The best-selling videogame, Hitman, roars to life with both barrels blazing in this hardcore action-thriller starring Timothy Olyphant. A genetically engineered assassin with deadly aim, known only as "Agent 47" eliminates strategic targets for a top-secret organization. But when he's double-crossed, the hunter becomes the prey as 47 finds himself in a life-or-death game of international intrigue.

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Harbinger70 from United States
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Let's keep this short and sweet. If you enjoy the video games, you will more than likely enjoy the movie. It's very easy to follow, the acting can be downright terrible at times (but very solid from Olyphant who was a GREAT choice to play Agent 47), the special FX are loud and neat to look at, there's lots of explosive action-packed gun fights, and the hot chick gets naked. The only thing I have against the film was that it was a little dull and awkward in the beginning, but it picked up about 15 minutes in and kept it rollin' until the ending. Oh, and the hot chick gets naked.

You want to go to the movies and have a discussion afterwards? Go watch "Lions for Lambs." You want to go have a fun time at the movies with your friends? Check out "Hitman." Word on the street is there's lots of blood and explosions (and a hot naked chick).

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GoneWithTheTwins from www.GoneWithTheTwins.com
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As contradictory as it may sound, finding a good mindless action movie is actually a rather challenging task. Luckily we live in a world where adapting stories and characters from mindless action video games is commonplace, and the creators of the Hit-man movie have gone to great lengths to showcase plenty of the blood, bullets, and babes requisite of a proper translation of the popular assassin adventure.

Raised to be an elite assassin, Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant) carries out jobs for a mysterious organization and for a price. When his employer sets him up in a political assassination attempt, the hit-man must uncover the leaders behind the conspiracy while simultaneously protecting a sassy prostitute and being hunted by both the Russian Secret Police and two determined Interpol agents.

Wasting little time with a tedious back story, (and thankfully straying from contrary religious tones as suggested by several trailers), Hit-man jumps right into the plot, full of political conspiracies, secret agency machinations, police investigations, and other reasons to have a gunfight in a crowded location. While those unfamiliar with the source material may question Agent 47's origins, it's actually rather commendable (and practical) to forego such setup and just plunge directly into current events with only the accepted knowledge that our antihero is the most skilled of killers. That being said, the story does convolute itself with excessive setting changes and rehashes of political thrillers mixed with revenge mysteries, but the plot never interferes with that which is most important – the action.

Several unique scenes of bloodshed find their way into Hit-man, and as expected the body count reaches an impressive sum. While not overloaded with meaningless violence, a few sequences stand out as attaining just the right amount of machismo cool, most notably the decimation of a drug lord's domicile and a four-way elite assassin duel apparently inserted to mimic the combat abilities present in the game. At a few points throughout the actioner it becomes evident that everyone involved is trying a little too hard to evoke awe, but some fast hand-held shots and a few guns pointing at the screen later, all is forgiven.

Though Timothy Olyphant is likely not the first actor to enter one's mind on hearing of a Hit-man movie, he accomplishes the surprising feat of impressing upon the audience that he is indeed Agent 47. Plus the sharp black suits with red ties don't hurt. Relative newcomer Olga Kurylenko, who exhibits an appearance resembling a cross between Catherine Zeta-Jones and Sophie Marceau, was also a wise choice, especially to tease the viewer with another staple prominent in the Hit-man games.

Hit-man successfully retains the necessary seriousness inherent in the subject matter and while it rarely covers new ground in the action-adventure genre, it also never slips into silly mockery (and it still provides plenty of references to its video game roots). Sacrificing story for style and bloodshed is much appreciated here, and entertainment of this nature is a rare treat over those that try too hard to be that which they are not. Hit-man doesn't indulge itself in such a charade and the result is a fun and sexy romp through the world of professional carnage.

- The Massie Twins

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AMH57 from United States
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This by far is the best video game adaptation movie I have ever seen. It stayed mostly true to the games but instead the agents were orphans instead of clones. There were many great action scenes and nods to the games, such as Agent 47 stealing various outfits, his weapons and his odd ways of killing his targets. the movie reminded me of an all new game in itself.

Not to mention Nika (Olga Kurylenko) was amazingly HOT in this movie and has various topless scenes which made me happy :) and she wasn't a bad actress either. I think Timothy Olyphant was THE perfect Agent 47 and captured the character perfectly I would definitely see this movie multiple times!!!!! I highly recommend this movie to fans of the video games or if you love action movies altogether!!!!!

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sir-montag from United States
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Being a big fan of the Hit-man games, I was fairly worried when I heard that they were going to make a movie based on it because movies based on video games don't tend to be very good movies...

