As strange as it may sound, I missed all of Richard Linklater’s films after Boyhood. In a year where movies about hitmen and secret agents are released almost every week, Hit Man would be “just another one” if it wasn’t directed by the filmmaker and co-written with Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick). At a time when the Venice International Film Festival is in its final stretch and accumulated fatigue is starting to take a significant toll, there’s nothing better than a light, fun film packed with purely refreshing entertainment…

Hit Man offers all this and much more. Linklater and Powell’s screenplay is the absolute highlight, as it tremendously elevates a generic premise about a philosophy/psychology teacher who prefers cats to dogs, has a peculiar interest in birds, and, in his spare time, works for the police on sting operations involving a fake hitman meeting with potential criminals. In a movie that explores themes relating to identity and personality, Gary Johnson (Powell) is forced to transform himself into this complex, mysterious individual, employing several alter egos until he begins to question his true self.

Are adult human beings capable of change? Are our most prominent personality traits fixed or variable? How long can we pretend to be someone else before ending up merging some of these “fake” characteristics with our own? Hit Man poses countless dilemmas to the protagonist and viewers, making it all even more captivating, but don’t let my words mislead you into thinking this is a heavy, slow, uneventful study on its subject matter. Linklater and Powell fill their story with extraordinarily hilarious moments in a non-stop laugh fest.

Hit Man Critique

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Brilliantly executed, incredibly memorable, sharply written dialogue with all actors involved in a scene playing off each other almost automatically. The layer of humor that encompasses Hit Man is so intelligent, creative, and efficient that the theater made up exclusively of press effusively clapped at the end of a truly *perfect* scene. From the direction to the dialogue, from the performances to the use of text on a smartphone, all the necessary filmmaking and storytelling elements to build, develop, and conclude a scene are of the purest technical perfection, leaving the entire audience grinning from ear to ear. One of the most satisfying isolated sequences of the whole year.

Dozens of unforgettable one-liners and jokes will be endlessly quoted. Hit Man also makes excellent use of its runtime, making the two-hour session fly by due to a continuously engaging story. The first act sees the protagonist dress – figuratively and literally – the personalities he considers to be most appealing to the client, leading to a fantastic montage by Sandra Adair (Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood) which, fortunately, ends before becoming too repetitive. Juliana Hoffpauir’s (History’s Greatest Escapes with Morgan Freeman) costume design gets laughs on its own, but Powell’s career-best performance deserves the biggest amount of praise.

The actor embodies multiple distinct personalities, and despite these being short sequences, tackles them with the same dedication and commitment as the “main version”. From facial expressions to body movement, it’s a fascinatingly complete performance that Adria Arjona (Morbius) complements flawlessly in what’s also her best display on the big screen. The actors share an exceptional romantic, sexual chemistry, adding an extra layer of tension to their interactions. Austin Amelio (The Walking Dead) as Jasper, a sort of ” bad cop” concerning the plot development, also impresses quite a bit. 

Indeed, Hit Man cannot completely escape the predictability of its narrative, and the final minutes are a bit rushed since Linklater didn’t have much care for the film’s timeline. Minor issues that don’t spoil the enjoyment of a movie that will be loved by audiences around the world.

In Conclusion

Hit Man leaves everyone floored with one of the best comedies of the year in a magical case of cinema in which direction, screenplay, and cast combine so well with each other that, in the end, it’s impossible not to applaud. Richard Linklater and Glen Powell deliver an insanely hilarious, genuinely entertaining script elevated by the filmmaker’s flawless technical execution and career-best performances from Powell and Adria Arjona. A light, non-stop narrative filled with memorable, thought-provoking, sharp dialogue, exploring notions of identity and personality through the question: “can we really change who we are?” One of the most sensationally enjoyable theater experiences in recent years.

8/10

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