HITMAN (2007)

Directed By: Xavier Gens 
Written By: Skip Woods 
Cinematography By: Laurent Bares 
Editor: Carlo Rizzo & Antoine Vareille 

 Cast: Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott, Olga Kurylenko, Robert Knepper, Henry Ian Cusick, Eriq Ebounaey

A gun-for-hire "Hitman" is a genetically-engineered, elite assassin known only as Agent 47 hired by a group known only as 'The Organization' is ensnared in a political conspiracy, which finds him pursued by both Interpol and the Russian military as he treks across Eastern Europe. But even 47 couldn't anticipate a "random equation" in his life exactitude: the unexpected stirrings of his conscience and the unfamiliar emotions aroused in him by a mysterious Russian woman.

Vin Diesel Was Supposed to star in this film. I guess after being afraid of being Typecast as purely an action hero or worried it borrowed too much from the series of action films he was already in he dropped out only to be replaced by Timothy Olyphant. While staying on as Executive Producer. Which might explain while he has had an eclectic career and It has been somewhat successful. It has never Reached the Heights of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham (who was actually the first choice to replace Mr. Diesel in this film.) He has also chosen to be more picky about his parts.

The whole fun of playing a video game is the you are there factor. You are in control of the action around you in dangerous situations, how will you react?

Another factor is the wonder of what will you see? What surprised are in store for you? But all o.k. frequently when video games are made into movies.

The filmmakers miss the point of the original source an get it all wrong. They get bogged down in the originals story or create a back story that wasn't there to begin with. One of the most distracting things right off is that most of the footage from the opening credits is from footage from the TV show Dark Angel, which shares a similar story line about genetically enhanced children trained as super assassins and soldiers.

The actors have nothing to play off of because there is no real character. At least nothing original. So we are just left with visuals. Which can help, so it can hopefully be something we haven't seen before or at least make something we have seen before fresh( ie THE BOURNE IDENTITY) but this film sticks to it's cliches. One man taking on a group of assassins all at once. Who of course attack him one by one. Even though The times of group beatings that you hear on the news all the time. The hero emerges from these fights with finesse an hardly a scratch on him and if he does, It is by a sneak attack from a foe he thought he finished while fighting a new one, or he is distracted for a second, or the guy he is fighting is the most dangerous one of the group. The actors here are more required to model then act, look like the character stay strong but silent, talk only when you have to go do dangerous stunt in action sequence. Repeat, but somewhere in there she the girl. Kiss or get into a love scene. Then face villain at end. That is pretty much the blueprint for these films and cast an exotic foreign born beauty for the female lead to also model clothing or lack thereof. Film in a foreign locale. It helps keep costs down and usually directed by a stylish first time director or feeling director making his is film debut. That is this film In a nutshell.

Director Xavier Gens filmed the movie hoping for a second movie, so he intentionally left out 47's origins, but included characters to show he is a clone. However when the studio re-filmed the movie they not only included dialogue about his origins, but also changed them, making it impossible for any sequels to explain them as they are told in the game.

There is nothing too original here, but if you are into action films. You won't be bored even though it disappoints on the most important quality this toe of film is supposed to have. The action sequences feel basic and seem to be repetitive.

This time the assassin who has been raised as a killing machine has a change of heart and wants, not only to know why he has been hired to do this, but by whom? He has a bar-code tattoo and a bald head as do all the men who work for this assassination group yet. No one notices them or finds a similarity at these kill scenes.

So the company attacks him as he always eliminates them with ease. along the way he picks up a plucky Russian prostitute who helps him out on his mission and also whom he has to save a bunch of times as her job is a damsel in distress. Not only does he have to duck his agency, but also Interpol. As he Is trying to kill a Russian czar. Then a bunch of stuff explodes while it occasionally has nice sights to see.

Both Olga Kurylenko and Xavier Gens said the train platform sequence was one of their favorite scenes - a scene that would later be replaced shortly before the movie was released.

Xavier Gens was removed from his directing/editing position after Fox decided to go back and re-shoot/re-edit the movie in October 2007. Fox denied this, claiming he was still directing/editing, however it was later confirmed as true by Timothy Olyphant. Which might explain the disappointing nature of this film.

Director Xavier Gens was originally asked by the studio to make the movie PG-13, which he refused to do because of the source material. He was allowed to shoot the movie aiming for an R, however in the final stages, he was removed and Nicolas De Toth was brought in to re-edit the movie for commercial purposes, as he did with LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (he is thanked in the credits for this editing)

While Dougray Scott often pulls a cigarette out, he never actually manages to light one.

This film is still vapid and empty. It just has no soul. Just like it's lead character this film is bland. You Know what's going to happen at the beginning of each scene. So no surprises bough it tries and it's style is intense. If you are into eurotrash this is the film for you.

Skip it

 Grade: D