Hitman (2007 film)

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Hitman

Poster for the film
Directed by Xavier Gens
Produced by Chuck Gordon
Adrian Askariah
Daniel Alter
Luc Besson
Written by Skip Woods
Starring Timothy Olyphant
Dougray Scott
Robert Knepper
Olga Kurylenko
Music by Geoff Zanelli
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date(s) United States:
November 21, 2007
Running time 94 minutes
Country United States
Russia
Bulgaria
Language English
Russian
Budget $17,500,000
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Hitman is a 2007 film based on the Hitman video game series. The film was directed by Xavier Gens and stars Timothy Olyphant and Dougray Scott. Hitman was released on November 21, 2007.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The film opens with a montage showing a group of bald, blue-eyed boys receiving tattoos of bar codes and then shows them being instructed to use of firearms & martial arts.

Interpol agent Mike Whittier discovers Agent 47 in his study, where the two talk briefly. The scene flashes back 3 months, as 47 is completing a hit in St. Petersburg, Russia. He receives a communication from his Organization contact, Diana, and is told he is to kill his next target, Russian President Mikhail Belicoff, publicly.

Agent 47 succeeds in killing Belicoff using a sniper rifle to achieve a head shot from over 4 km away. However, when 47 is in the train station ready to leave, he's told there's a witness–Nika Boronina–whom he must kill. Confronting Nika on a street, he realizes she's never seen him before and decides not to kill her. Additionally, Belicoff's death was covered up, being portrayed in the media as a grazing wound.

Agent 47 confronts Diana about who would want Nika dead when she wasn't a witness and why Belicoff is still being portrayed as alive. Outside, Mike Whittier and his partner have been tipped off that 47 is in the hotel. They encounter the FSB, lead by Yuri Marklov, who sends in an emergency response team to capture 47. Diana calls 47 directly, informing him that it was Belicoff himself who took out the contract. The troops attack and a hotel battle ensues. Agent 47 successfully escapes, however, the Organization he works for has dispatched assassins to kill him for failing his mission.

Agent 47 kidnaps Nika–who was about to be killed by her driver–and questions her. She suggests 47 may have killed one of Belicoff's doubles, but 47 denies that possibility. The two try to leave by train, but are intercepted by the Organization's assassins. Agent 47 is able to defeat four of them, he also defeats Mike Whittier who pursued, and escapes with Nika.

Agent 47 arranges a meeting with Agent Smith from the CIA. Smith reveals to Agent 47 that Belicoff's opponents ordered the hit on the real Belicoff and replaced him with a double that is loyal to them. Agent 47 then offers Smith a deal: if Smith helps him during some unrevealed time in the future, 47 will kill Belicoff's brother, Udre, a slave trafficker, and arms dealer. Smith accepts the deal. Agent 47 and Nika travel to Turkey and after kidnapping and impersonating arms-dealer Mr. Price, he succeeds in killing Udre.

The death of Udre was a set-up designed to draw the fake Belicoff–who, working with Yuri and an unseen cabal, is part of a plot to have a puppet leader in control of Russia–into the open. Agent 47 kidnaps Yuri and forces him to have his own FSB agents try to shoot Belicoff as he delivers a eulogy for Udre. Agent 47, disguised as a soldier, manages to kill all of Belicoff's guards and takes him into the archbishop's chamber in the church, and after having a small conversation with Belicoff he kills him. He then allows himself to be taken into custody by Interpol and Mike Whittier. However, Agent Smith intercedes at the last minute, allowing 47 to escape.

There is a flash forward to a conversation between agent Whittier and 47, which is taking place at Whitter's house. After wrapping up their conversation, 47 reveals the body of Mr. Price, shaved and dressed to look like 47. They make a deal in which Whitter would go along with 47's plan, admitting that the body in his home is the real 47. As 47 leaves, he turns to Whittier and says that he hopes to never see Whittier again, for the sake of both of them.

The scene then changes to Nika, who is shown picking up an envelope from an undisclosed sender. Inside it, there were papers and a message saying that she now owned a vineyard (she had told 47 of her childhood dream of having one). Meanwhile, 47 is watching her from afar, through the scope of his sniper rifle. He then looks at the corpse of another hitman, lying close to him, and says "I told you to leave her alone. You should have listened." He then turns back, and walks away.

[edit] Production

In February 2003, Hitman makers Eidos and IO Interactive entered negotiations with Hollywood production companies to adapt the video game to film.[1] Twentieth Century Fox eventually acquired the rights and hired screenwriter Skip Woods to pen the screenplay with actor Vin Diesel executive producing and starring in the film.[2] In December 2006, Vin Diesel stepped down from the role. In January 2007, Timothy Olyphant was cast into the lead role with director Xavier Gens attached at the helm.[3] In March, actor Dougray Scott was cast as the antagonist to Agent 47, with Olga Kurylenko, Robert Knepper, Ulrich Thomsen, and Michael Offei also joining the cast. Production began the week of March 27, 2007 in Sofia, Bulgaria and lasted 12 weeks.[4] A second unit also shot in locations including London, Istanbul, St. Petersburg, and South Africa.[5]. The release of the movie was set back a few months before release, this was to allow for the reshooting of several scenes, most of which required shortening of important dialogue or changing the location. Whilst the full extent of the re-shooting is unknown, several major scenes were re-shot, most notably a stand-off between 4 assassins who go on to participate in a sword fight, which replaced the original train platform sequence, simply consisting of Agent 47 facing off against one assassin. Reports before the movies release confirmed that not only reshoots were taking place, but that Fox may have totally removed Xavier Gens from his directing position and denied him the final cut. Nicolas de Toth was brought in at this stage to soften the edit and cut down material, which didn't strengthen the claims made by Fox that they weren't interfering with Xavier Gens' movie.[6]

