Hitman 2007

Dragonleo reviewed Hitman (2007)

Jason Bourne In a Suit

Watching Hitman was like watching a bloody mixture between the latest Bond (Casino Royale, that is) and a Bourne-movie.

Agent 47 is an elite hitman, trained from his childhood solely for this purpose. He possesses almost inhuman skills, when it comes to his job, and is legendary with his emotional, deadly efficiency. He works for The Organization - a mysterious agency, and receives orders to assassinate the president of Russia. He accepts the assignment, but has little idea of the scheme behind it all, an intrigue that will force himself to become the target. 47 is on the run, chased by Interpol, the Russian militia and The Organization, and with only Nika, a Russian prostitute, running with him, he has to put his skills to the use to clear up the mess.

When I heard that they were making a film based on the Hitman-series, it really piqued my interest. I'd only briefly tried the games, but as I was aware of the story behind it all, I certainly thought that it had the makings of a great action film - and that's exactly what it was. It definitely deserves the R-rating, because there's a lot of blood in this movie, but I suppose that for a Hitman-movie, it has to be there.
As I said, this movie reminded me of the latest Bond installment, yet it had the roughness of a Bourne-film to it. Both of them being very good action films, I'll give Hitman credit; it was quite much the kind of a movie I was hoping for, when I first saw a trailer. The scene where 47 crashes through a window to the room with the kids playing Hitman: Blood Money was just hilarious.
So, Hitman, a great splash of blo... action, delivered well by Timothy Olyphant - whom I found to be the guy for the role. There has been speculation of him being too emotionless or even too emotional for the role, yet, I truly found him to be the man for the role. Olga Kurylenko, nothing really to say about her - she looked like a prostitute alright - and a good, steady performance from Dougray Scott. I was actually surprised to see Robert Knepper in the film, and found his Russian accent quite funny; it sounded more like a Finn speaking English most of the time. Good try though! Still - a vivid, powerful and succesful conversion of a video game to a movie.

A private user reviewed Hitman (2007)

Almost there

First I approached this movie as an art movie and it worked surprisingly well for that. If you can't have a good plot in a movie based on a game, then you got to have some extend to the general feeling of the original idea. And we had some ..but only a little. Hitman is all about the character Agent 47. With a proper casting this could have been top notch. What i'm saying is that Timothy Olyphant was a wrong choise for the Agent 47. He was just a pretty boy with a shaved head trying to spit out his lines with a steady voice. I would have wanted an older guy; more with Kekkonen-look too. Then for the character a perfect inability to show any feelings. No love, no compassion, NO ANGER EITHER! With this i don't mean that he shouldn't feel any, but just that he shouldn't show it. They should have done more careful study for example of lobotomy or autism. That would have put some consistency to the character. Take an example of John Malkovich in "Ripley's Game". There's a consistent, cold blooded character for you: Tom Ripley. We didn't really ever get to see Agent 47's "thing". Tom Ripley's "thing" was his pride and numbness.

There's still a great potential in Hitman. If they make a sequel (and i hope they do) they must correct these downfalls. In that way we still have a chance to have a classic. With a good imagination this first try works and is enjoyable to watch.

So, if you have played the game this is a must to see. If you haven't it will not give you much.

vertex reviewed Hitman (2007)

Hitman Misses

In Hitman Timothy Olyphant portrays a manufactured assassin named Agent 47. He is being chased by a persistent Interpol agent (Dougray Scott). As an addition to the Interpol, Agent 47 faces some conflicts with his own agency. That is how the dinner is served.

Although the plot feels far too familiar I think that the biggest problem with the movie is the character that Olyphant portrays. After seeing the trailer I thought that Agent 47 would have only one facial gesture and guess what? I was right. Maybe they are just being faithful to the original story. Maybe he’s supposed to be 100% emotionless. Unfortunately that is not very interesting. Even though Agent 47 is familiar with martial arts and every weapon known to man he doesn’t feel hard boiled like for example Jason Bourne. Agent 47 and his work are just too polished. All in all I think that more human like character would be far more interesting. I guess that is why Olga Kurylenko is there, to bring some vulnerability and humanity to the equation. She is a welcome addition to this movie and in my opinion she is a good choice for the next Bond film (Quantum of Solace) as well.

Dougray Scott does a solid job as a clever and just Interpol agent. I always thought he was better portraying villains but he shows he is credible as a good guy also.

Hitman is not the worst video game adaptation but it’s not a good one either. Either the original story of Agent 47 is lacking or the execution of the movie is lacking.

kombinaat reviewed Hitman (2007)

A total no-brainer

Well I have to admit that sometimes it's nice to notice that not all new movies that come out are artsy dramas. I think the title of this movie tells every spectator what's coming his way. Weak story, if it can even be called a story and terrible acting, if it can even be called acting. No surprises, just a tight package of action.

This is one of the movies that will be forgotten very soon. With the movies shortcomings it kinda reminds me of the elements that make the Bourne movies so good - and how basically all of them are missing from this piece of moving pictures.