Review of Hitman

I never played the game on which "Hitman" was based, so saw it purely as a film and not as an adaptation. The fun of noting game-film commonalities was lost to me. There were, however, elements of the film that I found creative and intriguing; the school for assassins, cloning in various forms, the grainy cinematography, current affairs in the former Soviet state. But instead of lifting the film above the genre, they reminded me of what a better film this might have been. Instead of a thoughtful look at technology, politics and humanity, with lots of kaboom, the best parts of this film served as window dressing to an adolescent blood-fest. I trust the gamers to comment on the range of weapons on display here. There were too many for me to track. I did not maintain a body count, but it was definitely way up there. And the mindless, Cylon-like military/police forces were such easy pickings for our hero that it was clear they were nothing more than point-of-view targets.

We are supposed to feel some sort of affinity with the hero of a film. What guy did not see himself in fantasies as Bond, James Bond? But I found it hard to link up with 47. He was just too willing to wipe out whoever was in his gun-sights. Are we supposed to feel sympathy with him because he has no comfort level with the ladies? Grow up.

If you like to see lots of weapons being used on lots of people, a wealth of things that go boom in the night, a bit of creative, Saw-like torture, and a near complete absence of real humanity, "Hitman" is the film for you.