Hitman: Agent 47 2015

"No, Mr. Sanders. You are locked in here with me: and you just brought me mine."

Both this film and the previous Hitman adaptation with Timothy Olyphant aren't good adaptations. There's no doubt about that. This one is considered the worst of the two; the previous one was better made from a filmmaking perspective, whereas this one had a lot of visual effects, making it seem a little too artificial. Generally, the previous one was more well-put-together, although most people disliked that one, too; only this one, way more.

If you've read my review of that film, you'll know I found it serviceable. I wished it was a good adaptation because I feel like the source material, when faithfully adapted, would make for a pretty good film. I thought it could've been better on its own, but it was decent enough despite being a somewhat shoddy adaptation.

Regarding this film, I thought it wasn't as well-made, and everything about the story was a little too generic and not as atmospheric and immersive as the first film, specifically in a similar way as it was in that film. Despite that, I think I enjoyed it slightly more. It was the same outcome as before, when I watched both movies for the first time, except then, I liked this one more and rated it to the limit. Now, I care more and am more particular with that sort of thing.

Performance-wise, Rupert Friend seemed to fit the character better than Timothy Olyphant, even though the character's writing wasn't necessarily Agent 47-esque. Rupert was more properly villain-like, in the sense of having a commanding presence with a slight terrifying nature about him: as well as more monotone, which I'm pretty sure is how the character is in the games; I've never played them myself, only watched Let's Plays, and my memory of how he seems regarding that aspect is a little hazy. Timothy seemed too human. Does that make sense? But I seem to think, or remember, in a vague way, that 47 is humorous sometimes in the games, but still in a deadpan, monotone manner, and Rupert was doing so in a too (facially) expressive way, including not being monotone enough, generally; too many emotive instances. That's my only criticism.

And the other performances were decent. Hannah Ware, Zachary Quinto, Thomas Kretschmann, and Ciarán Hinds delivered decent performances. Hannah was a little one-note (more so due to the character), but she displayed noteworthy moments. Ciarán stood out the most to me, although I guess Zachary is a close second. Thomas (despite not having much screen time) had somewhat of a presence and appropriate line delivery, so he was decent, too.

While the story was generic and the filmmaking lazy, including the visual effects and whatever else: whether it has to do with the cameras used or something along those lines, that seems to be typical with multiple films (The Hitman's Bodyguard comes to mind), making them look similar, the score by Marco Beltrami, who has quite the résumé, was pretty good.

I suppose the cinematography by Óttar Guðnason was decent enough: although something about how the film felt sometimes or looked (that almost artificial look, which seemed prominent in The Hitman's Bodyguard and plenty of other films, I'm sure) isn't the way to go. And the action/fight sequences were as well.

A sequel would've been welcome. This film was enjoyable enough. Seeing Rupert Friend and Hannah Ware return to these roles for another film, especially given how the characters are close now, has an appeal to it. That hasn't happened yet, and it's been over seven years already, so it probably never will.

I know, I know, this movie is rather superficial and simple. More effort has been spent on cool action than on depth of the story. Well, you know what? I do not care! I quite liked this movie. Agent 47 is cool and kicks ass. The bad guys gets plenty of ass whooping. The action is good. There is quite a lot of high tech and gadgets. What is there not to like?

The movie starts of with a quite cool sequence introducing Agent 47. I have to say that I got into quite a bit of “wow” mode right a way there. The movie continues with plenty of action sequences with just a wee bit of slowdown in between. Actually the first-half, at least, of the movie is pretty much one long chase.

Perhaps I should point out that I have not played Hitman and do not really know what the original story is about. From a lot of the comments I have read it appears That this might be to my advantage when it comes to enjoying the movie.

Some people are probably complaining about bad acting since Agent 47 do not really show much in terms of facial expressions or emotions. Well, news for you, he is not supposed to! He is supposed to be a cold emotionless killing machine so stop whining. Personally I found Agent 47 to be an excellent character. the re is on scene in particular that I liked where Agent 47 intentionally allows himself to be caught in a embassy. Once inside he, to no one in the audience surprise starts to tear the place apart. You have to see it to know what I mean.

The second part, or perhaps just the last third, of the movie turns into more of a search and destroy for Agent 47 and his new “partner”. this part is of course as action filled as the first part of the movie. Naturally it all leads to a big show down between the Agent 47 & Co. The end itself did not really deliver any surprises but was satisfying.

The one thing in the movie that annoyed me was this subdermal armor stuff. The idea was not a too bad one but they really overplayed it. Come on! Just shoot him in the head or an eye or some other “sensitive” part for Christ sake. Bulletproof my arse!

I honestly do not understand the low rating this movie has received. 5.7 at IMDb is really a bit harsh. Rotten Tomatoes rating is, not very surprisingly, abysmal. Rotten Tomatoes and their “critics” ratings must be the worst of any ratings site. When these dickwads rate down a movie, that’s when I start to get interested. First step is to drill down into the real audience ratings which more often that not gives a different picture.

Any way I digress. Bottom line is that, for me, this is a simple, straightforward, high octane action movie and I quite enjoyed it.