I still don’t understand why you would choose a title as generic as this one for your hot new movie. While this was somewhat acceptable back in the eighties or even nineties, today it is simply not. Even from a marketing standpoint, it doesn’t make any sense. What makes the whole thing even more frustrating is the fact that this movie is actually quite good. Hit Man is an entertaining romantic comedy based on actual events about a meek professor posing as a contract killer. Gary Johnson, a psychology teacher at the local university, was just helping police set up sting operations at first. However, as time went on, he slowly but surely took over the lead role in them. And the legend of Gary was born.
If you want to know more about the true story that inspired the movie Hit Man, you can read Skip Hollandsworth’s article in the Texas Monthly. Back in the early 2000s, Matthew McConaughey became the go-to guy when it comes to the genre of romantic comedies. And I sense the same thing happening with Glen Powell. Oddly enough, Hit Man was directed by none other than one of my favorite directors, Richard Linklater. He’s the guy who offered the role of David Wooderson to young McConaughey in the nineties stoner coming-of-age classic Dazed and Confused. While his rom-com trilogy Before Sunrise, Sunset, and Midnight is the most popular one, I much prefer his off-beat movies like Bernie, Tape, and A Scanner Darkly.
Here, he had one hell of a story at his hands but the end results feel far too commercial and gimmicky. It feels like any other Netflix action comedy and there are dozens and dozens of them. Some of them are quite bad but most of them are watchable. Hit Man is better than almost all of those movies thanks to great direction, stylish visuals, and a charming cast. Glen Powell was fucking awesome as Gary Johnson displaying huge amounts of charisma, talent, and screen presence. And I guess he’s easy on the eye as well. Moreover, Powell also narrates the whole movie, not just keeping us in the loop but also generating atmosphere.
A noir-light atmosphere that will get darker and darker as the story progresses. Opposite of him, we have the delightful Adria Arjona, who, just like Glen, slowly built up her career proving that she’s a great actress one movie at a time. I remember first seeing her in The Belko Experiment and I mentioned this as well in my review of her latest movie Blink Twice. So, you have two rising stars coming together to tell a fairly lighthearted and interesting story, what’s not to like here? I also have to add to that list Austin Amelio who plays Jasper, a tough cop working on the edge of law. His character was the most fun for me and Amelio gave one hell of a performance here.
You can consider Hit Man a guilty pleasure movie, something to relax with after a hard day at work. Or perhaps watch during the weekend, the choice is yours. The atmosphere is quite energetic and I only wish they’d kept the story in the late 80s and early 90s. After all, that’s when it really happened and, as a millennial, I really like that retro vibe. A retro vibe that’s now mostly reduced to a commercial gimmick to get us to the theaters. Speaking of gimmicks, the whole disguise thing was a bit turbocharged but I guess it was fun. And I notice that a lot of other viewers list it as a highly entertaining part of the movie.
The ending, on the other hand, might be a tough pill to swallow for some. I didn’t take it too seriously, just like the movie but I did find it odd. The whole second part of the movie is a bit iffy. However, it is still good and perfectly watchable.
Director: Richard Linklater
Writers: Richard Linklater, Glen Powell, Skip Hollandsworth
Cast: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Molly Bernard, Evan Holtzman
Fun Facts: The main romantic twist in the story did not happen in real life. Director Richard Linklater and Glen Powell came up with the whole thing on their on after discussing the details of the real case. However, Gary Johnson did let one slide, at least that’s what Powell said after he read an article about him.
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IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20215968/
