Home Media Catch Up - Hitman: Agent 47 (2015)

Director: Aleksander Bach

Cast: Rupert Friend, Zachary Quinto, Hannah Ware, Ciaran Hinds, Angelbaby

Country: United Kingdom / Germany / United States

Rating: R

Run Time: 96 min

Home Media Catch Up is a series dedicated to reviewing films released within the same year or prior year that I either missed upon theatrical release or have not got around to viewing on home media yet. Therefore, they won't contain the historical depth of a Retrospective Review, nor the initial reaction of a Theatrical Review, but more so something in between.

When I recently made my Top Five Best (And Worst) Action Films of the Year List, I mentioned that several films did not appear on my list because I never got around to seeing them. As with most years, I tend to play catch up with my 'to watch list' and end up checking out several films on home video. While it is always great whenever you unearth an undiscovered treasure from the previous year, such as Bone Tomahawk, it is also painful whenever you watch a turd that you should have avoided in the first place, such as Hitman: Agent 47.

After 2007's Hitman, which was honestly a mild success, 20th Century Fox decided to give the I.P. a second chance with a new reboot. Although the reboot received far worse reviews and made a tad less than its predecessor, Hitman: Agent 47 was still a minor success considering its R rating. Critics were particularly harsh with this one though, trashing it so much to the point where the film received an embarrassing 8% on Rotten Tomatoes. Let's be clear: Hitman: Agent 47 is not a good film. However, it does not deserve a rancid score as low as that. Those critics must have not see such direct to video filth as Ernie Barbarash's Pound of Flesh or Wych Kaosayananda's Zero Tolerance, as those action films were far worse in every way imaginable. Therefore, let it be known that Hitman: Agent 47 is not garbage, although don't expect me to defend the film in public.

The first of many kills.

Adapted from the video game series of the same name, Hitman: Agent 47 tells the story of Katia van Dees (Hannah Ware), a woman with strange abilities in search of her past and father. It turns out that her father, Dr. Litvenko (Ciaran Hinds), created the Agent Program, a program that brainwashed new borns into emotionless yet perfect super assassins for the International Contracts Agency. One of those assassins, Agent 47 (Rupert Friend), is in search of Katia because she can lead him to her father. However, 47's mission is complicated when Brian (Zachary Quinto), a member of the Syndicate, repeatedly intervenes. Once 47 gets ahold of Tatia, he explains to her the origin of her powers and that she was a part of the same program as him. The two team up in search of Dr. Litvenko, all the while taking on the Syndicate's agents.

Hitman: Agent 47 is yet another bland and dour adaptation of a video game series that once again proves that video games with weak stories should not be adapted to the big screen. It's almost funny how there has yet to be a single critically acclaimed or beloved video game to film adaptation in the last thirty years, but it's true. The last time that I personally tackled a video game to film adaptation on the blog was John Moore's Max Payne, a film with many the same problems as Hitman: Agent 47. To be honest, I personally love both of those game series, as each features stylish action and notable lead protagonists who operate as fun vessels for the player to inhabit a violent world with. Unfortunately, all of their feature film adaptations pale in comparison to the video games, or at least barely represent the games at heart.

I believe it is important that I attempt to tackle the age old question within this review: Why has nobody been able to create a solid video game to film adaptation so far? For the most part, many video games don't have particularly great stories. They tend to be made better by their interactivity and playability, after all, they are called "video games" for a reason. Both the Max Payne and Hitman game series are essentially glorified shooting galleries in disguise as a game with a story. Therefore, filmmakers have the uphill struggle of crafting a film out of something that doesn't have a fleshed out story in the first place (also see: The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Mortal Kombat). It makes one wonder why filmmakers don't attempt to adapt modern video game series such as the immensely mythological and layered Halo and Bioshock series. Until filmmakers can either a) choose a video game source with a layered story, or b) create their own layered story instead of relying purely upon spectacle, video game to film adaptations are always going to fail.

"We just met an hour ago, you trust me, right?"

Although Rupert Friend portrays the titular hitman, he pales in comparison to the character's previous player, Timothy Olyphant (Live Free or Die Hard). Olyphant possessed a magnitude and gravitas in Hitman that Friend lacks entirely here within the reboot. Whether the film's direction or Friend's lack of leading experience is to blame, he makes for a particularly forgettable Agent 47. In fact, the reboot was originally supposed to star Paul Walker of the Fast and Furious series before his untimely fast and furious death in 2014. It would have been interesting to see a boy scout actor of Walker's pedigree portray such a dark and emotionless character as Agent 47. Plus, the film would have most likely been more successful and launched a franchise considering Walker's stardom and likability. However, if this was the script that Walker had to work with, than even he could not have saved the film that much.

