Hit Man (2024) | REVIEW

Directed by Richard Linklater — Screenplay by Richard Linklater and Glen Powell.

Loosely based on a Skip Hollandsworth magazine article from Texas Monthly, Richard Linklater’s Hit Man follows Gary Johnson (played by Glen Powell), a professor of psychology and philosophy who moonlights for the New Orleans police department during sting operations. While out on his second job, Gary is asked to step into a suspended colleague’s role as a fake hitman. It turns out that Gary, a slightly dorky professor with little-to-no social life, is a natural at pretending to be someone he is not, to improvise, and to get the criminals who had sought out the services of a hitman to confess to him that they want to order a murder from him. Not only is Gary a natural at it, but he also appears to love the thrill of it, as well as the ways he can come up with outfits and hitman-looks tailored to the ‘clients.’ As he becomes more and more comfortable being someone else, he, too, becomes a different person, and soon he becomes both sympathetic and attracted to one of his clients.

Director Richard Linklater is one of the most critically acclaimed American filmmakers of his generation, and he has built himself a fairly distinctive filmography. Many of Linklater’s films are concerned with identity and growing up (e.g. Boyhood) or partnerships (e.g. The Before Trilogy), as he shows us life and love in film-length snapshot moments in time or over the course of a life. At the same time, he has also become quite popular for his hangout film snapshots of youth and young adulthood (e.g. Everybody Wants Some!!), as well as experimented with rotoscope animation time and time again (e.g. A Scanner Darkly). Hit Man, his latest film, also happens to be his second Skip Hollandsworth adaptation, after the Jack Black-led Bernie. With Hit Man, which Linklater co-wrote with its star (Glen Powell), Linklater has created a brilliant crowdpleaser about performative masks bleeding into your actual identity. 

This film about double lives, performative masks, and taking risks to become the person you want to become fits right in with Linklater’s other films as it, too, considers life and identity. It also has a structure that allows for it to include several speeches with which the film’s main character teaches his students about people like Nietzsche and concepts like the id, the ego, and the superego, and while this makes a lot of sense for the film given the overall thematic intentions of the script, it is perhaps also true that the film spells out its themes a bit too much by doing it this way. However, this whole structure of juxtaposing his police business with his relevant day job as a professor isn’t there to be didactic, it makes sense for the film and leads to some entertaining moments that totally make up for any qualms one might have with these trope-like teacher scenes, as the juxtaposition illustrates how he is changing.

A terrific genre-bender that feels like a blend of 21 Jump Street and Barry, Hit Man features a genuine movie star performance from its lead actor, co-writer, and producer Glen Powell, who gets to show range with a role and performance that allows him to show off himself as a genuine leading man, but also show off his comedic talents and exceptional romantic-comedy chemistry (and wear very funny costumes). It is a winning performance that gives equal parts Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise energy. There may be an argument to be made that he is too hot to pull of the dorky original look of his character, but the glow-up trope is used to entertaining effect here, and it didn’t bother me. His infectious romantic chemistry with Adria Arjona is also quite excellent, and she, too, delivers a strong performance in a role that allows her to be both seductive, innocent, and mysterious. Arjona and Powell have a brilliant, standout scene together, which allows them to communicate and perform at one and the same time, that is sure to be one of the year’s best. Another performance that deserves being singled out is that delivered by Austin Amelio, as another undercover cop. Like Powell, Amelio also appeared in Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!, and here he is a true scene-stealer. All three of them deserve more prominent roles based on their well-measured performances here. 

Other elements that may divide opinion for this otherwise hugely entertaining film include the fact that it features a couple of choices that opt for entertainment rather than realism, but also that the pacing in the early going is more leisurely than one might expect — though I also expect this to be a style choice. In general, I do think this film could’ve cut one or two scenes and made other minor adjustments to end up with a tighter overall cinematic product. But these are merely slight quibbles about a film that, on the whole, is an extremely entertaining and charming romantic dark comedy — which may make you think about performative identities, social masks, and morality — that complements Richard Linklater’s oeuvre and which features what-should-be a star-making turn from its charismatic triple-threat Glen Powell. 

8.5 out of 10

Review Written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.