Based on the popular video game, Hitman follows the now - standard Bourne / Mission Impossible formula of the highly - trained assassin who becomes embroiled in a vast international conspiracy after he’s betrayed by the clandestine organization that employs him.. Hitman ( Surprisingly enough ) centres on a highly - trained assassin ( Timothy Olyphant ) branded Agent 47 at birth, who sends people off to see their favourite dead pets in a stylised fashion, for a living.. When a job gets severely complicated, he finds himself ( And a kind - hearted hooker ) pursued by both Interpol and the Russian military across Eastern Europe.. This forces him to use his highly - developed skills to kill anyone who gets in his way..

Rated: [ R ]

Cinema release: 21st November 2007 - US

6th December 2007 - Australia

Running time: 100 minutes

Stars: Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott, Olga Kurylenko, Robert Knepper

Where to begin and what would you like to hear about first? Well the religious elements of Hitman are only glossed over.. The opening credits sequence includes brief snippets of 47’s ” origin,” but there’s no context for it or why “ Ave Maria ” is playing, so this will confuse those who have not played the game.. There’s never any mention of the church, although the character does carry a key in the shape of a cross.. Viewers without any understanding of the game, clearly a large audience that Fox and the filmmakers are hoping to bring into cinemas, will leave scratching their heads about who 47 is, why he’s doing what he’s doing and what exactly the Organization really does..

The opening credits sequence takes us through Agent 47’s ( Olyphant ) formative years through footage taken from defunct television series Dark Angel ( Seriously, that’s what I thought I was watching ).. We are told of The Organization, a vaguely Catholic Church-like organization, and how they handpicked their soldiers from the orphaned youth of the world.. They would then be trained in all forms of killing, forget how to be a human as that would just get in the way; all the masterminds wanted were pure, emotionless killing machines.. However, for as much training and programming they put their chosen through, there is no way to predict, completely, how anyone will react in a given situation, no matter how far back their emotions are repressed..

The movie IS rated R and there is plenty of blood and action to testify to that.. And that’s a good thing, considering there isn’t much dialogue to carry Xavier Gens’ film.. The plot is an original one that combines elements taken from the series and molds them into a new adventure.. The plot is pretty straightforward with little in the way of twists or surprises.. What makes this worthy of watching at all is the action, and to some extent, the performances.. There are plenty of stylish fights using fists, guns, and swords.. There isn’t anything we haven’t seen before, but that doesn’t take away from the ” cool ” factor..
The plot wasn’t anything spectacularly special.. If you really thought about it, the plot used in this film has been done before and maybe even a bit cliche in these types of movies..

When I think of video game film adaptations nothing great comes to mind.. This is extremely unfortunate as there are many video games that could make great movies.. How is it possible that these screenwriters and directors can start with such a great foundation and twist it into something that has no resemblance to what it started out being? Just look at the many video game adaptations from the past: Super Mario Bros., Double Dragon, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Doom, Resident Evil, Alone in the Dark, Silent Hill.. One of my favorite games of all time was the original Resident Evil for Playstation.. Unfortunately, I went to see it and was disgusted with how Paul W.S. Anderson was able to completely destroy everything I had hoped for.. With the exception of Mortal Kombat, which is not a great film but I still enjoy, every video game adaptation has been un - enjoyable until I watched Hitman..

While Hitman might be the most enjoyable video game adaptation I have ever seen, that doesn’t make it a great movie by any means.. The performances in Hitman were only okay, with the exception of Olyphant.. He reminds me a lot of Matt Damon in the first Bourne film.. In comparison to the later movies in the series, Damon seemed very choreographed and still trying to figure out how to be an action hero.. After watching The Bourne Ultimatum, I can say that Damon has reached action hero status.. Olyphant is just starting down that road.. The action scenes were cool but still a bit slow and rehearsed due to Olyphant’s lack of experience acting in such physical scenes.. I look forward to seeing him in the same type of film in a few years..

Olyphant’s not only eerily similar physically to his game counterpart, but gets far more mileage out of 47 than the unnecessarily over - complicated script should warrant.. He genuinely deserves A - list status, but will sadly not find it headlining this.. I feel he looks to young for this role and still believe Jason Statham should have been cast as the lead, as he would have been a strong choice.. You can check out what could have been here.. What is a worry is I enjoy this fan made trailer to the actual movie..

