Directed by Richard Linklater and inspired by the unbelievable true story, Hit Man follows Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), a strait-laced psychology professor who discovers he has a hidden talent as a fake hitman, including theatrically imitating his suspects with humorous costumes, accents, and mannerisms. He starts to assume false identities to entrap criminals for the local police, but the situation becomes tricky after he meets a prospective client named Madison (Adria Arjona). Madison wants to hire Johnson to kill her husband, but she ends up stealing his heart and igniting a powder keg of deception, delight, and mixed-up identities.
Out of all the films that premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in September last year this was the most highly praised amongst all of them by critics, exclusive audiences, and even several of my friends who were lucky to see it. Needless to say the immense praise for this film plus the inclusion of rising star Glen Powell definitely caught my interest so I was happy to finally get the chance to watch it on Netflix. And after watching it I have one thing to say: I absolutely regret not getting to see this in theaters when I had the chance because this film is fantastic and was absolutely meant to be for the big screen.
I expected Hit Man to be good but I didn’t expect it to be phenomenal at every single turn. This is a uniquely fun and sexy combination of a dark comedy and a sly romantic thriller that more than lives up to the hype but not in the way some may expect. This film is a lot more deeply layered than I anticipated as well as very thought-provoking and suspenseful, to the point that I just couldn’t keep my eyes off the screen because I had no damn clue what was going to happen at every turn. It was able to take the most frequently done genres and twist them into something vastly different from what has come before, making this one of my favorite films of this year as a result.
For the kind of film this is you needed an extremely talented and compelling lead and that lead is Glen Powell who was an absolute force of nature in this film. He is the embodiment of charm and charisma but he’s also a very captivating actor who displays an incredible range as a single character, making for such a compelling lead that I was absolutely engaged in from start to end.
The journey this man goes through in this film is quite the roller coaster, transitioning from being an undercover agent to a passionate lover to something else altogether, which acts somewhat as a deconstruction of undercover life and its bizarre nature. You do end up questioning where his morals land as the film progresses yet you still can’t help but root for him regardless of what he does because of just how phenomenal and engaging Glen Powell’s performance is.
Equally as captivating as Glen is Adria Arjona as Madison who not only shares brilliant chemistry with Glen Powell but is also quite a force of her own as this enigmatic character. It is clear that there was a lot more to her character than what is seen on the surface but much like the lead character I was hooked into the immense presence she had and was eager to see where things would go with her, and I also found myself rooting for her even when some questionable things begin to surface. They are a dynamic duo that I never thought I needed and one that truly makes the film as awesome as it is.
The supporting cast is also really great too with solid performances from Austin Amelio, Retta, and Sanjay Rao. However, I will admit they do feel immensely overshadowed by the two leads of this film performance-wise and screen time, to the point that I would occasionally forget their existence because of how engaged I was with Glen and Adria’s characters. Granted that we do get some intense and significant scenes involving Austin Amelio’s character that I felt engaged in, but most of the time I was leaning more towards the two leads and their story more than anything. But that’s the only slight nitpick I have and one that I can overlook due to how well-crafted everything else is.
This film starts off as a fun but classic take on mistaken identity but then takes many crazy turns that offer engaging suspense and thought-provoking themes. There are numerous philosophical explorations and engaging conversations this film presents with its premise, especially when it comes to choosing the kind of identity you wish to be or having your identity completely changed as a result of meeting someone special who matches your kind of personality.
Richard Linklater and Glen Powell were able to successfully integrate these deeply layered themes with such hilarious comedy and romantic thrills in a perfect way without ever having one ruin the other, and that in itself is one immense achievement. That combined with some well-written twists and turns and you have a film that doesn’t require any action to be immensely engaging or suspenseful. In fact, I found many of the scenes involving lengthy conversations to be so addicting to listen to that I never got bored with how long they ran. There have been times in some films where conversations run on for too long and fail to reach their point, acting as filler to increase the runtime, but not this film. In this film, I cared about everything they had to say as they not only played an important part in the film’s narrative but it was just so enjoyable to listen to.
On a technical level this film isn’t that crazy in terms of visuals or scale but frankly, it didn’t need to be. It has such a fun and sly style to it that was just enough for me to enjoy every aspect of it, from solid cinematography, smoothly comedic editing, excellent set pieces in New Orleans, and fun music from both composer Graham Reynolds as well as an awesome collection of songs fitting for this kind of film.
Similar to The Fall Guy, this film really did surprise me with its unique spins and combinations of familiar genres yet offering something completely original and engaging in the process. I think this film is going to surprise people and I firmly believe some will certainly connect with it as well as discuss it in unexpected ways that I am excited to see. I highly recommend everyone giving this film a go whenever possible and supporting it so we can get more unique films like this as well as more Glen Powell in films. I’m going to give Hit Man an A+ = 98.
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