Friday, 29 March 2024

Explosive 'Hitman' cranks up volume on video game gunplay

HITMAN (Rated R)


Though it may not prove a winner on screen, the action movie “Hitman” is based on an alleged top-selling, award-winning video game franchise. At the risk of exposing my cultural ignorance, I am unaware of this video game’s reputed popularity. No matter, as I am blissfully oblivious to the electronic gaming market in general. Being out of touch may not be such a handicap, because after all Hitman should stand on its cinematic merits.


In any event, I am usually game for a high-octane, shoot ‘em up adventure, where the elite assassin performs his job with lethal grace and resolute pride. In the movie's title role, Timothy Olyphant is the complex and mysterious hired gun known only as Agent 47. He’s a laconic loner who reveals little about himself, choosing to let his weapons do all the talking. He’d like to be Gary Cooper with automatic weapons, but this isn’t a western.


Oddly enough, this is more of a freak show. The background story has Agent 47 trained from birth in the deadly arts at some sort of weird monastery, where the young are molded into trained killers, detached emotionally from any real feelings and thoughts held by average folks. Like his equally anonymous colleagues, Agent 47 is stripped of conscience and morality.


The puzzling thing about Agent 47, dressed impeccably in fashionable suits, is that like his fellow assassins he’s got a shaved head with a tattooed barcode on the back of his scalp. Curiously enough, he runs around with the barcode constantly exposed, as if nobody is going to notice it.


The great unanswered question is why there’s a barcode emblazoned on his cranium to begin with. Does it have any practical value? Does he scan his head at the checkout counter of the arms-dealing supermarket when loading up on a stockpile of automatic weapons and grenades?


The story for Hitman, such as it is and as best as it can be followed, is that Agent 47, taking orders from the Agency by way of a computer, is on a mission to assassinate Russian president Mikhail Belicoff (Ulrich Thomsen). The reason for this assignment is unclear, though the target is described as a “moderate,” who’s unfortunately saddled with an unsavory younger brother (Henry Ian Cusack), a peddler in weapons, drugs and prostitutes.


The job goes off without a hitch, or so he thinks, until Belicoff appears again in public with nary a scratch. Hot on the trail is Interpol agent Mike Whittier (Dougray Scott), who knows that Agent 47, operating with lethal precision, does not miss a target.


The female interest is the slinky, hot babe Nika (Olga Kurylenko), connected to the Belicoffs and a key witness. She’s made some bad career choices, and now she’s taken hostage by Agent 47, who has to go on the run. For reasons that are muddled, the hitman is betrayed by the Agency, and suddenly he’s being chased through a train station by a bunch of bald guys with barcode tattoos.


Meanwhile, the Russian secret police and Interpol, not exactly working in sync, are after Agent 47 as well. A whole bunch of people are trigger happy, but none quite as much as the film’s putative hero. As time passes, the enigmatic, ruthless Agent 47 looks increasingly like the reasonable guy in a world populated with double-crossing thugs.


Meanwhile, the emotionally distant professional assassin has to deal with his pretty hostage, though he rarely lets his guard down. Interestingly, she attempts continuously to seduce him, but having been raised in a sheltered environment at the assassin school, Agent 47 never picked up any tips from James Bond, who always managed to give in to his carnal desires with the bad girls while keeping his wits intact. But our guy is unflappable and unmoved, even in the face of Nika’s seductive striptease.


Hitman has no really useful purpose other than to serve up large portions of violence and gunplay, where the high body count seems destined to create a new benchmark in wanton killings. The film is intermittently intriguing and interesting, but for reasons that seem elusive. If it’s basically mindless action on the menu, then Hitman does the trick.


DVD RELEASE UPDATE


From the guys who brought us crude comedies like “Knocked Up” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” comes “Superbad” in a two-disc unrated edition with additional footage deemed too raunchy for theaters.


Having seen the original, I can only wonder how much more over the edge they can go with this story about some guys desperate to hook up with their dream girls on a wild party night before heading off to college.


The two-disc set includes a bevy of bonus material, much of it designed to capitalize on the film’s essential lewdness.


Still, I am fascinated to see the “Press Junket Meltdown” feature, mainly out of professional curiosity.


For those who want to tone down the vulgarity, there’s also a single-disc rated version.


Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.


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