Hitman: Agent 47
Director: Alexander Bach
Cast: Rupert Friend, Zachary Quinto, Hannah Ware, Thomas Kretschman, Ciaran Hinds, Emilio Rivera, Anglababy, Dan Bakkendahl, Jerry Hoffman, Rolf Kanies
Rating: B-
Car chases, gun battles, heads flying off, blood splattering everywhere, and stylized hand-to-hand combat are basic ingredients for Hitman: Agent 47, the latest super soldier movie to hit theaters this summer. Squeezing in at the last minute to cash on the 2015 summer movie frenzy, this latest film about a cold-blooded emotionless assassin (that is engineered to be faster, smarter and more fearless than any normal human being) puts the pedal to the metal and never hits the brakes. Is Hitman: Agent 47, a film based on a video game, the next big espionage thriller, or just another mindless action flick that defies all logic?
Katia Van Dees (Hannah Ware), a young woman haunted by broken memories from her past that she can’t piece together, is in Germany trying to identify the face of a man she sees over and over again. Her hope is that once she can figure out who the man is in her fragmented memories, she will then be able to bring together missing pieces of her life. Moving quickly through the streets is Agent 47 (Rupert Friend), a genetically created killing machine who is in pursuit of Katia. The agent’s employer believes that Katia is the connection to a shutdown government program that modified its subjects to be cold blooded ruthless killers. Soon it is revealed that Katia possesses clairvoyant abilities as well as an intelligence level well above average.
Able to foresee that someone is coming for her, Katia desperately tries to escape capture when she runs into John Smith (Zachary Quinto). Much to Katia’s surprise John knows everything about her and he pleads with her to take a leap of faith and trust him so that he can protect her from Agent 47. John tells Katia that the man in her visions is Dr. Litvenko (Ciaran Hinds), who is responsible for creating the agent program meant for designing super soldiers. It turns out that Katia is the key to finding the scientist so that the wrong people don’t get hold of him and force him to start up the secret government program for their own evil purposes.
Sporting a slick black suit with a bright red tie, Rupert Friend is cool as a cucumber in the role of the steel-eyed unflinching killer. With not too much to say, Friend actually brings his character to life as someone who still has a few soft spots despite his show-no-mercy upbringing. Sadly, Zachary Quinto, Thomas Kretschmann, and Ciaran Hinds are all underutilized in the storyline. All three actors haven proven that they are strong performers and it is a pity that their parts weren’t better written. Pouty-lipped high cheek-boned actress Hannah Ware does a reasonable job pulling off her role as confused damsel in distress, but it makes no sense why a clairvoyant super brain would need protecting in the first place. The actress does add a little extra spark once her character starts realizing her full potential.
The film has some good visuals from beautiful gardens, the amazing Singapore skyline, the lovely streets of Salzburg, and a gratuitous swimming pool scene. Adding to the look of the film are the choreographed fight scenes that look more like a dance routines due to how perfect each move is executed. Moviegoers have seen more impressive fight sequences in other films, but what is shown in Hitman: Agent 47 is still enjoyable to watch.
The script for this movie initially is very muddled and it is not clear what the villains are really hoping to accomplish. There is quite a bit of time spent on spilling blood and gore and not enough time spent on really developing a complex and intriguing storyline. The “saving the girl” theme did not work in this story in light of the fact that the female heroine was actually supposed to be a sort of superwoman. There are some surprise twists and turns to the true identity of some of the characters, but the plot never gets fully developed in this latest Hollywood thriller.
Hitman: Agent 47 won’t get on the top ten list with past films about super advanced beings like The Terminator, The Matrix or Blade Runner. But for audiences that don’t spend time analyzing the film and figuring out its flaws, they can still have some end of summer fun watching some pretty cool stunts and fast moving action done with just the right amount of pizzazz to keep things interesting.