One of the film's biggest problems, which is entirely attributable to its horrendous script, is that the titular Hitman himself is reduced to a supporting player in his own movie. Instead, the character of Tatia, portrayed by Hannah Ware, is truly the protagonist of the film, as the film is more or less her story. Even though 47 gets involved in her story, the film never becomes about him and instead uses him as an unstoppable killing machine and mentor to Tatia's apprentice. The only other notable supporting player in the film, besides 47, is the villainous Brian, portrayed by Zachary Quinto of Star Trek fame. His character possesses a metallic endoskeleton, thereby making him impervious to 47's bullets. Brian is truly the biggest joke of the film, as he is more or less a rip off of the Universal Soldiers found within the Universal Soldier series, which was more or less a rip off of the Terminator cyborgs found within the Terminator series. Although without him, the film would have been far less watchable. He may be a joke, but at least Brian makes for a fun and watchable right hand man.

The majority of Hitman: Agent 47's problems lies within its script and screen story written by Skip Woods, a screenwriter who specializes in ruining great characters with his awful screenplays (see: X-Men Origins: Wolverine, A Good Day to Die Hard). The story is a complete mess, as the movie gives you the littlest of exposition possible to base a plot around in order for everything to appear confusing all of the time so that the film can slowly reveal things to make it seem clever or twisting. Woods crafts an artificial sense of discovery within his script, as the viewer discovers key character motivations and plot points towards the end of the film that most other films would give you up front. Not only that, but every single conversation is purely about explaining mechanizations of the plot and nothing else. Imagine a film where no character speaks like a human being, but instead a robot, and you have Hitman: Agent 47, a film that features one emotionless assassin and a mechanized cyborg-like villain already!

This is basically as bad ass and exciting as the film gets: double gun posing.

Thankfully, Hitman: Agent 47 is rated R, its one saving grace. Although far from great or visibly comprehensible, the bloody action set pieces are the only reason to check out this video game to film adaptation. A sad truth is that the film's action peaks in its opening scene in which 47 lays waste to a group of armed guards in the film's most grounded and exciting action set piece of the entire picture. David Leitch (John Wick) is credited with some of the action choreography and additional action found within the film. Although I cannot confirm what portions of the film have his stamp on them, I'd bet that the film's more gun fu-centric sequences, such as the opening shootout, belong to him.

Unfortunately, the film is plagued by numerous computer generated moments that cover up the film's non-existent practical stunt work or bloody squibs. Lame CG centric moments, such as a plane engine sucking in agents or digital agents sliding down ropes while shooting, reveal a small scaled/mid budget film with desperate blockbuster ambition. Coupled with its numerous foreign locations, Hitman: Agent 47 sacrifices practicality and reason for maximum international appeal.

While the film's plentiful gun fights make for the film's only enjoyable action mayhem, every physical bout is particularly awful due to the film's weak cinematography. The shaky photography and rapid editing, the bane of contemporary action, is due to the inability of the film's performers to enact believable action. It also doesn't help that the film features not one, not two, but three physical fights between 47 and Brian, portrayed by two physically inept actors, Friend and Quinto. Therefore, their fights come out the worst due to their lack of physical experience. Fortunately for them, but unfortunate for the viewer, director Aleksander Bach covers up their lack of skills with as much shaky cam as possible.

That's it, throw on the smolder.

As to how a film could be titled Hitman: Agent 47, and not reveal its titular character's reasons for his actions throughout the entire film until the final scene, boggles my mind. Coupled with the absolutely embarrassing final shot of the film in which Agent 48, an exact replica of Agent 47, shows up to take on him and Tatia, reveals a film that absolutely crumbles a part in in its final moments. Hitman: Agent 47 is an amateur affair, with amateur fights, amateur computer generated action, and amateur story telling abounding from start to finish. Besides some sleek gun fu action and a decent score by composer Marco Beltrami, this reboot of Square Enix's famed game series doesn't offer up much. It's not a train wreck, but pretty close to derailing off of its track and crashing and burning into the dirt where its script was found.

Rating: 4/10 - Ultimately a bland studio actioner with decent action set pieces, immensely bland characters, and a horrendous script.