Where Hitman fails is in the script.. The screenplay fails to go anywhere beyond the surface.. What little depth there is is left to the actors to try and drag out from in between the words on the page.. What is the deal with those behind the Organization? Could this be the same group responsible for Jason Bourne? I smell crossover potential! What is the story surrounding Belicoff? There are certainly more political aspects to be explored to make this thread interesting..

As I finished viewing the movie, my mind momentarily wandered back to the trailers, which both point towards an epic tale of good against evil with 47 at the center.. We get lines like: ” Engineered from Darkness,” ” Protected by Divinity,” ” Bred from the world’s deadliest criminals,” ” Raised by an exiled Brotherhood of the Church ” and ” Most believe his very existence is a sin..” I did not get any of that from this movie..

It bothers me that there is very little growth and we are cheated by the trailers promising something that isn’t there.. Sure, trailers have been known to be misleading, but this takes the cake.. There is a lot of potential here, but it is left unexplored.. Some elements can be extracted from what you see, but there is nothing presented to truly support any findings.. The end result is a mixture of Dark Angel, The Transporter, and James Bond that came out of the oven half - baked.. Perhaps when a sequel is made we will get a little more depth, but I am not holding my breath..

While Olyphant makes for a rather slight 47, there’s a menace and intelligence behind the eyes that makes up for that.. He has a haunted quality to him that compensates to a degree for how little we know about him and how he came to be.. Olyphant engages in shootouts, a sword duel, hand - to - hand combat, and clever escapes.. It’s all very entertaining, and Olyphant gets credit for handing the physical aspects of his role beautifully..

Despite the flaws in character and dialogue, Gens gave Hitman a striking look, and he moves the story with an intensity that viewers should appreciate even if they aren’t completely on board.. Bottom line: It’s an enjoyable adventure film, as long as one doesn’t think too hard about it.. Do that, and you’ll be just like a hitman under fire: one step ahead..

Fans of the bestselling Hitman videogame might find something to embrace in this underwhelming adaptation, but I think they should stick with the game, but I suspect the non - gamers in the audience will be sorely disappointed.. Hitman is for those action junkies who don’t care about story and just want to see a bunch of cool fight scenes..

Much has been made about the film’s violence reportedly being toned down, but until we see a director’s cut DVD we’ll never know for sure how bloody it might have been.. As is there are several nasty deaths throughout, but Hitman is no more kill - crazy than a Bourne, Die Hard or Lethal Weapon film.. Whether or not that’s bloody enough for fans of the game remains to be seen.. Ultimately, Hitman is less a ” videogame movie ” than it is a rather generic but nevertheless engaging action flick.. Hitman could have been even better had we’d gotten to know more about The Organization and Agent 47..

Besides the what has been mentioned above, I only have two other gripes.. One, the ending! Not what happens at the end or the conclusion of the film but the VERY end.. I am talking about the last few frames of the movie.. It wasn’t bad just very CHEESY and I could’ve lived without it.. And two, there is a moment in the film where the camera is in position to do kind of like a third person perspective of him walking down a hallway.. It took me a second but I soon realized what i was looking at, the GAME! It snapped and I smiled.. It was a nice fan service.. This isn’t the gripe, the gripe is that they showed it again and I 100% wanted them to flash a HUD for a second.. Regardless, I chuckled..

I personally was looking forward to this movie since I heard it was being made, as I am a BIG fan of the Hitman game series.. Unfortunately, my expectations were high, and would say I was lucky to have gotten half.. I give Hitman 2.5 out of 5..

The movie had an interesting Exectuive Producer.. Vin Diesel.. Why is this such a big deal? He is a self - proclaimed video game nerd.. In xXx he asked to add a tattoo on his stomach.. On it, it said ” Melkor..” so what, right? That was his Dungeons & Dragons‘ character name.. And he also has made a video game company? I thought he was trying to get one but apparently he has one now.. So I believe this says a lot.. And I’d love to see what he could do with other video games..