The hitman in Richard Linklater's Hit Man is an ordinary man. He teaches psychology and philosophy classes at the University of New Orleans, and although he is a part-time undercover officer for the police department, his main job is to hide cameras and mics and get good recordings, mostly in murder-for-hire cases. In other words, life is pretty unexciting. The man sits with his colleagues inside a van and makes sure the audio is recorded perfectly for evidence. Oh, his name is Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), and he has two cats named Ego and Id. Later, during one of his lectures, Gary explains, "The Superego is our conscience. It rewards us for behaving properly and adhering to social norms, and moralistic standards. So, the Id...as humans, we have desires, and instincts that are primitive. Urges that are solely based on the pursuit of pleasure, ignoring the consequences. Now, the ego is the middleman. The bridge between instinct and logic, the law and the lawless. Forever attempting to maximize pleasure while minimizing the cost."
Written by Linklater and Powell and based on Skip Hollandsworth's 2001 Texas Monthly magazine article, Hit Man finds Gary going after maximum pleasure with minimum cost. It all begins when, one day, Gary is asked to replace an undercover cop named Jasper (Austin Amelio), who gets suspended for jacking up some teenagers. Gary is suddenly thrust into the spotlight. He is told to act as a contract killer to gather audio evidence against those who hire him for his services. Gary naturally, at first, hesitates. What does he know about killing people, right? Well, what do you know! Gary turns out to be a natural. Pay attention to the conversation between Gary and his first target. The man inquires how Gary will carry out the execution, and he receives meticulous details regarding the disposal of teeth and fingers. This serves as an indication that Hit Man is concerned with minute descriptions and information. This is not your typical "shoot 'em up" picture, the kind Gary talks about as clips from other hitman movies featuring violent shootouts come and go like a PowerPoint presentation (it feels as if the movie, like Gary, the professor, is giving us a lecture).
No, Hit Man also deals with what occurs after Gary's mission is completed. We see him in courtrooms defending himself. Go back to the site of Gary's first mission as a hitman. He falls back on clichés when asked to take over someone else's position without solid preparation. Gary applies pressure on his eyebrows, causing a line to appear in the middle to present himself as intimidating and serious. His face becomes more relaxed once he gets used to his new situation. Gary watches YouTube videos and does background checks on his "clients" to give them a hitman they could trust without hesitation. The filmmakers understand that it's boring to sit through scenes consisting of nothing but loud explosions and mindless violence. There is juice in the planning, the preparations, and the "small things," like how the characters establish a connection with their victims, which can be more delicious and rewarding than just another gunfire sequence. Gary almost becomes friends with the people who hire him for murder, but the betrayal they feel comes in the form of humor. Nonetheless, one can comprehend how shocked those people might have been after learning the truth about Gary through Gary's own experience of receiving shocks after gradually discovering a few things about Maddy Masters (Adria Arjona).
Who is she? A devoted wife, tired of her husband (Evan Holtzman). Gary meets Maddy as Ron, and they develop a lively chemistry between them. Maddy, for a moment, even forgets the purpose behind her visit and thinks she is on a date. "So, what do you do?" she asks, as if trying to become familiar with a man she met on Tinder or through a friend. The breezy chemistry, the quickness with which the two characters arrive at the same frequency (listen to their spontaneous cat conversation), saves them later when Maddy is suspected of murder, and Gary is sent to her with a wire. In the hands of Arjona, Maddy comes across as one of those naive-looking girls who actually have lewd, dirty thoughts in their minds more than you could ever suspect them of harboring. This is not your usual femme fatale who purposefully acts innocent or slutty to trap a man to do her bidding like, say, Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity - or is she? Maddy is as sexually active as any other woman. You understand how much she likes her freedom when she mentions how her husband never allowed her to wear mini skirts. Maddy wants her life to be filled with excitement, and the character gets that taste of immense pleasure by dating a "contract killer." You can notice a sparkle in her eyes when she tells her ex-husband that Gary (or call him Ron) is a professional. Here is a woman who revels in her primitive urges without thinking much about the consequences (she kills first and thinks later). And the way she exudes seductive vibes in front of Ron makes you believe that Gary would be a fool if he fails to accept her invitation.
We find ourselves laughing at the semblance of normalcy that Linklater gives to Hit Man. The movie effectively convinces us that murderers look like us and live normally among us. This thought isn't meant to be chilling, and Linklater sends you out with a lot of chuckles. Some of the scenes could have benefitted from some tension. When Gary is sent to Maddy's house to catch her, you don't hold your breath or worry about the outcome. Then there is Jasper, who doesn't come across as a tough opponent, and I wish the movie had gotten rid of that scene where Gary's ex-wife tells him how people can change themselves. Yet, Hit Man is so absorbing that you forget about everything happening in the world or your surroundings for 1 hour and 55 minutes. It's very enjoyable.
Final Score- [8/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times