Hit Man (2024)

Acclaimed Five Time Oscar-nominated director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Boyhood, Before Sunrise) has returned with his latest opus which received a TON of strong buzz on the festival circuit last year....and was then purchased by Netflix and held for a mostly streaming release this year. :/ It's the SEMI-true story of a fake cop named Gary Johnson (Glenn Powell) who worked with the local police to help draw in and apprehend citizens planning on committing murder....by pretending to be a "hit man."   Through taking on various disguises and personas, Gary becomes really good at his job until.....one day a potential client comes calling whom he falls in love with. She's Madison (Adria Arjona) and after they meet over the potential murder of her husband.....instead of committing murder, they begin a torrid affair.  And of course, further complications ensue....does this live up to the hype of potentially being one of the best films of 2024?  Let's find out.....

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon 

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Transcript

HIT MAN - 2024

Directed by Richard Linklater

Starring Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Molly Bernard, Evan Holtzman, Grale Bryant Banks, Morgana Shaw, and Beth Bartley

Genre: Romantic Comedy Thriller (Audio clip)

In case anybody was still wondering as to whether Glenn Powell has the chops to become a genuine movie star, watching him in this should alleviate ANY doubts. :) In a story loosely based upon true events, Powell portrays Gary Johnson, a sorta-dorky (really?) college professor moonlighting for the local police as a fake hit hitman to lure potential contract murders, eventually also pretending to be a specific hitman in an effort to build and maintain a romance with a mysterious, troubled housewife Maddy Masters played by the also-soon-to-be-a-star Adria Arjona.

Yes off the bat....is the absurdly chiseled Powell playing a bookish nerd a stretch....EVEN with those time-tested go-to's of sporting glasses, pulling his hair back in an unremarkable pony tail AND speaking in a high pitched voice?? 😁 Why yes it is a stretch.....as is a good amount of what transpires in this story. But apparently neither writer/director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Boyhood, School of Rock) nor co-writer Powell were concerned about that as they just delve into the central premise of this movie with such charm and confidence that it didn't concern me either. I enjoyed the hell out of this even though at points I was telling myself, "No way!" 😆

Is this a romantic thriller, dramatic comedy, mystery romance.....who knows, it's damn difficult to categorize which likely kept it more interesting from my standpoint. The closest analog I have heard and would possibly agree with is MAYBE Out of Sight, it's got some of that Elmore Leonard edge mixed with Soderbergh's twistiness for sure. While I would say the chemistry between Powell and Arjona here is on par with Clooney and Lopez, the similarities kinda peter out beyond that. For one thing, the narrative is much more straightforward as opposed to 'Sight or any other Leonard adaptations for that matter. No time jumps or flashbacks, it's all told in sequence and letting stories like these breathe and develop at their own pace has always been a key strength of Linklater's going back to Before Sunrise....

Now this is not say that this has the depth of any of Link's "Before" Trilogy nor does it need to. The two romantic leads here are fun to watch but make no mistake that their relationship is built very much on deception. 🤔 We can't be sure if Gary and Maddy are full-on soulmates but for RIGHT NOW, they've got the spark! And it's more than just BOTH actors always looking spectacular no matter how hard the movie attempts to normalize their looks....otherwise Anything But You would have actually been a GOOD rom-com.

Nope and it's a tricky thing to pull off from both a writing and acting standpoint but what's so fun about this core relationship is how role-playing plays a part. And I'm not just referring to THAT kind of role-playing....though there's some of that here too. 😆 (It's even featured in the trailer) We become witness to both of them actually RELISHING the chance to play different roles, this even develops into a funny ongoing bit in the movie as Gary takes on several different disguises and personas for different hitman sting operations. Powell demonstrates a great gift for physical comedy with these get-up though never to Mike Meyers or Eddie Murphy-type levels of overwhelming the movie. He's just adept at looking like somewhat offbeat VERSIONS of Glenn Powell....my personal favorite one being a creepier red-haired persona of his which might be best described as Antoin Chigur....meets....Tilda Swinton? 🤨 Arjona has arguably the trickier role here playing some one with potentially more layers of deception than she lets on....and she pulls that off well with equal parts sympathy AND allure, depending on how she's using her smile. 

I would say that my biggest issue might be the VERY ending of the movie....it's not quite the ending I saw coming, I'm not sure I completely bought it, AND I don't know if it quite had the punch of everything which preceded it. Not saying that it's a BAD ending or that it remotely sinks the movie....it just didn't measure up to the rest of the movie for me. But I gotta think on it for sure, see this again of course regardless. :) Overall this was just a blast for the most part....handsomely shot, well-paced, and with a solid supporting cast all delivering besides the two main leads. The two which stood out the most were likely Retta (Parks and Recreation) and Austin Amelio (The Walking Dead) with fun acid turns as police officers working this ongoing sting with Powell's Gary.

