Hit Man

HIT MAN (15)

D: Richard Linklater

Netflix / AGC / ShivHans / Monarch Media / Barnstorm / Aggregate / Cinetic / Detour (Mike Blizzard, Richard Linklater, Glen Powell, Jason Bateman & Michael Costigan)

US 🇺🇸 2023

115 mins

Comedy/Crime

W: Richard Linklater & Glen Powell [based on an article by Skip Hollandsworth]

DP: Shane F. Kelly

Ed: Sandra Adair

Mus: Graham Reynolds

Glen Powell (Gary Johnson / Ron), Adria Arjona (Madison Figueroa Masters), Austin Amelio (Jasper), Retta (Claudette), Evan Holtzman (Ray)

This black comedy may play fast & loose with the true events it’s based on, but Glen Powell’s charismatic lead performance more than makes up for any dramatisations going on with the central plot.

He plays Gary Johnson, an everyday man who moonlights as Ron, a “fake hitman” for police sting operations, and becomes quite successful with his entrapment ruse.  However, one job introduces him to the femme fatale of this crime caper, Madison, who wants to place a hit on her abusive husband. Gary, as Ron, talks her out of it and convinces her to do things the legal way, only to subsequently end up in a relationship with her still under the guise of Ron, which takes a sudden twist when her husband wants to put a hit out on her.

It’s never a film that’s laugh out loud funny, but it’s snappy, engaging and never dull for a single moment of the 115 minute running time, which isn’t surprising considering a solid director (Richard Linklater) was calling the shots. 

A great star vehicle to showcase Glen Powell’s talents both dramatically and comedically, whilst Adria Arjona also deserves some praise for a good performance following a really poor one in 2022’s Morbius (qv).  Still, this is Glen Powell’s movie to shine in, as he develops his into an A-lister for the 2020s.

7/10