Haven't written a review for a film in a while and the only reason I am for this is I feel this movie gets a pretty bad wrap for no reason before you ask yes I have played the games both old and new. But as a fan of the Video Game franchise, I have to say yeah it may not be the most faithful adaptation but this film does have lots of moments that show that there was some passion for this character and franchise, from the great casting of Timothy Olyphant (Agent 47) to some pretty great direction from Xavier Gens as this film has some pretty great action sequences that do harken back to the games.
Now is it a flawless film, hell no as the writing leaves something to be desired and you can tell this film has been edited down big time by the studio, but on the other hand it gives you a story that could fit into the video game franchise and I do feel that with less choppy editing and making it a little more stealthy they could've fixed this film to easily be the best Video Game Adaptation.
In my personal opinion, turn your brain off and enjoy this film. Also, I wouldn't mind seeing Timothy Olyphant back as Agent 47 in a TV Series or something as he actually is a very good 47 and he makes this film worth the watch as you can see him in the action sequences genuinely putting his heart and soul into it.
"How about dying with a little dignity?"
Oddly enough, I was expecting this film to be longer, closer to two hours or more than two hours. But given how I've watched it before and my outlook towards movies, generally, in that runtime range, I should've known that assumption was incorrect; if it were closer to two hours or more, I would've easily remembered.
The weird thing is that I'm not sure if it was too short/should've been longer. The hour and a half flew by fairly quickly. And hardly anything seemed to have happened. But that's more on the writing rather than the runtime. I feel like the story was a bit lackluster. If the story were better/more engaging, the somewhat short runtime wouldn't have stood out.
On its own, this film was alright, decent. As an action film, I don't think it was a bad one. It held its weight. But, as I said, the story was a bit lackluster, and so was the overall film, to an extent. The "bigger issue" is that this film wasn't "on its own." It's an adaptation of a video game series. That fact changes everything.
And while I haven't played any of the games myself, and I haven't seen someone else play any of the older ones (which seem to be considered the best ones), it's easy for me to notice how off-base, as an adaptation, this film was.
That wasn't a big deal for me, although I think a less loosely based film adaptation of the video game series would be super good and enjoyable, more than this film was. For me, it pretty much boils down to the enjoyment factor. A good example would be how I know I enjoyed the later film adaptation in 2015, Hitman: Agent 47, more than this one. And I know that one's worse, adaptation-wise, but it's simple: I enjoyed it more. This time, it may end up different once I get around to rewatching it. Who knows.
The most noteworthy aspects of this film were the action sequences (even though the editing during the fight sequences could've been better), the acting performances by Timothy Olyphant, Robert Knepper, and Olga Kurylenko (specifically the latter. I thought she gave the best acting performance. Timothy's acting was decent, and parts of his performance, particularly his enunciation, seemed similar to Keanu Reeves, with a little bit of Robert Pattinson's Edward Cullen. Robert was underutilized, in my opinion: he still gave a good performance), the chemistry between Timothy and Olga, and the score. Geoff Zanelli's work with the score was the best aspect out of them all. It sounds like a mix of the score in the video game in the video game, Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow, and the score in the show, Person of Interest.
And interestingly enough, there happened to be an alternate ending, which I came across, and I'm glad that it got scrapped. The film's actual ending, while a bit lackluster, was much better.
Ultimately, this was a film with some good aspects and decent overall, albeit lackluster in the adaptation department. But even on its own, I felt like it could've been way better; I wished it. The potential was there. Despite that, I still enjoyed it.
From what I've read, a sequel was going to happen, but Timothy Olyphant had no interest in returning, which is unfortunate, as I think a sequel would've been desirable; that's when the sequel turned into a reboot, resulting in Hitman: Agent 47.
Review by DanielVIP 4BlockedParent2023-11-04T17:39:46Z
We're off to a bad start when the opening scene prints "London – England" over a suburb that couldn't look more American if it tried. It doesn't get much better from there. The whole film feels like a poorly sequenced string of poorly set up vignettes, that try to pick up some elements from the game it's based on, without really bothering to have it all make sense. The plot holes are a dime a dozen, with the final scene closing off the movie with another huge and completely unnecessary one. Also, it's got some of the worst expositional dialogue I've seen in a long time, especially in the scenes with Interpol's investigator, which is an unbearably smug, annoying character in the first place.
There are also multiple scenes of tactically very stupid behaviour by 47. As someone who enjoyed playing the Hitman games, which really drill the super-cautious behaviour into you, this clash with how perfect we're told 47 is at his job really bothered me. There are a few fight scenes, too, but the movie is just about young enough for it to have the editing style that makes it impossible to tell if the choreography is any good – or, interchangably, what's going on. It's just a lot of whooshy blurred camera shakes and quick cuts, assumingly to hide the fact that the fighting wasn't convincing. And just another indication of how low the production values on Hitman are. One more being how much furniture is mysteriously shared between the offices of Interpol and the FSB.
It's not all bad on the production front. The film has some great cinematography and lighting. If you can ignore the nonsense narrative, a lot of it is really quite pretty to look at. Also, the soundtrack is pretty decent, although I can't for the life of me figure out why they didn't use (or adapt, by all accounts) the original Hitman theme by Jesper Kyd, which is one of the most iconic and memorable video game themes of all time. The actors are also doing the best they can with the script that they were given. It only really falls apart badly in the tacked-on romance subplot which, this being a Hollywood production, I assume they were contractually unable to do without, but at least they didn't go all too far with it. I was also surprised that in a U.S. production, the writers were bold enough to be so openly critical of U.S. intelligence agencies.
I did like the little wink of 47 bursting in on some kids playing Hitman. And, as a fan of old PC games, it was an excellent surprise to see Christian Erickson – a.k.a. Lance Boyle from Megarace – in a minor role. Seeing him in a film based on a video game can't be a coincidence, so I do believe some people who are actually into games were part of this production. It's just a shame that seemingly nobody who could have influenced the writing seems to have played Hitman. It was clear from the very first game that it would be a perfect fit for a movie adaptation, but sadly, this one leaves almost all of the potential unused. And the world is still waiting for the first film based on a video game that isn't terrible.
Sorry, 47. Turns out you were just a 48.