“An action film that both
misses the mark and leaves no mark.”
Rupert Friend dons a black suit, white shirt and red necktie as a
deadly robotic killing machine in Hitman:
Agent 47, a film based on the popular Hitman
videogame series. Serving as directorial debut for commercial veteran Aleksander Bach, this reboot of the 2007 film Hitman
which starred Timothy Olyphant is another, following this year’s Fantastic Four, high-adrenaline but low-sensibility
reimagining of an action hero film.
In 1960s, a government top secret program produces genetically
engineered soldiers. These assassins lack fear, love, compassion and other
emotions but possess incredible strength, speed and intelligence. The program
is eventually abandoned but one subject manages to survive.
Katia Van Dees (Hannah Ware) is the daughter of Dr. Litvenko
(Ciaran Hinds), the master scientist behind the defunct program. She is hiding somewhere
in Berlin, away from the people who believe she can lead them to her father. Hot
on her tail are Agent 47 (Friend), a contract killer whose identity is
preserved in a barcode tattooed at the back of his skull, and John Smith (Zachary Quinto), a superhuman stranger who offers her protection. Unknown to her, Katia
is also genetically modified. With this, she can foresee the immediate future
and in her visions, she vaguely sees a man she does not know. With Syndicate International,
a secret organization intent on reviving the Agent program, also pursuing her, Katia
must rely on her gifts to place her trust on the right people.
Hitman: Agent 47
has a number of things to be proud of. It is fast-paced with plenty of
blood and body counts. It has abundance of car crash, shootouts and
hand-to-hand combats. Such action scenes are decent, impressive and
well-choreographed. Additionally, the film is visually arresting with its
attractive usage of color, symmetries and camera angles. The giant turbine
engine scene, the blood splashed on the Syndicate headquarter’s white interiors
and the cornering of Agent 47’s red Audi are some of the film’s pleasing visual
exhibitions. Plus the Hitman’s and Smith’s hot suits. Their outfits are strikingly
tailored. One last thing, Berlin and Singapore, where the film is shot in
location, are breathtaking.
However,
the film is simply an eye candy. It is delightful on the outside but lacks
substance in the inside. Like many forgettable action movies, it is generic and
formulaic, filled with clichés and overused narratives. It centers on a premise
that a programmed cold-blooded assassin could maintain a conscience (sighs). However,
the plot is too muddled that characters, not the physicality but the
personality, are too interchangeable. It is difficult to identity who is
working for whom and what are the motivations behind their actions. They are all
too cold and too invincible, even Katia. But then, if Katia is more highly-powered
than the Agents, then why does she need anyone’s protection? And not even once she is able to prove her superiority. Besides, we all love underdogs and it is
quite hard to root for people who are strong in all aspects. It is quite
pointless to cheer for such characters.
Friend is
fit for the physical tasks as he smoothly manuevers himself from one action
sequence to another. Yet, he fails to give more intensity to his already
shallow character. He is just there with that dull, angry face. While Hinds and
Quinto are both wasted and underused, newcomer Ware does her best to give
gravity to Katia. Still, her magnetic beauty is not enough to save her
character.
Hitman:
Agent 47 is just pretty to look at and nothing more. It is humourless and
weightless. When a grotesque musical score comes along the leads’ climactic
moment, it was like Terminator-meet-Matrix ala Tarantino-style. Indeed, the
film lacks freshness to warrant any sequel.
Production
Company: 20th Century Fox
Cast: Rupert
Friend, Hannah Ware, Zachary Quinto, Ciaran Hinds, Thomas Kretschmann,
Angelababy
Director: Aleksander
Bach
Screenwriters:
Skip Woods, Michael Finch
Producers:
Charles Gordon, Adrian Askarieh, Alex Young, Skip Woods
Executive
producers: Daniel Alter, Michael Hendrickson, Marco Mehlitz
Director of
photography: Ottar Gudnason
Production
designer: Sebastian Krawinkel
Costume
designer: Bina Daigeler
Editor:
Nicolas De Toth
Music: Marco Beltrami
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