But after seeing it last night, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. It was actually quite a good movie. It may not win an Oscar or anything, but it's amazing to see Agent 47 up on the big screen. Timothy Olyphant does a surprisingly good job of portraying him too.

The love interest is a bit awkward to anyone who knows Agent 47's nearly complete lack of emotion in that department, but despite what the trailer may lead you to expect, it really doesn't go very far outside of what you've come to know in the games (and what happens when she tries to seduce him is absolutely hilarious and very much in the Agent 47 tradition).

It is indeed a violent movie, and 47 is as cold-blooded as you'd expect him to be. Seeing it tends to make me wish other movie heroes had the same level of guts, just to shoot the bad guy in the face instead of letting him live or anything silly like that. The fight scenes with the other assassins from the Agency are also very well done and quite a treat to see.

All in all, it's quite a good movie. Definitely worth paying to see in the theaters. Hopefully there'll be another one!

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david collins from United States
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First, I've heard mostly mixed comments about this movie. But, I'm glad that for the first time in a long time, an "action" movie has had an in-depth plot. Not to mention, they captured the personality of 47 near perfectly. When I went to see this, I didn't think I would like it because Timothy Olyphant played such a convincing geek in Die Hard 4, but he did an incredible job of changing roles. The basis behind the movie is that the hit-man is sent to assassinate someone, but it goes bad, which results in him picking up Olga Kurylenko. Now, they tried to add some jokes in, and he does do some things that are completely out of character (such as smiling), but for the most part, he plays the part very well. Now, the hit-man games aren't known for the best plot of all time, but, since the movie focused more on plot then on actual action, it feels a bit refreshing since the games are basically "Target, Money, Kill". I'd like to see the next Hit-man game focus more on the plot.

Anyway, it's got a great story, 47 is for the most part, played as he should be, and there is enough action to keep you from getting bored.

Ranking wise, it's definitely no "Die Hard 3" or "Big Fish", but it is probably one of the best video-game to movie transitions thats been done in a long time.

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(xxxxts) from United States
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As we are all well aware of most film adaptations of video games are usually very poor. This is not the case with Hit-man. Hit-man has done something that no other video game film has been able to pull off before. It is entertaining to the general audience who has not plaid the video game, by use of witty remarks, dark humor, and excellent action scenes. On the other hand fans of the video game series will be pleasantly surprised that Hollywood has not butchered the concept of the video games. There has been much debate over the actor who played 47; all actors did an excellent job. I was very pleased.

Bottom line: If you enjoy the video games – see it. If you don't know anything about the video games but want to see a movie similar to Bourn Identity then see it.

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rainwitched from Philippines
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I've played Hit-man and have really been excited to see the movie. At first I was wondering how will they ever pull off the Hit-man movie but after watching it, its one of the few games to movie adaptations that I really liked. Not a perfect adaptation, but the best so far compared to others out there. Though Jason Statham was my initial bet, Timothy Olyphant did a good job with portraying Agent 47.

Aspects of the game was incorporated in the movie and they didn't overkill with stupid ideas. Action was pretty good and I like the fight scenes. Agent 47 in the movie does live up to his cold killer reputation in spite of a girl being introduced. Its a good thing they keep it nice and cold.

The only thing I noticed is that Timothy looks too pretty cute to be Agent 47. Other than that, its good.

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Gravesofthetrust from United States
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A disturbing trend that seems to have no end in sight is the constant making of movies based upon video games. The fact of the matter is that these movies largely end up being horrendous misinterpretations of the source material. As evidenced by such cinematic horror shows like the Resident Evil movies, Street Fighter, Super Mario Brothers, Tomb Raider, and every movie by Uwe Boll. Of course there is the occasional movie that proves the maxim wrong, I for one enjoyed the Final Fantasy movie: The Spirits Within. Granted it had next to nothing to do with the game series apart from the name, but I was able to enjoy it. There was also the Silent Hill movie, that was great due to the fact that it was able to maintain a majority of the atmosphere from the games, and the plot was largely consistent with the mythos of the Silent Hill series. Unfortunately the latest movie to try to adapt a video game has largely failed to take even the smallest modicum of what made the games enjoyable.

