Richard Linklater is no stranger to making great movies, especially comedies that we can all enjoy. His latest movie is called Hit Man, and it is the story of a fake hitman who falls in love with a woman trying to kill her husband. Yes, it’s based on a true story… well, mostly true. The movie was written with alongside, Glen Powell. The Top Gun: Maverick star as Gary Johnson, a real-life psychology professor who on the side helped police capture murder-for-hire criminals by posing as a fake hitman. Of course, some of the story is embellished and nobody knows the true identity of the woman that the character Madison was inspired by and who is trying to have her husband killed. But that doesn’t matter because you get a fun comedic thriller with great characters. This was a surprise hit for me. Glen Powell knocks it out of the park with his performance as Gary Johnson and essentially makes this movie with all the different characters that he plays as the fake hitman. And between him and Richard Linklater you get a smart romantic action thriller that is probably one of Netflix’s best movies.
It’s easy for a romantic action thriller to fall into the tropes of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but Hit Man doesn’t do that. You certainly know who the main star of the film is, and Glen Powell owns it from the first time we see him on screen as a nerdy psychology professor. His performance is a wonderful adventure with a great actor who essentially becomes the man of a thousand faces. Adria Arjona who plays the damsel in distress, but also mysterious psychopath because you don’t know whether she would really killed her husband or not, but her performance is good too Together her and Glenn exuberate great on screen chemistry that will keep you rooting for both characters until the end.
I’ve always said that performance is make or break a movie and Hit Man definitely shines from the performances of the main characters, but something else that really makes this film worth watching is just the story itself. An unlikely hero masquerading as a fake hitman and getting so into the performance that he doesn’t know how to switch it off and essentially becomes the guy he’s always wanted to be even if that identity is hitman. For Glen Powell, this movie is a master class in acting. His performance makes this movie better than it should be and worth watching.
Now the critic in me can certainly nitpick about this film. It would have been nice to see more of his fake hit man performances, but that’s not the story. It’s the story of a fake hit man falling in love with a woman trying to have her husband killed and trying to figure out how there can be a happy ending especially when her husband calls to hire him to kill his soon-to-be ex-wife. Sometimes the film has a hard time finding the right balance between the many performances of Glen Powell and the love story within the film. But there’s also a plot twist with blackmail and the threat to both characters being caught by the police when he’s trying to help her get away with the murder for hire plot. Of course, I’m not going to give it away! But really my only criticism is the film trying to find the right balance and that’s more of an editing issue than anything else. If you read my film reviews, you know how I feel about the importance of film editing. Overall, Hit Man is a fun romantic action thriller that makes a great date movie. This is one of Richard Linklater’s best written movies where smart and funny characters that keep you entertained until the end. And even though they embellish on part of the story, which they sarcastically admit during the credits, it doesn’t take away from how ridiculous this story turned out based on the real adventures of Gary Johnson, the character that this story is based on. It certainly worth watching on Netflix and I even would have paid money to see it in the theater. Glen Powell and Richard Linklater wrote a good movie that bypasses the usual tropes in romantic action movies and takes a unique and sophisticated approach to this genre. It certainly works and makes this film worth watching more than once. But if nothing else, Glen Powell proves that he is A-List material!
