Movie Preview: Hitman: Agent 47
Action fans looking for something fast and loud on their streaming devices have a fresh target on their home screens this week. Hitman: Agent 47 serves as a high-octane reboot of the popular video game franchise, bringing the bald, barcode-tattooed assassin back to the big screen format. Directed by Aleksander Bach in his feature directorial debut, the story kicks into high gear across the streets of Berlin and Singapore as a ruthless syndicate tries to unlock the secrets behind genetically engineered super-killers.
The plot centers on Agent 47, an elite hitman built from birth to be the ultimate killing machine, who tracks down a young woman named Katia in search of her missing father. Filled with stylized gunfights, high-speed car chases featuring custom Audis, and high-tech corporate espionage, the movie skips complex storytelling in favor of non-stop adrenaline. If you are looking for an easy action fix on your couch without having to think too hard, this release promises plenty of noise and flying bullets.
Review by Ben Dover
Look, I usually hate video game movies. They are made for teenagers who sit in dark rooms eating cheese puffs and screaming into plastic headsets all night. So when I picked up my remote control to watch Hitman: Agent 47 on streaming, I was fully prepared to throw my shoe at the television set. But to my complete shock, this ridiculous movie is actually a blast. It is stupid, it is loud, and it makes zero logical sense, but it knows exactly what it is and does not waste my time trying to be high art.
Rupert Friend plays Agent 47, a guy with no hair, no facial expression, and a red tie that makes him look like an angry bank manager who lost his desk. In the video games, you are supposed to sneak around in disguises like a ghost. In this movie, 47 just walks right into the middle of a busy city plaza and shoots fifty guys in broad daylight. Is it subtle? Not at all. Is it entertaining? Absolutely. He flips cars, uses exploding handcuffs, and walks away from giant fireballs without even blinking his eyes.
Then you have Zachary Quinto playing a guy named John Smith. Smith starts off acting like he wants to protect the girl, Katia, played by Hannah Ware. But halfway through the movie, you find out Smith is actually a bad guy who injected himself with metal under his skin. That means bullets literally bounce off his ribs. It sounds completely insane because it is insane. The two of them beat each other up inside a jet engine testing facility, and later a helicopter flies straight through the front window of an office building lobby. It is totally absurd, and that is why I enjoyed every minute of it.
Don’t get me wrong, I still found plenty of things to hate. The dialogue sounds like it was written by a ten-year-old boy who drank three cans of energy drink. Today’s youth probably think this passes for profound screenwriting, but it is just trashy popcorn dialogue. Also, Katia suddenly gets super-assassin instincts just by taking a deep breath and looking at shadows. That is complete nonsense. But compared to the pretentious three-hour snooze fests Hollywood pumps out every week, a ninety-minute action mess was a breath of fresh air.
If you go into this expecting an Oscar-winning performance, you deserve to lose your subscription money. But if you want to turn off your brain, crack open a cold beer, and watch a bald guy blow up half of Singapore, Hitman: Agent 47 gets the job done. It is trash, but it is top-tier trash that kept this cranky old man awake on a Tuesday night.
Cast
- Rupert Friend as Agent 47:The bald, genetically modified assassin who wears a sharp suit, never smiles, and treats every room like a target range.
- Hannah Ware as Katia van Dees:A mysterious woman searching for her lost father who discovers she has hyper-senses and lethal combat skills of her own.
- Zachary Quinto as John Smith: A rogue operative working for Syndicate International who upgraded his body with sub-dermal titanium armor.
- Ciarán Hinds as Dr. Piotr Litvenko:The original scientist who created the Agent program decades ago before going into hiding out of guilt.
- Thomas Kretschmann as Antoine Le Clerq: The ruthless head of Syndicate International who spends the entire movie sitting in a safe room giving orders.
