Hitman (film)



Hitman is a film based on the video game of the same name.

Hitman is a 2007 action film directed by Xavier Gens. A gun-for-hire "Hitman" is a genetically-engineered assassin known as Agent 47. He is hired by "The Agency" to assassinate a public official and becomes ensnared in a political conspiracy. He finds himself pursued by both Interpol and the Russian military. The film stars Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott, and Olga Kurylenko. Hitman was released on November 21, 2007. A sequel, under the working title of Hitman 2, is currently in pre-production.

The film received generally negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 14% of critics gave the film a positive rating, based on 98 reviews, with an average score of 3.7/10. At the website Metacritic the film earned an unfavorable rating of 35/100 based on 22 reviews. The most common complaints are a lacking, often confusing plot, dry acting and extreme violence. However, film critic Roger Ebert gave it three stars out of four, saying "Hitman stands right on the threshold between video games and art. On the wrong side of the threshold, but still, give it credit".

"Agent 47: If I was going to kill you, I'd have done it when you walked to your car this morning and been gone by the time your body hit the sidewalk. But, right now, all you can think about is your family. And this is making you desperate. Desperate men do stupid things. Without the suppressor, this weapon will sound like a Howitzer going off in here. And... I don't leave witnesses."
 * Actor Allusion: Tymothy Olyphant is a well-trained killer with superb situational awareness.
 * Armor Is Useless: When the Russian military makes its move on 47 in his hotel room, some are killed by traps and many others are taken out by just his pistols.
 * Almost Kiss: After Agent 47 has killed the man he's going to impersonate later and taken Nika back to their hotel, Nika, who is pretty drunk begins to seduce 47, going as far as undoing his pants and straddling him topless on the bed. Just when they get close enough to kiss, Agent 47 jabs her in the neck with a sedative.
 * Asexuality: Agent 47 is not very social. Comes with the territory of being trained as a child to be a perfect killer. As evident by his Almost Kiss with Nika.
 * Alternate Continuity: Agent 47's origins as a clone are replaced with him being an orphan raised with other children to be perfect assassins.
 * Assassin Outclassin': The duel on the train seems to share elements of this as the other Agents are there to kill 47 but also seem to fight each other.
 * Possibly justified since it seems that whoever completes the contract will get the payment.
 * Badass Boast: Agent 47 delivers one in the opening to Mike Whittier.

"Nika: [looking at a magazine ad] Why would you need luggage like this? Agent 47: Because that suitcase perfectly holds my Blaser Sniper Rifle, two .45s and a gag for irritating, talkative little girls like yourself. You want me to stop and get it out? Nika: I don't know - you think we have time for foreplay?"
 * Badass in a Nice Suit: He is Agent 47 after all.
 * Bad Habits: The Agent at the climax is wearing a monks robe when he attacks Agent 47.
 * Batman Gambit: Agent 47 has
 * The Chessmaster:
 * Contract on the Hitman: Agent 47 for some reason finds himself pursued by his fellow Agents on several occasions.
 * Cool Guns: Agent 47's iconic silver pistols are intact.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Everything Agent 47 says is in monotone but he gets a few moments of fun.
 * Nika even more so.

"Agent 47: I told you to leave her alone. You should've listened."
 * Distracted by the Sexy: Agent 47 may be The Stoic but even he is prone to stare at Nika's "assets", even for a second.
 * Subverted the first time as he was noticing her scars from her past abuse.
 * Defrosting Ice King: Spending time with Nika, hearing her stories, and watching her cry repeatedly allows Agent 47 to change into someone more relatable by the end of the film,
 * The Dulcinea Effect: Agent 47 contemplates killing Nika, as she is an expendable liability who has seen his face and even accidentally interfered with his mission, but by the end he decides to become her watchful protector.
 * Evil Versus Evil: An assassin trained since childhood vs. a corrupt government official.
 * Executive Meddling: The infamous "train duel" scene was filmed in a rush after the director was fired over creative differences. Also, in the near-final script, agent Markov is revealed to be the Big Bad who wants to replace the president-to-be with an Evil Doppelganger loyal to him, 47 is chased by Spetsnaz (not the other clones) and the whole Evil Plan is foiled by Mike Whittier (who recorded Markov's Engineered Public Confession after slipping one of 47's spy microphones under the collar of his coat and gave the tape to a Russian general) and 47 (who manipulates Markov into ordering his Dragon to shoot the President during Udre's funeral and blows him up anyway).
 * The Faceless: Diana makes it from the game as just a voice on the phone. Early she is a computer-synthesized voice from a computer. Later she actually calls Agent 47 with her natural voice to help demonstrate her sincere desire to help 47.
 * Fan Service: For all the film's faults, it's a welcome experience to see Olga Kurylenko strutting topless on multiple occasions.
 * Full-Frontal Assault: It is a flashback showing the incredible abuse that Nika suffered under the ownership of Belicoff.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Agent 47's meeting with Udre Belicoff quickly descends into one after one of Udre's thugs whispers to him that Agent 47 is an impostor. He then starts trying to intimidate him by showing off some of his guns and tries to look menacing by grabbing one of his hookers and jamming a Makarov into her eye socket, about to shoot her. Agent 47 is not impressed.
 * Here We Go Again: It seems that "The Agency" won't stop hunting Nika anytime soon, as the final shot shows Agent 47 watching over her with a sniper rifle, and cuts back to show the corpse of another Agent, and 47's final line.

