Hitman: Agent 47 (2015)
Certified: 15
Duration: 96 minutes
Directed by: Aleksander Bach
Starring: Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware, Zachary Quinto, Ciarán Hinds, Thomas Kretschmann, Angelababy, Dan Bakkedahl, Emilio Rivera, Rolf Kanies, Jerry Hoffmann
KRS Releasing Ltd

Hitman: Agent 47 is a reboot of the 2007 film Hitman. The latter had defied the critics and brought in the cash. However, this new American-German production emerges as an even better movie than its predecessor.

The film wears its identity clear­ly and propels itself at runaway train speeds in its objective to be as over the top as possible.

Rupert Friend is Agent 47, a highly-skilled and efficient hitman. He underwent genetic engineering as part of an experiment which made him superior to the average human being. The project has now been shut down. This leads criminal organisation The Syndicate to try and explore what makes the agent tick in order to make their own superhuman.

Their leader, Le Clerq (Thomas Kretschmann), decides to send John Smith (Zachary Quinto) to bring in Katia Van Dees (Hannah Ware), daughter of geneticist Litvenko (Ciarán Hinds) who was the original creator of the programme.

The film keeps itself rooted in the video game world

Meanwhile, Agent 47 has been given the task of finding Katia whose powers let her tap into the future, in order to find her father. However, Katia is just discovering her powers and her situation. She also may not be so comfortable with meeting her father, whom she has not seen since childhood.

It’s this sense of self awareness and fan pandering of the plot that makes Hitman: Agent 47 a better movie than what one would expect it to be. Friend, who plays Peter Quinn in the Homeland series, has the skills and look to carry off his action scenes.

Director Aleksander Bach, on the other hand, speeds along accordingly. He focuses more on Friend’s cool mechanical performance and leaves Quinto’s performance as the titular villain very much in the shade.

The video game franchise’s focus on stealth is also clearly portrayed, although its focus and strength is strongly placed on the action elements. It will be up to the fans to decide if the balance between stealth and action has been kept.

The film keeps itself rooted in the video game world, especially in structure and in the kind of relationship that develops between Agent 47 and the character of Katia.

Overall, Hitman: Agent 47 plays out as a good and relentless sci-fi action thriller very much in the mode of the films Luc Besson likes to produce or the kind of action one finds in The Transporter franchise. Shoot away!

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