Special Effects
The special effects are a wild mixed bag of practical stunts and cheesy digital computer graphics. The real vehicle stunts, like a bright red Audi getting pinned down by high-power cables in a garage, look fantastic and feel grounded. On the flip side, the computer-generated helicopter crashing into the skyscraper looks like footage from a video game made twenty years ago. The digital blood spray also looks pretty cheap, but the fast martial arts fights and explosion setups move so quickly that you barely have time to care.
Music
Composer Marco Beltrami handles the soundtrack, and it sounds like someone threw a synthesizer down a long flight of stairs while a bass drum kept banging. It is full of loud electronic beats and heavy metallic clanging designed to keep your heart racing during shootouts. You will not be humming any of these songs in the shower tomorrow morning, but it fits the high-tech, mechanical feel of the action sequences perfectly.
Rating
3.5 out of 5 Stars – Look I get it, it’s not good, but its exactly what it says it is, and that’s refreshing.
Editors Note: Ben Dover actually enjoyed a video game movie, somebody check the weather in hell!
Synopsis and Plot Breakdown
The movie opens with a historical recap explaining the creation of the Agent program. Decades ago, scientist Dr. Piotr Litvenko created genetically modified human beings with superior physical strength, lightning-fast reflexes, and high intelligence, while completely wiping out their capacity for fear or empathy. Realizing he created heartless monsters, Litvenko destroyed his research and went into hiding. Years later, a powerful organization called Syndicate International attempts to recreate the program, but they fail because they lack Litvenko’s exact genetic formula.
Syndicate International tracks down Katia van Dees, a young woman living in Berlin who suffers from extreme sensory overload and panic attacks. They figure out that Katia is Litvenko’s daughter and believe she holds the key to tracking him down.An operative named John Smith finds Katia first, claiming he wants to protect her from a legendary assassin known as Agent 47. When 47 attacks them inside a subway station, Smith pulls Katia away into hiding.
Agent 47 corners Katia inside a secure embassy building and reveals the truth. Smith is actually working for Syndicate International and was surgically enhanced with titanium body armor. Furthermore, 47 explains that Katia is not just Litvenko’s daughter, she is actually “Agent 90,” a prototype endowed with heightened spatial awareness. Instead of trying to kill her, 47 was sent to help her locate her father before the Syndicate can capture him.
Using Katia’s hyper-sensory abilities, the duo pinpoints Litvenko’s location at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. They travel there and reunite Katia with her ailing father, but Syndicate forces track them down. A major firefight breaks out, resulting in Litvenko being captured and taken to the top floor of Syndicate International’s high-tech skyscraper headquarters.
Agent 47 and Katia launch a full assault on the Syndicate tower. Katia uses her newly embraced assassin skills to take down guards, while 47 guns down hordes of mercenaries in the lobby and elevator shafts. On the helipad rooftop, 47 defeats John Smith by shocking him with high-voltage electrical cables. Meanwhile, Syndicate CEO Antoine Le Clerq tries to escape in a helicopter with Litvenko. Litvenko detonates a hidden explosive inside his asthma inhaler, destroying the helicopter and killing both himself and Le Clerq. Back inside, 47 and Katia are confronted by Agent 48, a clone sent to finish them, setting up one last battle.
Famous Quotes
- “You are bound by your emotions. That is why you will fail.”
- “It’s five against one.” / “Yes, see your mistake?”
- “You can’t fight what you are.”
- “My name is not Katia. It’s 90.”
- “You are not a person. You are a weapon.”
Interesting Facts
- Actor Rupert Friend performed the vast majority of his own physical stunts and martial arts fight choreography throughout the film.
- Paul Walker was originally cast to play Agent 47, but after his tragic passing in 2013, Rupert Friend took over the lead role.
- The movie was filmed extensively on location in Berlin and Singapore, making it one of the major Hollywood action movies allowed to shoot in Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay.
- Director Aleksander Bach made his feature film directorial debut with this project after spending years directing high-budget television commercials.
- The bright red Audi RS7 featured during the Berlin car chase sequence was specially provided and tuned by Audi specifically for the film’s driving stunts.
Photos
