We all were super excited to see Hrithik Rohan playing different roles for the Dhoom series. Our minds were blown when Kamal Hassan was playing 10 different roles in his Dasavatharam. How about a man who had self-styled into multiple roles, or rather personalities– to be precise, to bring the potentially bad guys to the justice?
Hit Man, directed and written by Richard Linklater–written along with the actor Glen Powell, is testament of how a dark comedy which is also a biopic can be made. We have seen many biopics which are bland-shit hagiographies chronicling the events as cinematic shots. But, Hit Man doesn’t even try to be a biopic, in fact, it IS not. It is inspired from the original OG Gary Johnson. When they said they were “inspired” from Gary Johnason, they were not kidding. They did take a lot of very good cinematic liberties. The liberty to alter things isn’t a bad thing for this movie. In fact, this is what makes Hit Man a very good movie.
Gary Johnson, played phenomenally by Glen Powell, is a college professor teaching Psychology and Philosophy at New Orleans University. In the opening scene, Gary is talking to the class about Frederich Neitzche’s idea that living life riskily is the way to happiness. And, we see a student mocking him for his normal life. He drives a normal car and lives with two cats and no family. Of course, he wasn’t the one who was teaching the class. He is just yet to become one.
Gary: The Psyched Up Geek.
What is our personality? Can it be changed? We know we fake our personalities very often. We say very enthusiastic-wavey-hi-s despite wanting to be left alone. That might be the shift-personality we might have adopted for the sake of survival and rewards. We all do it. It’s alright. It is us, the humans. Gary Johnsan can live the life that we can bear only a few minutes, if not a few hours. That’s why he becomes the perfect choice as a fake Hit Man who conspires with the New Orleans Police Department to catch the potential future criminals who want to kill someone. He is a “murder-stopper”.
Hit Man is also a romantic comedy too, and definitely a dark comedy. We don’t get heavy belly-busters from the movie. However, the subtle smirks are a definite guarantee, especially when Adria Arjona appears as Madison. Glen Powell and Adria Arijona’s acting is incredible. Just into a few minutes of scenes, you are into the characters. They are phenomenally good. And, the credit goes to the brilliant writing too.
Immersive Writing
The screenplay written by Richard and Glen is very immersive. The dialogues make you hooked to the scenes. The conversations are very interesting that you are hooked to it and may not even notice that the positioning of the camera is mostly over-the-shoulder just staying there– as if an interview is happening. The Cinematography by Shane Kelly doesn’t take the foreground but assets the story.
I shouldn’t end the review without mentioning the banger-reveal at the end credits. The filmmakers staged an event for the sake of making it a good movie. Is it even ethical to manipulate life events to make them more cinematic? Is it a filmmaking sin? I will leave the answers for these questions for you to answer after finishing this fantastic movie. I am sure you will arrive at the right answer.
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