Sometimes it can be hard to pin down a film’s genre. A movie can dive into so many pools in one go that it feels like it fully swims in none of them, or it can have hints of a flavor or two yet never commit to any one taste, leaving the audience confused as to what they just consumed.
Hit Man is the latter of my lamentably mixed metaphors: It’s a romance that isn’t really romantic, a comedy that isn’t really that funny, and a crime story that doesn’t delve too deeply into the law and the punishments of those who break it. But despite its nebulous genre I actually enjoyed Hit Man for the most part, mostly thanks to some incredible acting and the chemistry of the two leads.
Glen Powell, a guy who I previously only knew as the cocky pilot from Top Gun: Maverick that wasn’t Tom Cruise, both co-wrote and stars in Hit Man, and damn does he do a good job, if you pardon my French. His character Gary, a mild-mannered psychology professor with a part-time gig as an undercover agent who pretends to be a Hit Man in order to entrap potential customers, allows for an incredible range of people to play– Gary himself is meek and dorky, his main alter ego smooth, assertive, and tough.
Over the course of the film he effortlessly takes on other personas as well, from a Russian mobster to a murderous redneck, and every one of them is fun to watch. Powell’s acting ability and charisma is the primary force driving the film forward, especially when it is complemented by his electric chemistry with Adria Arjona, who plays his love interest, Madison.
But despite this chemistry it’s not a love that I ever believed in, and they are not a couple I ever rooted for, a bad sign for what Wikipedia describes as a romantic comedy.
It’s not a very funny film either, not because it has jokes that don’t work but because it doesn’t really go for any jokes at all. The plot that gets the characters to the expression of the “l” word is fraught with illogical leaps, and much of the conflict seems artificially generated by characters keeping secrets when there is no apparent reason for them to be doing so and lying just for the heck of it until it is too late for an easy resolution.
This point of no return doesn’t happen until the ninety minute mark: Every bit of conflict up until that point could have been resolved with zero negative consequences if the people in the film weren’t purposefully trying to generate enough content to fill an hour and a half.
It’s frustrating and a little bit bemusing, to say the least. And that ending? It would have been one thing to leave me dissatisfied, but it’s quite another to leave me actively disliking the main characters and wishing they were robbed of the happy resolution that they thought they were owed for some reason.
Thanks to Powell the actor, Hit Man is perfectly watchable and enjoyable, but Powell the writer might need to brush up on his skills just a bit if he wants his characters to inhabit a believable and worthwhile world next time.
Hit Man is now available on Netflix.
Article written by TJ Reid
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