OSCAR-nominated director Richard Linklater’s sunshiny neo-noir, Hit Man, stars Glen Powell as strait-laced professor Gary Johnson, who moonlights as a fake hit man for the New Orleans Police Department.
A screwy romantic comedy, the film, new to Netflix, is inspired by an astonishing true story about an unassuming professor who discovers he has a hidden talent as a fake hit man. He meets his match in a client who steals his heart and ignites a powder keg of deception, delight, and mixed-up identities.
Exceedingly skilful at inhabiting different facades and personalities to catch forlorn people who want to bump off their problems, Gary begins assuming false identities to entrap criminals for the local police.
The situation changes and gets out of hand when this tepid college lecturer finds himself attracted to one of those potential criminals, a beautiful young woman named Madison (Adria Arjona).
As Madison falls for one of Gary’s hit man personas – the inexplicably seductive Ron – their passionate affair sets off a chain reaction of play acting, deception, and escalating stakes.
At its core, despite its thriller and comedic elements, Hit Man is a relationship movie about a guy who gets in a little too deep and has to deal with the repercussions of deceiving the woman he loves.
Gary/Ron points out at one point that our fantasy of a hit man occupies a place in our brain because it feels like a simple solution to life’s complicated problems.
Linklater’s latest is a gritty, witty, and an overly easy watch, that doesn’t ask to much of us. It’s a film to cuddle up with your significant other and enjoy while forgetting the troubles of the day. There’s great chemistry between the two lead characters and it’s all very pleasant and entertaining.
In a nutshell, this is one perfectly executed rom-com.
(4/5)