Best Needle drop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

If I’m being honest, there apparently are several New Orleans-based needle-drops sprinkled throughout this film AND a somewhat minimalist score from regular Linklater collaborator Graham Reynolds as well…..and strangely neither really registered with me.  I don’t know maybe I was just too wrapped up in the dialogue.  However there is ONE example here of the often unassailable POWER for having the right needle-drop at the right point of the movie.  

That brings me back to the very end….which I have already said I didn’t love.  I mean it’s well-executed, I’m just not sure I really bought it….BUT what made it more palatable was the comforting music played over those final closing moments going into the closing credits.  And fittingly in line with much of the rest of the sountrack….it’s a composition from a genuine New Orleans legend, the late great Allen Toussaint.

Before he passed away back in 2015, Toussant was a singer, songwriter, and producer of many popular R&B songs going back to the late ‘50’s collaborating with the likes of Fats Domino, Patti Labelle, Boz Scaggs, Paul McCartney, and The Band.  And going back to the ‘70’s, he also did release several solo albums featuring him mostly performing jazz….the soothing and hopeful piano-based ditty we hear at the very end of this movie is from his second album “Toussaint” released in 1971.  It’s a funkier cover of a beloved jazz standard which had been performed by jazz legend Vince Guaraldi just ten years prior – this lovely song is titled, “Cast Your Fate to the Wind.” (Audio clip)

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

This was playing in ONE theater in the entire Chicago area for about two weeks….and then it’s going to Netflix TODAY the day that this episode is being published.  If you listened to my recent review for The Killer, sorry but I’m going to be a broken record on this one,….but COME ON Netflix, come on Ted Sarandos what gives?? This is a movie FOR audiences with one of our fastest rising stars above the title….Glenn Powell, he just had a surprise hit not that long ago….why not at least TRY to give this a platform release and go from there?  You had already sat it on for more than six months and purchasing the distribution rights…..you couldn’t give it a LITTLE more time to see if it could build up an audience in theaters?  Sigh, I just don’t get it!  Ok rant over! 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

Going back to the role playing which becomes SUCH factor in this unique relationship between Gary and Maddy…..well their abilities to do so is TRULY put to the test during a key sequence towards the end of the movie.  We see a culmination of this on both of their parts in what HAS to be one of the more ingeniously executed verbal exchanges built on deception that I have seen in ANY movie in quite some time! Not gonna spoil it except that it makes FANTASTIC use of each star's facial expressions, and watching this just had me giddily bouncing in my seat. :) There's just a genuine JOY towards watching two folks click in just the right way on-screen and Richard Linklater seizes on that delivering a breezy but at points sufficiently dark crime caper.

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

Speaking of Linklater…..since his early ‘90’s breakout indie sensation Slacker, he has just always been one of those steadily working auteurs who has bucked much of the studio system often doing his own thing…..akin to contemporaries like Spike, Soderbergh, Tarantino or Danny Boyle.  Strangely, I never found myself to be as LOCKED IN towards seeing his next movie like those other guys…..I have just never been a season-ticket holder for him like those other directors, not completely sure why….part of that might be there are many notable films of his which I have still not yet seen like Everybody Wants Some or Before Midnight….and I was VERY late to the party on Dazed and Confused…..to an embarrassing extent too.  I mean we’re talking an early ‘90’s classic which came out during my Freshman year of college, PLAYED at the movie theater I was working at….didn’t see it until just a couple of years ago and I LOVED it of course.

And yet it feels as if every once in a while….I catch a film of his like the aforementioned Dazed and Confused….Waking Life….Before Sunset…..Boyhood….and I’m just blown away and reminded “Yeah Linklater’s one of those guys!”…..part of it could be is that he never really had a distinct style or if there was one….it was a relaxed, laid back style.  That’s certainly the case with this movie.  It also helps to have the right star – Powell has been on the come-up for the past several years and this is about as dazzling a star turn as you can hope for.  He’s just FANTASTIC here playing a tricky character on paper as his interpretation of Gary Johnson is one who is always using at least two layers of deception with ever one in is life…..and despite that, he just comes off as SO likeable.  Of course even beyond that, Powell found this story, developed it, and co-wrote it with Linklater.  For collaborating to deliver one of the most purely entertaining films of the year…..a film for ADULTS no less….Richard Linklater and Glenn Powell are your CO-MPVs.  

Final Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Oh and apparently there has been some ongoing hype about this movie being "sexy" since its vaunted premiere at Venice last year. IS it sexy per se? 🙄 Well sure it delivers well on that front....I mean we have one charismatic lead (Powell) with a megawatt smile big enough to steal the last Top Gun FROM Cruise and his jets no less. And he's paired with literally the only actress (Arjona) whom I can recall was actually able to bring GENUINE heat to something Star Wars-related (Andor) in QUITE some time....and without relying on a metal bikini no less, so was there ever any doubt? 😉

Streaming on Netflix

And that ends another LOOSELY BASED ON TRUE EVENTS review!