[edit] Release

Hitman was originally slated to be released on October 12, 2007 in the United States and Canada,[7] but the film's release was postponed to November 21, 2007.[8] Hitman opened in 2,458 theaters in the United States and Canada, grossing $13,180,769 in its opening weekend, ranking fourth at the box office.[9] The following weekend, Hitman opened in 12 markets, having the following highlights: $150,355 in 38 theaters in Indonesia, $224,449 in 37 theaters in Malaysia. and $244,329 in 32 theaters in the Philippines. In Taiwan, the film opened in fourth place with approximately $100,000. The film also performed weakly in Lebanon with $19,321 in 6 theaters.[10] As of January 26, 2008, the film has grossed $39,586,389 in the United States and Canada and $56,225,387 in other territories for a worldwide total of $95,811,776.[9]

[edit] Reception

Despite its financial success, the film has been almost universally panned by critics. The most common complaints are a lacking, often confusing, plot, dry acting and extreme violence. On the film review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, Hitman has received a Rotten rating of 14% based on 88 reviews,[11] and it has received a Rotten rating of 6% from 19 "Cream of the Crop" reviewers from mainstream news outlets. Although top film critic Roger Ebert gave it three stars out of four, saying "Hitman stands right on the threshold between video games and art. On the wrong side of the threshold, but still, give it credit."[12] On the website Metacritic, the film has received a metascore of 35 out of 100 based on 22 reviews.[13] Fans of the Hitman games mostly praised the film but also criticized it for its fast paced action approach over stealth action[citation needed], which is the significant theme of the game's gameplay. Xavier Gens told an interviewer that whilst they are not directly dealing with the clone storyline, one scene (being the original train station sequence) which shows a bald, barcoded assassin (Jean-Marc Bellu) following Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant), another bald, barcoded assassin, is obviously showing they are supposed to be clones [14].

[edit] Blu-ray Disc & DVD release

An unrated version of Hitman was released in the high definition Blu-ray format on March 11th 2008, and features extras including deleted scenes, an alternate ending and a gag reel. This version also features a special digital copy of the movie which you can transfer to a portable media device like an iPod.[15] A standard definition DVD was released on March 11th as well in three versions. A single disc theatrical version, a single disc unrated version, and an unrated special edition including many extras, and the digital copy mentioned above.[16] The unrated cut of the movie, as said by Fox, shall be packed with "never-before-seen explosive action" despite only boasting 1 extra minute in running time. The only changes to this version though are a couple of scenes extended and more blood added in.[17], the UK version of the film was available on Blu-ray and DVD from 31st March 2008.

Included in the DVD/Blu-Ray edition is an alternate ending in which 47 fails to protect Nika and she is killed.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Brian Linder. "Games to Film: Hitman", IGN, 2003-02-03. Retrieved on 2006-12-05. 
  2. ^ Dave McNary; Ben Fritz. "Woods to adapt 'Hitman'", Variety, 2005-10-20. Retrieved on 2006-12-05. 
  3. ^ Nicole Laporte; Michael Fleming. "Olyphant to shoot 'Hit Man'", Variety, 2007-01-17. Retrieved on 2006-01-18. 
  4. ^ Ali Wood. "FILMING STARTS ON EIDOS MOVIE", Instock, 2007-04-05. Retrieved on 2007-04-09. 
  5. ^ 20th Century Fox. "Hitman is Underway", ComingSoon.net, 2007-04-24. Retrieved on 2007-04-24. 
  6. ^ Twitch - Fox Yanks HIT MAN From Director Xavier Gens
  7. ^ Pamela McClintock; Michael Fleming. "Actors set sights on 'Hitman'", Variety, 2007-03-26. Retrieved on 2007-03-27. 
  8. ^ Stax. "Exclusive: Hitman's New Date", IGN, 2007-08-25. Retrieved on 2007-08-24. 
  9. ^ a b Hitman (2007). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-11-26.
  10. ^ Conor Bresnan. "Around the World Roundup: 'Beowulf' Tops Another Modest Weekend", Box Office Mojo, 2007-11-29. Retrieved on 2007-12-01. 
  11. ^ Hitman. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
  12. ^ Hitman (Cream of the Crop). Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2007-12-27.
  13. ^ Hitman (2007): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  14. ^ Xavier Gens and Timothy Olyphant discuss Hitman [1]
  15. ^ Hitman Gets Unrated Blu-ray Release. Retrieved on 2008-01-26.
  16. ^ Hitman US details!. Retrieved on 2008-01-26.
  17. ^ Rated vs. Unrated DVD differences in Hitman. Retrieved on 2008-03-12.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Hitman series
Video games
Soundtracks
Other media
Hitman (film) · Enemy Within (book)
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