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Hitman (2007)
Rated: 15
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Theatrical Release: 30-11-2007
Synopsis: Based on the popular Playstation 2 game, HITMAN chronicles the frame-up and retribution-packed odyssey of Number 47 (Timothy Olyphant), a bald assassin raised from birth to be a killer and tattooed with a barcode on the back of his head. There's lots of BOURNE SUPREMACY-style flash-edits... Based on the popular Playstation 2 game, HITMAN chronicles the frame-up and retribution-packed odyssey of Number 47 (Timothy Olyphant), a bald assassin raised from birth to be a killer and tattooed with a barcode on the back of his head. There's lots of BOURNE SUPREMACY-style flash-edits and superhuman stunt work as 47 seeks to find out why moderate Russian presidential nominee Belicoff (Ulrich Thomsen) was the client for his own assassination, a hit that 47 pulled off perfectly, except for one hitch: the target's still alive. For romantic interest we have Olga Kurylenko as a foxy Russian prostitute sold into slavery by the evil Belicoff. She and 47 wind up on the lam together but they'll never be safe as long as Belicoff is still alive. Meanwhile, Interpol agent Mike Whittier (Dougray Scott) has been tracking 47 for years; he's on the scent and about to close in. Luc Besson was the producer on this, and fans of his TRANSPORTER, THE PROFESSIONAL and LA FEMME NIKITA films will eat it up, as it's got the same narrative arc, same hyper-kinetic shoot-em-up flavor, vividly saturated colors, swooping camerawork, tightly choreographed fights, and lots of blood flying from the copious bullet wounds. Vin Diesel executive produced, and one wonders what stopped his big bald head from filling the screen in the lead, but no matter, as Olyphant does a thorough job, speaking in a measured drawl that recalls, of all people, Clint Eastwood in his DIRTY HARRY days. [More]
Genre: Action/Adventure
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott, Olga Kurylenko, Robert Knepper, Ulrich Thomsen
Screenwriter: Skip Woods
Producer: Pierre-Ange Le Pogam, Charles Gordon, Adrian Askarieh
Composer: Geoff Zanelli
DVD Info
Release:
Nov 3, 2008
DVD Features:
- Keep Case
- Dual Side
Audio:
- Dolby Digital Surround - French, Spanish
- Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
- DTS HD 5.1 - English
- Subtitles - English, French, Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
- Alternate Scenes - 1. Deleted Scenes (4)
- 2. Alternate Ending
- Trailers - Forced Trailers (3)
- Disc 1/Side A: HITMAN - Full Frame
- Full Frame - 1.31
- Disc 1 Side B: HITMAN - Widescreen
Additional Release Material:
- Widescreen - 2.35
- Trailers - 20th Century Fox Trailer Farm (6)
Reviews
The film's target audience - dummies everywhere - will be blown away.
It's based on a computer game, Hitman (see what they did with that title?), though even when it reaches maximum velocity, it's still panting behind The Bourne Ultimatum for style and excitement.
Rubbish, of course, but some teenage boys love this stuff. Don't rule out sequels.
This film is like watching the actual game played by someone with slow reactions. That's not much of a spectator sport.
Obviously made to appeal to the computer game’s fans, it still begs the question: How does a film with this level of violence get a certificate of 15?
Xavier Gens should have stuck to making music videos rather than inflict his goldfish-like attention-span on cinema.
It might just be one of the best videogame adaptations ever made, which isn’t saying much. It could also be the film of the week which, come to think of it, isn’t saying much either.
Yet another depressing confirmation of the inability of filmmakers to turn decent videogames into decent films.
A soulless, slackly directed, suspense-free exercise in misanthropy packed with unconvincing stereotypes
Hitman continues the grand Hollywood tradition of completely failing to turn a computer game into a decent movie.
There’s a cool opening credits sequence, but beyond that ‘Hitman’ doesn’t make much sense, is encumbered by clunky dialogue, some amateurish performances and clichéd set-pieces we’ve seen umpteen times before.
Hitman starts well but quickly degenerates into a confusing, badly plotted mess, enlivened only by the occasional gunfight and the luminous presence of Olga Kurylenko.
A bit po-faced and unremarkable; more outrageousness and humour would have helped.
Incoherent and utterly lacking in panache, style or originality, Hitman is missing an ‘s’.
An army of skinhead assassins in matching suits seems a bit conspicuous for an agency supposedly shrouded in secrecy.
A slick take on sniping, strangling, homicidal body doubles, and a seductive Moscow sex slave in distress, the property of a local baddie, whom the hero invites to tag along from inside his car trunk, don't ask.
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