Hit Man: Film Review
If you didn’t already think Glen Powell was a star then Richard Linklater‘s comedy Hit Man well and truly seals the deal.
This film is inspired by the life of Gary Johnson (played by Powell), a university professor who used to have a side hustle with the police. Gary pretends to be a hitman to help the cops put away people soliciting a murderer for hire. One day, he meets with Madison (Adria Arjona) who wants him – under the pseudonym Ron – to kill her abusive husband. He cannot find it in himself to send her to jail and lets her go.
That general setup covers the entirety of Skip Hollandsworth‘s Texas Monthly article on which this film is based. From this point forward, Linklater and Powell (who wrote the screenplay together) imagine what would have happened if Madison and Gary (although she thinks she’s called Ron) started dating. It gets complicated, messy and hilarious, with many brilliant twists and turns. The film becomes a romantic comedy crime caper. It defies being boxed into one genre and that’s what makes it such an entertaining all-rounder.
Hit Man is a fantastic showcase for Powell’s talents. He has to switch between the sad, lonely teacher Gary and his sexy and assertive hitman alter ego Ron at first, but then the lines between them gradually become blurred and Gary starts being more like Ron. The longer he plays Ron, the more Ron’s confidence influences Gary.
But that’s not all – Gary adapts his hitman persona to fit the possible perp and he uses a range of disguises to become their desired contract killer and these range from a gun-toting hick to a British nerd. He gets to play so many characters! The hair and make-up teams do a lot of the heavy lifting but each character has a different voice and a different way of holding himself and Powell pulls them all off.
He has sizzling chemistry with Arjona, the femme fatale. She is magnetic and captivating and they are sexy together. I’ve seen Arjona in other projects but she hasn’t made much of an impact on me before. Now, however, I shall be seeking her out. It’s obviously Powell’s show but her role is very important and she doesn’t let the side down.
Hit Man ticks all the boxes. I’ll be amazed if this doesn’t become a Netflix hit.
On Netflix from Friday 7th June