Hit Man

Glen Powell has been a busy boy this year, for some reason. He is the most successful mediocre actor that I have ever seen. He is moderately attractive and somewhat talented. He is the most average that Hollywood has to offer and thus we all must endure him in about a thousand projects. It is one of many films this year that premiered at film festivals last year but earned their award eligibility this year. That is, they were released in theatres this year before being bought and distributed by streaming services. Hit Man did have theatrical runs in limited cities, normally that is done just so films can be eligible for awards.

Glen Powell plays a recently promoted contract killer. He is a complete goober and he has his first meeting as a contract killer. He is not very convincing. This scene seems like it is going on a little long. I understand that we are trying to set up him not being very good at this new job but that was pretty well established using visuals. I would really like to pose a challenge to all filmmakers in the new year; remember that film is a visual medium and thus you shouldn’t be relying on dialogue to tell your story, it's a sign of horrible writing. SHOW don’t tell. Let’s go back to the basics for 2025 please.

Okay I kind of take it back, he’s actually undercover getting people to admit to hiring contract killers. I stand by me saying that the scene was too long but the purpose was to get the guy to confess. He is a huge dork but he’s really good at camouflaging himself to get people from different demographics to trust him.

I’m not sure how I feel about the narration. I think that it is often misused in film but I don’t think it's hindering the story too badly at the moment.

I love the very obvious Patrick Batemen reference. Glen captured his mannerisms pretty well, no one is Christian Bale but for the bit he did pretty good.

Okay we have introduced the emotional side of the story, which is that his ex-girlfriend is having a baby with another man. Then he meets someone who he is supposed to get to confess, except it's a pretty girl so he gets distracted. He starts sleeping with this girl who, of course, has no idea who he actually is.

He seems to enjoy getting lost in this persona that he is putting forth in order to date and sleep with this woman. But as with all good romcoms, none of it is real. Now I do believe that this was branded and marketed as a comedy when I do believe it should have been presented as a romantic comedy. It follows the classic formula and tropes while still remaining quite original and interesting. I am more into it then I really expected to be.

The act structure it follows is very much that of a typical romantic comedy which is fine. I don’t mind when things are structured to their genre as long as they don’t rely too heavily on tropes.

Okay so this movie was a wild ride, and the marketing was definitely the worst part. But the Bonnie and Clyde meets literally any romantic comedy was far better then I thought that it was going to be. Hit Man is perhaps Glen Powell’s best film. I would give it a really solid 8.5/10. I think their ability to balance true originality with great romantic comedy tropes was some really great writing.