Hitman

A much bloodier Jason Bourne after hair removal, filmed following the "How to rip off a script and look original" manual. It's not just the music that's stolen from Bourne, and in a way the concept (the killing of a Russian politician, the pursued protagonist always one step ahead), but also some of the scenes, perhaps the most blatant of which is Hitman's analysis of the surrounding diners in a restaurant and listing everything he memorized upon entering. It wouldn't matter so much if there was at least one scene worth pressing the PLAY button repeatedly for. It's not boring, but it's out of your head before you can say Hitman. And it's hard to develop any sympathy for a main character who unscrupulously shoots a man in the back of the head. I haven't played the game and I don't even want to. (15/04/2008)

Dumb and boring. The action scenes are probably the only thing capable of entertaining you. Olyphant as agent 47 isn’t as bad as I was afraid he would be, (actually he carries this whole movie forward a lot), but there’s no denying with that shaved head of his, he looks a lot like a kid. I keep on thinking about how would this look if Vin Diesel played the lead role and the script had been written by somebody else. (09/02/2008)

It's really disappointing that Gens didn't quite understand the game, so there are really minimal references to the famous silent action (kids at the PC, one disguise), there’s no steel wire, and Hitman is not a silent assassin (the Matrix-like action in the club didn't impress me). Although Olyphant doesn't hold back and is usually ruthless, overall the film not really up to par because of the above mentioned flaws. The one-on-one fights are oddly edited and not much to speak of. So we're left with just raw, surprisingly bloody action, which is worth watching. Otherwise, Hitman is more of a pure action movie than a successful adaptation of the game. (26/07/2008)

Say what you want, but Timothy IS a Hitman. He can shoot silently or with a big bang, he can accomplish what he is tasked with, and if someone double-crosses him, he can overcome any obstacles (meaning a larger number of them than usual). He takes a pair of his best and most precise friends and goes exactly where he intends. However, he is not heartless, and his forced relationship with Nika is a perfect example of that. I won't let anyone convince me that it's just a way to get the sexy character of Olga Kurylenko into the movie, because 47, compared to the original, has been successfully humanized with a natural background and the confusion when interacting with someone other than an enemy is so believable and appropriate. A different assassin was born. Different from what he was created to be and different from how he was born in the game. But still, he came, and the fact that an immediate sequel with any game storyline wasn't immediately made remains an unpleasant and burning debt for me for a long time. (21/12/2007)

Complete disaster is definitely not, because Timothy Olyphant gave the character such an interesting ambivalence thanks to his appearance. On the other hand, it is true that one expects a little more from such a movie than just ordinary action scenes. I generally really like the theme of hired assassins. This is entertaining for once, but really only for once. (12/03/2014)