Linklater’s latest movie is a missed opportunity
What does it mean to truly know yourself? This is the question philosophy professor Gary Johnson (Glenn Powell) asks his college students during one of his classes. However, it’s also a question he might ask himself.
On the surface, Gary is a rather dull teacher and occasional bird watcher who shares his home with his cats, Id and Ego. He’s an average type of guy – the kind of person you would pass by in the street and not even notice. However, he’s more than just a boring college professor. He also works with local law enforcement, initially as an IT expert and then as a pretend hitman in order to help the police catch those who utilize the services of murderers for hire.
Gary takes to his new side hustle like a duck to concrete – i.e. not very well – as the life of a faux hitman is far from his normal reality. However, it’s not long before he warms to his fake ‘profession,’ embracing his job by doing everything a real hitman would do, such as wearing disguises and putting on false accents.
All goes well until Gary meets a woman named Madison (Adria Arjona) who wants him to kill her abusive husband. To the police, she’s just another person for Gary to manipulate before her inevitable arrest. But as Gary gets close to her, their relationship becomes more intimate and he’s faced with a quandary – work with the police to help them secure their prey or protect her from the law.
Powell and Arjona have undeniable chemistry together, so their growing romance is quite credible. Their relationship threatens to move the movie into rom-com territory, though as sexy as the pair are, the script is never as funny as it could have been. That being said, I’m not sure Linklater was aiming for big laughs anyway. His movie is more a philosophical study of identity than anything befitting one particular genre, so you shouldn’t expect it to follow conventional norms.
Hit Man is inspired by the true story of the real-life Gary Johnson, who really did pose as a professional killer to help police catch those with murderous intent. So, while some of what we see on screen might appear unbelievable, there’s a chance that certain elements of the film are true. What isn’t true, however, is the romance between Gary and Madison. The real Gary Johnson did help a woman get out of an abusive situation but according to media reports, they didn’t become a couple.
The movie is good fun for the most part but there are areas where the script is lacking. For one thing, Gary’s transition from straight-laced college prof to charming ‘killer’ is rushed, with little in the way of character depth as he adjusts to his new profession. More scenes of him struggling with his new persona(s) would have helped us relate to him more. Instead, he quickly fits into the skin of a suave hitman, which is a bit odd, considering what we know of his character at the beginning of the movie.
Gary isn’t the only character who is thinly written. Madison is pretty one-note too, as are some of the side characters, including the fake hitman that Gary replaces when he’s hired to take on the role.
Despite these issues, Hit Man is an enjoyable movie but I don’t think it’s one of Linklater’s best. Performance-wise, the actors knock it out of the park, but with under-developed characters, a meandering narrative, and an overlong running time, it’s more of a miss than a hit.
Ultimately, Hit Man is a breezy comedy without many laughs and a thriller without any real thrills. It’s far from being a bad movie – I appreciate the points Linklater is making within the story – but for this reviewer, it’s not a contender for best movie of the year, despite what other critics are saying.
Read More: Hit Man – Ending Explained
Feel free to check out more of our movie reviews here!
-
Verdict - 6.5/10
6.5/10