Movie Reviews

Hitman: Agent 47 - 8/23/15

In the Film Industry, it's not uncommon for films to be adaptions of other forms of entertainment, like novels, comics, or television shows. Famous examples include, 'The Lord of the Rings,' Marvel's, 'The Avengers,' and 'The Equalizer.' If the story can be formatted to the big screen, then virtually anything with a story can be made into a motion picture. However, even if something can be made into a motion picture, that doesn't mean the same thing as said thing becoming a good motion picture. And there is no other medium of entertainment that epitomizes this fact of adaptation more than Video Games.

Beginning in 1993 with the infamous 'Super Mario Bros.' movie, (wildly considered as one of the worst films, not to mention Video Game adaptations, of all time), it seemed that any video game film that was released in North America was met with less than satisfactory success, whether it was critical or financial. 'Mortal Kombat,' 'Street Fighter,' 'Lara Croft,' 'Silent Hill' (ugh), and 'Resident Evil' (UGH), are all video game franchises that received the cinematic treatment, and NONE of them have ever received higher than 50% approval on either Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic, both major and credited reviewing sites. Japan, though, they've had a somewhat higher, (meaning average), success rate when it comes to video-game films, a popular example being the 'Pokémon' franchise, but that's neither here nor there. My point is, American video-game film adaptions rarely live up to expectations, so it was with a moderate sense of worry that went to theaters to see a reboot, (UGH!), of a video-game film released some years ago.

Released in theaters on August 21st, that movie is, 'Hitman: Agent 47.' Does the film finally break the long-running  streak of bad-luck that's plagued video-game films for over 20 years? Or should this film suffer an unfortunate 'accident?' Well......

The Plot:

Dr. Peter Litvenko is a genius geneticist who was in charge of a clandestine program to engineer perfect assassins, 'Agents,' with strength, agility, skill, stamina, and intellect far superior than the average man, with no emotions to cloud their judgment. Realizing at the last moment how dangerous such a group of assassins could be, Dr. Litvenko disappears, leaving behind his only daughter, Katia. Years later, after many fruitless searches, an organization called the Syndicate has found Katia, and plans to use her to find Dr. Litvenko, and once they do, they plan to continue the Agent program for whatever reasons they have. (These reasons are never really specified other than the obvious 'ultimate domination' schtick.) The only thing standing in the way of the Syndicate, and the only thing protecting Katia, is a survivor of the original Agent program, 47. So, in order to stop the Syndicate and find her father, Katia teams up with 47, and together the pair embark on a mission to save the world.

I went into this film knowing that it was a reboot, and also knowing next to nothing about the video-game series this film was based off of. The only thing I can say concretely about the 'Hitman' series is that a man with a barcode tattoo goes around in a sharp suit efficiently killing people in either obvious or less-than obvious ways. The plot the films provides is a basic one, and that sometimes doesn't necessarily mean a bad film. But in this movie.....yeah, it's not enough. There are elements introduced in the film's plot that either feel too out-of-nowhere to be considered seriously, or feel like they make sense only to the people who play the games. While those plot points might be okay to the gamers, to the main audience, that's not a good move at all. "Whose Diana? Why is she 47's handler? How did the two meet? How did 47 last so long in the world after the program was discontinued?" I asked myself these questions, waiting for them to be answered throughout the movie, but they never were! And then there was the memory swiping.....heavens above, the memory swiping.....

An ongoing device used throughout the film to explain backstory, plot, and character motivations is when Agent 47 and Katia hold hands and they can view each others memories. .......what? Seriously, what the heck is that?! I don't remember seeing any memory sharing when I saw walkthrough's of Hitman games on YouTube afterwards! Can all Agents do that or is it just them? And the worst part is, it's not explained once! Throughout the whole movie, I kept thinking, 'Okay, how do they do that? Are they gonna explain this to us? Anytime now!' I'm sorry, but that's just lazy deus-ex machina baloney! If these problems were explained, even in only two lines, a lot of members in the audience probably wouldn't be as upset with this movie as they had the right to be!

The Characters:

It shouldn't come to you as a surprise at this point that this film has some big problems. And sadly, the characters have some as well.....most of them, anyway.

One of the film's antagonists, John Smith, is played by Zachary Quinto, famous for his performance as Syler from the TV show 'Heroes,' and you can tell from the get-go that he hasn't lost his knack for playing the villain at all. Sadly, Quinto's performance is probably the best one in the entire film....actually, you could count Ciarán Hinds playing Peter Litvenko as a good performance, but that's not saying much, as he only shows up for the last third of the movie. All the other characters in the film, the protagonists included, are too impassive. What I mean by saying that is they all talk in this collected voice, like everything that happens doesn't faze them at all.  There's no real emotion that comes from the characters, there are no moments where you really feel something from them. They're detached from the audience throughout the whole movie, and that is a BIG mistake when making a film. If the main protagonists are too inaccessible for the audience to relate to, how can they ever grow to become invested?

If the characters just showed a little more emotion, made themselves more human than kick-but acting robots, which is part of the message the film tried to convey, 'Be who you want to be, don't let choice be up to something or someone else,' than the movie would probably be more enjoyable than it is now. I will say this, though; Rupert Friend, the man who plays 47, takes part in some tremendous fight scenes. He could have a good future in films that demand that kind of focused fighting that he exhibited in this film. But for now, we just have to settle with the film's highest quality aspect......

The Action:

Remember that film series, 'The Expendables?' Where all the old actors got together and just punched and shot big guns and blew stuff up? I liked that trilogy. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously, and once you understood that, the film became much more enjoyable. (That's my thought, anyway.) In this film, there are a lot of amazing action scenes, shootouts, car chases, and EXPLOSIONS that would satisfy anyone looking for a mindless action movie. But that isn't what this film is, or tries not to be, at any rate. This film wants to be a serious, action-packed adventure where we really see how Agent 47 and Katia grow as people. And we do see these moments, but they're either too brief or too insubstantial when compared to all the action scenes. In case I'm not being clear, let me say it again: In the 'Expendables,' the action outshined the characters, but that was okay because the characters didn't try to be the main focus of the movie. But in 'Hitman: Agent 47,' 47 and Katia are meant to be the stars alongside the action scenes, but those scenes end up becoming bigger stars than they do!

It's in that respect that I believe that this film ultimately fails in its goals. Thankfully, I don't have to be too sad about that as I get to see people get crushed by cranes and chopped by airplane turbines.

Final Results: To summarize, this film is yet another link in the chain of bad video-game movie adaptations that plague the world of cinema. If you want gunfights and fistfights to spend a few hours on, this should satisfy that urge just fine. But if you want an action film with good characters that undergo some noticeable, human development, I recommend either Ant-Man or Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. (Those films were awesome.)

How Should You See This Movie: Don't see this film in theaters. The price of admission definitely isn't worth it. When the film comes out on demand, or is shown on television, then I recommend seeing it if there isn't anything else good on that night. I would only absolutely recommend this film to people who are either die-hard Hitman fans, or members of the movie community who feel they have to watch every single video-game adaptation. (To those of you who fall in this category, you have my respect - that kind of movie-watching isn't easy.)

Rating: C-