Hit-man, a movie based on a good action series, isn't exactly a bad movie. If you go into the movie without having played the games by IO Interactive, then you'll in all likelihood be entertained by the action this movie has to offer. Fans of the games however will most likely be left feeling cheated by the movie, and it's radical changing of the main character of the series. In the movie it explains that 47 and the other bald headed assassins were chosen at birth to become guinea pigs of a top-secret plot to breed trained killers who feel no remorse. Now if this reminds you of anything, you're a nerd, and yes it's totally ripping off part of the plot for the old TV show: Dark Angel. I don't mean to go all nerdy video game fan boy on you, but, in the games 47 wasn't chosen at birth to become the bad ass assassin he is today. He's a clone of four major criminals and a scientist to make a flawless human. Not once in the entire series of games do they state whether or not 47 has a childhood. If they had felt the need to do an origin story for 47, why not just base it off the story elements of the original Hit-man: Codename 47 game? And throw in bits of the missions from Contracts.

Before I continue on with the review I would like to state the fact that this movie was written by Skip Woods. The man that brought us the terrible movie Swordfish. While I had nothing overly against that film, it bears mention due to the fact that at times the plot of that movie was positively horrid, and as such Woods needs to be beaten with an oar.

The movie starts out with an Interpol agent returning to his home, 47 is there sitting in his chair. Aiming his gun at fearless Dougray Scott. The movie then keenly informs us that the bulk of the story takes place three months prior to this scene. 47 has been hired to take out the Russian prime minister Mikhail Belicoff. The hit goes off with seemingly no problem, but Diana, 47's handler for the Agency (called "The Organization" in this) informs him that there's a witness he needs to eliminate. The witness, Nika is played by the wonderful Olga Kurylenko, when 47 goes to eliminate Nika another hit-man from Agency arrives to kill 47 and Nika. 47 escapes and confronts Diana about how Nika wasn't a witness, and whether or not someone at the agency double crossed him. While this is happening the Russian police is sending in its crack squad of cops who look like they were stolen from the anime Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, to capture or kill 47. Dougray has a problem with this as he wants 47 alive for questioning, as he's wanted for multiple hundreds of murders across the globe. How he was to establish it was only 47, I'll never know.

After a moderately decent action scene 47 kidnaps Nika and takes her to a St. Petersburg train station where he's attacked by a cadre of Agency trained hit men. The problem I have with this part is the fact that the assassins are fundamentally working toward the same goal, kill 47. At this point when 47 is outgunned by three other assassins, instead of just ventilating 47 they aim their guns at each other. At which point 47 proposes that they die with honor, and brandish some wakizashi swords and proceed to fight. The fight scene is decent enough, but it was just pointless. Where was 47 hiding those little buggers, and why didn't 47's would-be killers just kill him and then go knock off for a while at the nearest bar? I would go further into the plot, but really, I don't feel like spoiling it any more than I already have. Suffice to say that I didn't exactly enjoy the story to the movie. It took far too many liberties with the character of 47, and far too much of it seemed implausible from the perspective of realism. Also there's the questionable choice in casting Timothy Olyphant as the cold steely eyed assassin: Mr. 47. I don't hate the guy, it's just that I think he's a highly inappropriate choice. Granted he was a decent enough actor in that atrocious show Deadwood. He just looks too young, and not at all what a ruthless killer should look like.

Overall the movie is a mediocre action film that people who've never played the games will most likely enjoy. Fans of the series however would probably hate it due to the large number of liberties they take with the character and source material. Overall the movie is not worth the time to watch it.

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sh-65 from Lisbon, Portugal
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Alright, this movie might have 2 different ratings whether you're seeing this because you're a fan of the game or if you're a casual viewer of action movies.

This is a review from a fan of the game series, therefore the negative vote. If I was to watch this without any connection to the original material I would probably be more entertained.

This is really my problem with this movie (and many other adaptations). I'd rather if any other name was used (my suggestion: Agent Hairless Bourne) because this movie is just a big 100-min-long cliche that tries to profit from Hit-man's fan-base at the same time with just enough game references. I prayed this wouldn't be another "Doom - The Movie" but it wasn't too far off.

As I said before, if you're not into the games and just want to watch a Jason Bourne clone, then this is your movie.

Now if you're a series fan, read on. When I heard an adaptation was under development I wasn't too excited, but I had some hope. Hope because there could be something new that could be done in the movie industry. Now, what's new about 47 that could make him a whole new animal than all other cold blooded killers and secret agents out there? What makes that character, 47, different?

1st: He's a clone. The result of a gene enhancing research program that turned on his creator and became a professional freelance hit-man. They've scrapped all that and rewritten his origins completely. Now how can they still call him by the same name after that? I mean, if someone asks me what's the story behind this character, I will now have to answer with another question: "Which one? The movie hit-man or the game's hit-man?" The "adaptation" dies right there in my opinion.

