracy in St. Petersburg, Russia, following a failed hit on the Russian president. Hunted by a determined Interpol agent named Mike Whittier (Dougray Scott), his men, the Russian military and other assassins, Agent 47's only key to clearing his name is the tragic hooker Nika (Olga Kurylenko), who may have been a witness to the attempted killing. Of course because Nika is sexy as hell, the film allows her two topless scenes, and one attempt at trying to bed Agent 47, though sadly, her character is way underdeveloped, so all we care about are her T + A.
"Hitman" establishes itself nicely in the beginning but loses itself in murky political intrigue that I myself had a lot of difficult trying to sift through. If the script by Skip Woods had taken its time in developing the plot a little bit more, then maybe I wouldn't have been so lost at trying to figure things out. Of course where the film mostly succeeds at, is its bloody action sequences. Where most action films today don't even bother in the way of bloody violence, "Hitman" loses itself in these stylish action scenes. Issues abound though with the extremely hyper and tripped-out editing, which tends to take away from the action.
The bald-headed, bar-code-tattooed Timothy Olyphant fills his shoes nicely as Agent 47, the man who was literally born to kill, though I honestly thought that the role should have gone to someone a little bit older or more experienced in the realm of action films; of course the actor I would have chosen for Agent 47 would have been Billy Zane, though I'm not sure anyone knows where he is right now so Olyphant will have to do. Olyphant seems to handle himself nicely in the film's frequent blood-lettings, including a four-way shootout that devolves into a brutal hand-to-hand combat encounter within the claustrophobic confines of a rail-car.
"Hitman" is the latest video game adaptation to hit the screens so far and like most entries, it's a hit & miss vehicle. My generic approach to these movies is clear and as follows: "Mortal Kombat" (1995) remains the best adaptation of a video game yet, followed by last year's "Silent Hill" (2006). Others, like "Doom" (2005), and the "Resident Evil" films and "Tomb Raider" movies, are also above-average efforts, so "Hitman," with its hits & misses, fits right in perfectly.
6/10
