Olyphant captures the essence of his morally neutral character, with limited dialogue and mostly stone-faced expressions. Most importantly, there are plenty of gunfights and explosions, depicted by a director who is both a fan and learned student of the genre. Agent 47 is shown in flashbacks as being raised with others like him - all sport bald heads – and are trained in the art of being heartless and efficient killers. Which agency in the government is responsible for this assassination program is purposely left unclear.
When a mission goes bad, the phantom agency decides they must kill one of their own. Agent 47 is compelled to successfully complete his last mission and will not let anything or anyone stop him. Two Interpol agents are part of the chase to capture him, along with the Russian military and other specially trained agents. With everyone coming for him, the chrome-domed hitman must use his sharply honed skills to survive and succeed.
Olyphant lends some humor to his role as the hired gun, his expressions giving audiences a clue that he means more than what he says. The damsel in distress – there’s always one – needs protection and Agent 47, however, reluctantly takes on that role, as long as she remains useful to him. The real interesting aspect to the character is his motivations. Does he follow his course of action because of his programming, some hidden morality, or does he have his own personal agenda?
The villains in the story aren’t nearly of the same caliber as the anti-hero many of them tripping over their dialogue in phony Russian accents. However, they do represent a threat to agent 47, which results in a large enough body count for the average action enthusiast. While the film is far from perfect, fans of the video game series are unlikely to be disappointed, as “Hitman” succeeds where many other translations have failed.
Rated R for strong bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity.
