Hit Man

Directed by Richard Linklater, Hit Man follows undercover New Orleans police contractor Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) as he begins dating a woman (Adria Arjona’s Maddy) who previously attempted to hire him to execute her abusive husband (Evan Holtzman’s Ray). It’s certainly an unusual premise that is, for the most part, employed to agreeable and entertaining effect by Linklater, as the filmmaker, armed with his and Powell’s screenplay, does a superb job of initially establishing the central character and his decidedly off-kilter existence – with the impact of the picture’s early scenes undoubtedly heightened by Powell’s engrossing and often unreasonably charismatic performance. (The palpable chemistry between his and Arjona’s respective figures doesn’t hurt, either.) There’s little doubt, then, that Hit Man‘s overall impact is dulled slightly by Linklater’s lackadaisical approach to the material, although it’s equally clear that the film’s sporadic lulls are rarely (if ever) as problematic as one might’ve feared – with the ongoing inclusion of stand-out sequences (eg Gary and Maddy engage in a fake conversation for the benefit of eavesdropping cops) generally compensating for the picture’s erratic nature. And while the climax strains the limits of credibility to a serious extent, Hit Man, buoyed by its terrific acting, predominantly comes off as a solid endeavor from a decidedly hit-and-miss moviemaker.

*** out of ****