LGM Film Club, Part 429: Hit Man
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I don’t watch a ton of new Hollywood films, but I heard good enough things about Linklater’s Hit Man that I figured I should check it out. And I enjoyed it, mostly. While I know among my blog colleagues, Linklater has a mixed reputation (don’t even get Farley and Lemieux started on the Before trilogy; I happen to like the first two very much, less so with the third), he reminds of the classic Hollywood directors of the past who would move between a huge variety of projects, mostly to better results than not. This feels a bit rote for him in some ways, but then when no one is making a romantic comedy anymore, it becomes outright interesting when someone of note goes for it and does a good job.
The story is a good one and is based on an actual case Linklater read about in a Texas Monthly article. Moved to New Orleans, mostly for tax purposes rather than atmosphere (while most directors would use New Orleans as a visual tapestry, Linklater shows no interest in the city or its classic sights), it features Glen Powell as a nerdy professor who works as a fake hit man for the cops on the side. When he forced to really become the hit man, he blossoms into it and arrests a lot of people in a lot of different increasingly ridiculous costumes. But when he meets an abused wife played by Adria Arjona, he doesn’t take her money and then the fireworks start. The film does lay some of it on pretty thick, both the costumes and the role playing between them in the bedroom, but whatever, what does Hollywood do subtle in 2024?
As many people have noted, Powell’s charisma is absolutely ridiculous. He should be Clooney or Pitt. But he’s really forced to do various corporate IP projects because that’s the parts available. If anything, Hit Man should demonstrate the fireworks you can get between a charismatic man and a charismatic woman, something Hollywood has forgotten about in the age of Batman 61: Batman and Aquaman Run Into Superman at Walmart. Some of these scenes best remind me of Soderbergh’s Out of Sight, especially the amazing trunk scene between Clooney and J-Lo. The film finishes strong too–you always wonder how these characters are going to work it out in the end and in this case, well, let’s just say these aren’t the purest most morally upright people ever portrayed on screen.
Very solid film.