2nd: Agent 47 is the result of a genetic experiment and post training, aimed at creating a superior human being, in strength and mind, with no conscience. That's exactly what he is in the games, but as I feared it would get (knowing how filmmakers tend to think of what people want to see on-screen) he shows too much of a conscience in the movie with an all-too-expected female role that he shows affection to, that he even promises to visit after they part on the train.

3rd: One big difference of the Hit-man games, from other action games, is the fact that agent 47 is rewarded for being as silent as possible, a ghost as he's referred to in the movie. A big gun fight in a crowded room is a big no-no, leaving witnesses alive is not his thing too and usually, targets tend to die from strange accidents rather than in a bathroom filled with bodyguards with bullets on their heads. The movie tells a story of a whole different character... I mean, what's up with that scene to kill Udre? I will go see a Rambo movie if I want to, I will not go watch a Hit-man-branded movie to see that overused matrix-cliche royal mess. Oh, and the countless female witnesses that survived that scene? That would be called a "restart mission" in my book.

4th: Another distinctive mark of the Hit-man game brand is his proficiency to disguise of all types of people after he properly disposes of their bodies in the course of each mission. I remember him doing this once in the end of the movie. I can't be bothered to watch it again so I might be wrong on the number of times he's done this but the fact that I can't remember that happening is a good indication of how overlooked that "feature" was.

So this is what made me hate this movie. Not because the movie is bad in essence, but because of this horrible trend of people trying to profit from a well-developed brand with well-developed characters, and rewrite everything that makes them what they are. Had this movie been given a different name, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Other slightly bad points: 1) Realism. This one I start to overlook on these movies... as much as it pisses me off, it's so common, that my expectations are lower right off the bat. The scene with the 4 hit-men is a good example of that. Why on earth would those cold-blooded killing machines decrease their chances of completing their contracts by holding fire, closing in on each other and then just stand there, to successfully stare at each others ugly faces for all that time until agent 47 breaks the ice? And why on earth were those agents pointing their weapons at each other instead of completing their assignment by ventilating 47? If it was argued that they were rivals between themselves, then why didn't they kill each other with the blades too? But that's OK, it's a scene made to look good and stylish (and mindless). Now just wait until someone figures out that a scene can look good, stylish AND make sense at the same time! 2) Olyphant. Looks too young and not so ruthless as the game model. His voice isn't anywhere near David Bateson's (47's game voice) coldness and low-tone power. The acting wasn't bad though, it probably wasn't a very demanding role emotionally, but still, he delivered what it would take for his role. The problem is that, even though he did well, I feel that the choice could have been much closer to what the game offers.

So, this is it, the score of 3 represents the view of a huge series fan that had his expectations higher than the casual action movie fan. 3 is for the satisfying acting performances and the action scenes that would probably result in a higher score from someone unaware of the original material.

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seaton60 from Australia
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It was dull, it was boring, the acting was terrible, olyphant was not believable, Olga was pretty good, the Scottish guy was sometimes out of sync and T-Bag's (Knepper's) accent was poorly executed and sometimes not even there... The action scenes were okay, the plot was pathetic and somewhat fantastical, everything was preplanned so perfectly, oh i'll give them a key to the church in my briefcase because i definitely know that they'll find me, i'll kill the brother and they'll have the ceremony in that exact church, then i'll wait in the room and get arrested and make my escape... There's a man who thinks ahead. I heard that it was rubbish and what not so i was hopeful that it would be better than I thought but it wasn't... I might be harsh, but it's just a warning to those that could spend their 12 dollars elsewhere... I would wait till it comes out on DVD then hire it on one of those cheap days, one dollar Monday's or something...

hinrichtung|gewalttätigkeit|videogame|killerin|assassin|secret identity|intelligence|union of soviet socialist republics|russia|celibacy|hitman|secret society|power|power takeover|geheimformel|adversary|government|hit man|

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Certifications:
Argentina:13 (re-rating) / Australia:MA / Austria:16 / Brazil:16 / Brazil:14 (re-rating) / Canada:18A (Alberta/Manitoba) / Canada:14A (British Columbia/Ontario) / Canada:13+ (Régie du Cinéma Québec) / Denmark:15 / Finland:K-15/13 / Finland:K-16/13 (2012 reform re-rating) / France:Unrated / Germany:18 / Germany:18 (f) / Hungary:18 / Iceland:16 / Ireland:16 / Ireland:18 / Italy:VM14 / Japan:PG-12 / Malaysia:18PL / Netherlands:16 / New Zealand:R16 / Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) / Portugal:M/16 / Singapore:NC-16 / Singapore:PG13 (edited TV version) / South Africa:16 / South Korea:18 / Spain:18 / Sweden:15 / Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) / Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) / Taiwan:R-12 / UK:15 / USA:R (certificate #43962)