"Nika: What's the Soup of the Day? Agent 47: Lentil and mint with sauteed onions and diced tomatoes. Nika: The woman two tables behind me. What's she wearing? Agent 47: With the red hair and the silk dress? [Nika nods] Agent 47: [beat] That's not a woman."
 * Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Nika.
 * Hyper Awareness: Agent 47 is no Jason Bourne but he dose have some exceptional situational awareness.

"Agent 47:[Udre has a Makarov point blank in a hooker's eyeball] Whoa whoa whoa hold up. This is not a Kadr. It's a Chinese copy. In fact, I don't know if it's the drugs, or if you're usually this inept, but you've been wrong about most of these weapons. If the gun you're holding is as cheap as this one, even if you did manage to shoot her in the eye, and I'm not saying you could, you wouldn't kill her. [Udre shoots at 47, missing]"
 * Improbable Aiming Skills: With all the movements he makes, Agent 47 is still perfectly capable of shooting mooks who look like the came straight out of Killzone and killing them with very few shots. Armor Is Useless indeed.
 * In Medias Res: The entire film is really one big flashback.
 * Instant Sedation: Both times, when he kills Price in order to impersonate him, and when he knocks out Nika during their Almost Kiss.
 * Katanas Are Just Better: The train duel shifts from a 4 way Guns Akimbo Mexican Standoff, to hectic fencing match to the death with everyone dual-wielding small katanas.
 * Lampshade Hanging: When Agent 47 is informed that the assassination is being changed to public and messy, he states "That's not my usual style," referencing the game's more subtle approach to murder.
 * Latex Perfection: Subverted in that . Yet the final product is a flawless duplicate.
 * Purgative Prank: Agent 47 covertly drugs his impersonation mark's drink to send him to the bathroom to be dispatched.
 * A Match Made in Stockholm: Agent 47 initially kidnaps Nika, stuffs her in the trunk with a dead body, drives across Russia with her in there, pulls her out of a restaurant by her hair, and threatens to torture and kill her. She seems strangely attracted to him. It blends with Rescue Romance and Bodyguard Crush as the body was of the man sent to kill her, and the final scene shows how he killed another Agent sent to kill her.
 * Mexican Standoff: Just before the train duel with the other Agents, 47 gets caught up in one with the other agents as the each point their dual pistols at one of the others.
 * No Name Given: Agent 47 of course.
 * Pragmatic Adaptation/Woolseyism: The original concept of Agent 47 being just another unit of a long line of cloned assassins is changed to him being one of many genetically engineered children specially trained for assassination. This was done to accomodate more actors to portray the other Agents that 47 meets throughout the film.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: To keep Udre Belicoff from killing one of his hookers with one of the guns he's selling (as mentioned above in the Hannibal Lecture), Agent 47 stops him with his excellent firearm knowledge.

"Agent 47: [beat] You're not wearing any underwear."
 * Shameless Fanservice Girl: Nika doesn't mind strutting her stuff in front of Agent 47 while wearing nothing more than some very skimpy panties.
 * Later during their "dinner", when playfully testing his apparent photographic memory, she asks what color her panties are...


 * Shower Scene: Agent 47 gets one all by his lonesome in the beginning.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: See "The Reason You Suck" Speech above.
 * Stock Footage: It seems that Agent 47 grew up at Manticore, judging from all the familiar footage seen in the intro.
 * SWAT Team: Armed to teeth, every inch covered in armor, with glowing red visors, and Agent 47 still kills several of them in a hotel, with just dual wielding pistols in a shirt, pants, and no shoes.
 * Vertical Kidnapping: Used by Agent 47 to capture FSB agent Yuri Marklov before the climax.
 * Villain Protagonist: Much less so than his video game counterpart, but he's still dangerous.
 * Wait Here: Just before scouting out the restaurant for his next hit, Agent 47 says this to Nika, who promptly disobeys him for a bit.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?:
 * Again with Diana who was just a voice over the phone, who helped Agent 47 begin uncovering the conspiracy plot. After calling him with her natural voice as opposed to using a computer synthesizer, she is never heard from or mentioned again.
 * Working the Same Case: Mike Whittier of Interpol has been trailing Agent 47 for some time. FSB Agent Yuri Marklov becomes part of the investigation after Agent 47 assassinates the Russian President, and proeceeds to take more and more levels in jerkass as time goes on..