Hitman: Agent 47

Starring: Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware, Zachary Quinto, Angelababy, Ciaran Hinds, Thomas Kretchsmann, Jurgen Prochnow
Directed by: Aleksander Bach
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Agent 47 (Rupert Friend) helps a woman (Hannah Ware) find her father, who was essential in starting the agent program.

Review:

Tim: I'm laughing at myself now, but I was actually looking forward to Hitman: Agent 47. The first movie was pretty good (better than I expected) and I had no idea they were making a second film. I sat down, hoping this film would once again surprise me. It did surprise me- by how bad it was. This film feels like it was put together cheaply, one more cash grab before the budding franchise was dead for good. This certainly didn't feel like a film attempting to right the wrongs of the first movie. That one was flawed, and this movie is even worse.

Timothy Olyphant may not have been the greatest choice to portray Agent 47 in the original film, but he is miles and miles better than Rupert Friend. I have no idea who Friend is, and based on this performance, I don't have any hopes for him in Hollywood. He gives a listless, forgettable performance. Yes, the character is reserved, but you have to do something to make the audience care about him, even a little. He never manages to do that. I'm basing this off the sample size of just this movie, but Friend has no ability to carry a movie. He was a horrible choice to lead this film.

The story itself is pretty generic. I was never invested in anything that happened. There's an agent program, a scientist or something who was influential in it. His daughter has enhanced abilities (apparently some form of ESP or Spidey-sense is included, I never got that). The whole thing feels like a giant jumbled mess. I assume it made sense if you've played the video game, but I never have. I was pretty lost of what was happening and why I should care. The movie really doesn't do a good job of setting the stage.

There really weren't any great action sequences, either. I am trying to recall a moment (any moment) that made me sit up or lean forward. I can't think of a single one. There were decent moments sprinkled throughout the film, but nothing we haven't seen a hundred times before. What differentiates this film from the dozens of others like it? The answer is unfortunately, nothing. It takes a little while to realize this. The movie moves at a decent clip, so it was probably a good 45 minutes before I realized how bad the movie was.

The part of the movie I enjoyed the most was early on, when Hannah Ware and Zachary Quinto are trying to resolve the mystery of her character's father. Quinto might not have been great, but he was significantly more interesting than Friend. For a moment, I felt like had this movie been about Qunito and Ware, trying to solve a mystery together, I would have enjoyed it much more. If you've seen the movie, you know where the story goes from there and it becomes less and less effective.

Hitman: Agent 47 isn't a horrendous failure, but it's a messy, generic, lightweight movie. There's no real substance, nothing we haven't seen before. The execution isn't very strong. This absolutely feels like a director's first movie, which was the case with Aleksander Bach. The first Hitman movie wasn't great, but it was watchable. This film takes a massive step backwards. If there was any hope of this becoming a viable franchise, I think it died with this mistake of a film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Hitman, The Bourne trilogy, Assassins, Collateral