Film Review: HITMAN (2007)

Director: Xavier Gens
Running time: 89 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Action/Thriller
UK Release date: 30th November 2007

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 25th June 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I have seen this film before, but it’s one of those films that isn’t exactly memorable whilst at the same time it’s not exactly rubbish either. It’s kind of hard to explain really, but I think it’s a lot better than some ‘scores’ you’ll see on the internet might suggest. It’s based on a video game and as such, like many others of its type, it suffers from trying to be too much like the game. I thought it was actually quite good in patches, it just failed to deliver at the crucial moments. Here’s a brief summary before I give you more of my thoughts.

Our Hitman, Agent 47, was brought up from an early age to be a Hitman. He is hired to assassinate a Russian politician, Mikhail Belicoff, and he carries out his instructions to the letter. Imagine his surprise when the same politician appears live on TV the very next day. Add to this the fact that he is being pursued by an Interpol Officer, Mike Whittier and the Russian Secret police are also getting involved. He discovers the politician has a lover, Nika Boronina, who he kidnaps, hoping to get more information from her. He finds himself drawn to her in ways he’s not used to. A hit is put out on Agent 47 and people from his own employers, ‘The Organization’ are now also after him. It’s time to strike back and this is where I leave it. I don’t want to find a mysterious bald man sitting in my armchair when I get home one stormy evening.

As I said at the beginning, this film suffers from trying to be a little too much like a video game. There is quite an over-complicated plot that really doesn’t have a strong narrative which doesn’t help matters. Performance wise, I thought Timothy Olyphant did a decent job as Agent 47, he certainly had the look. Dougray Scott was adequate without really breaking a sweat as Mike Whittier and Olga Kurylenko did a decent job as Nika Boronina. Also worthy of note were; Robert Knepper, sporting a natty Russian accent, as Yuri Marklov, Ulrich Thomsen as Mikhail Belicoff, Henry Ian Cusick as his brother, Udre Belicoff and Michael Offei as Jenkins.

Unfortunately this film did have a bit of the look and feel of a ‘Jason Bourne’ film… and we have already seen at least one of those. The fight scenes were all very well done and there were some spectacular explosions to keep the kids happy (that’s a joke by the way). An over-complicated plot didn’t help matters, but at the end of the day I did find it entertaining, if not very memorable (and I’ve seen it twice!). Over all, recommended, but for just one viewing.

My Score: 5.7/10

LINKS:
(RT=Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0465494/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hitman/
Trailer:

Film Review: NEW TOWN KILLERS (2008)

Writer/Director: Richard Jobson
Running time: 97 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

UK release date: 12th June 2009

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 28th August 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I hadn’t heard anything about this British Independent film before I saw it come up on TV last week. There are some very good Indie films out there and on the face of it this one looked pretty good, but more of that later. The setting is the urban environment of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland.

A young man, Sean Macdonald, is down on his luck. He has lived in a flat (or apartment if you prefer) with his sister Alice since their mother passed away. Sean finds it hard to hold down a job and Alice has managed to get herself into a large amount of debt. Even Sean’s best friend, Sam, cannot help him out. So when two men, Alistair Raskolnikov and Jamie Stewart offer him the chance to win enough money to pay off all of Alice’s debts he finds himself with no option but to take them up on the offer. All he has to do is hide from the two of them from 9PM until 9AM the following day. What follows is a dangerous game of cat and mouse in the backstreets of Edinburgh. I cannot tell you who wins, but there are many twists and turns along the way.

What we end up with is a gritty and at times violent chase thriller with plenty of excitement and some interesting twists and turns. That’s the first half of the movie. Unfortunately the second half does not live up to the promise of the first. There are decent performances from all of the leading cast, so honourable mentions go to Dougray Scott as Alistair Raskolnikov, Alastair Mackenzie as Jamie Stewart, James Anthony Pearson as Sean Macdonald, Liz White as Alice Kelley and Charles Mnene as Sam. Oh and there’s also a brief scene with Karen Gillan, now starring along side Matt Smith on TV in Dr Who.

As I said the second half of the film is a bit of a let-down. A lot of the energy and tension built up in the first half is lost and I felt the film just petered out rather than building up to a big finish. So in the end it was a bit disappointing although Dougray Scott is very menacing as the bad guy. I certainly wouldn’t want to come across him on a dark night! Over all, a good first half let down buy a very average second… Not recommended.

My score: 5.3/10

LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1183908/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/imdblink/vi3086943257/