HITMAN: AGENT 47 (2015)

Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Aleksander Bach
Cast: Rupert Friend, Zachary Quinto, Hannah Ware, Ciaràn Hinds, Thomas Kretschmann, Emilio Rivera, Dan Bakkedahl, Angelababy
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Violence And Brief Nudity)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/HitmanAgent47Movie

Opening Day: 20 August 2015

Synopsis: HITMAN: AGENT 47 centers on an elite and genetically engineered assassin known only by the last two digits of a barcode tattooed on the back of his neck. His latest target is a young woman on the run from powerful and clandestine forces. The mission brings startling revelations about 47 and his prey, hurtling them both on a collision course with their pasts. And this time, his number may be up.

Movie Review:

Anyone who’s ever harboured the dream of seeing Singapore feature prominently in a Hollywood movie will certainly be pleased with ‘Hitman: Agent 47”, which features iconic landmarks such as Gardens by the Bay and Marina South in their full glory. A pivotal supporting character is seen admiring the orchids in the Gardens’ Cloud Forest dome, before taking a stroll along the OCBC Skyway. The headquarters of a sinister group known as the Syndicate Organisation is situated right in the heart of Marina South, against the backdrop of the Marina Bay Financial Centre and Asia Square towers. And last but not least, there is even a full-scale shootout in broad daylight along downtown Robinson Road, which probably has never seen and will never see as many Comfort taxis at the same time.

We’re not sure what it took to convince the producers and filmmakers of this videogame adaptation to bring part of the production here, but hey it is one of the few thrills in an otherwise loud and dumb action thriller. To be frank, we weren’t expecting much from this reboot of the earlier EuropaCorp film starring Timothy Olyphant in the titular role of a chrome-domed, genetically engineered, emotionless contract killer from not so far back in 2007; after all, if there is one demographic that it would try to please, it is the video-gamers who adore stepping into the shoes of the cold-blooded assassin to kill off his enemies while wrecking maximum carnage in the process, which was probably in the one-line brief that Fox gave to veteran commercials director Aleksander Bach here.

Hamstrung by a muddled script by Skip Woods (who also wrote the earlier ‘Hitman’ movie) and Michael Finch, Bach falls back on a breakneck pacing and flashy visuals to gloss over the film’s obvious storytelling flaws. Yes, despite an intriguing first half-hour that teases the characters’ motivations, the rest of the film is unfortunately as straight-forward as it gets in plotting the cat-and-mouse game between Katia (Hannah Ware) and a certain John Smith (Zachary Quinto) dispatched by Syndicate HQ. Katia is the crucial link to the Agent programme’s lead scientist Dr. Litvenko (Ciaran Hinds), whom the Syndicate’s head honcho Le Clerq (Thomas Kretschmann) needs to restart the programme. Another organisation however has sent Rupert Friend’s Agent 47 to prevent Katia from falling into the hands of the Syndicate, though it isn’t quite clear what they want from her.

The less you think about the plot, the more you are likely to enjoy the visceral pleasures that the film offers. True to the spirit of its source material, the action here is brutal and pulsating, with heads blown off, bodies sucked into giant jet engines, limbs slashed and blood basically splattering everywhere (and for those who are wondering, much of the bloodletting takes place in interiors rather than exteriors, so don’t get your hopes up about seeing all that happening along our streets). Bach choreographs and executes the action with gory flair, and fans of the IO Interactive game will be glad to know that he makes the effort to retain its aesthetics.  

Yet no matter how diverting the shootouts or fisticuffs may be, there is no hiding the fact that the characters are under-written. Though Friend makes for a surprisingly good Agent 47 – and we are not just talking about his looks – the actor best known for his supporting part in ‘Homeland’ is shortchanged by the script’s reluctance to develop fully the theme of choice versus blind obedience. Ware makes a sufficiently harried female protagonist, but Quinto is utterly wasted in a role that doesn’t quite know what to do with him after it is revealed that he is actually working for the Syndicate. Veterans Hinds and Kretschmann have even more limited roles, but their natural gravitas elevates their presence just ever so slightly.

Of course, you’ll probably should not expect a film like ‘Hitman: Agent 47’ to be moulded on an intricate plot or deep characters, and true enough, it isn’t. Rather, it takes its action seriously, which is what its target demographic is likely to assess it on anyways – and in that regard, it succeeds as a fast-paced thrill ride all right, even though it is equally mind-numbing. That said, there is greater relish watching some of the action unfold in our very own backyard, no matter that the reasoning for re-locating the action from Berlin to Singapore midway through the film is tenuous at best, and the novelty in watching the sights we are familiar with within a big-budget Hollywood action thriller makes it slightly more enjoyable. 

Movie Rating:

(Loud, dumb but executed with enough flair and momentum not to bore, this ‘Hitman’ reboot also offers Singaporeans the cheap thrill of watching some of our iconic landmarks in a Hollywood action thriller)

Review by Gabriel Chong