Hitman | |
---|---|
Directed by | Xavier Gens |
Written by | Skip Woods |
Based on | Hitman by IO Interactive |
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Laurent Barès |
Edited by |
|
Music by | Geoff Zanelli |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by |
|
Release dates |
|
Running time | 92 minutes [1] |
Countries |
|
Languages |
|
Budget | $24 million [2] |
Box office | $101.3 million [3] |
Hitman is a 2007 action-thriller film directed by Xavier Gens and produced by Luc Besson, based on the video game series of the same name. The film stars Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47, a professional hitman engineered to be an assassin by the Organization. He becomes ensnared in a political conspiracy and finds himself pursued by both Interpol and the FSB. Dougray Scott and Olga Kurylenko star in supporting roles.
An international co-production between France, the United States and the United Kingdom, Hitman was released by 20th Century Fox in the US on November 21, 2007, followed by the UK on November 30 and France on December 26. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics, who criticized its convoluted plot but praised Olyphant's performance. Despite this, the film was a box office success, grossing $101.3 million against a $24 million budget. A sequel was canceled during the film's production due to its mostly negative reception, but the film was eventually followed by the reboot Hitman: Agent 47 in 2015.
Inside a heavily guarded facility, a group of young boys are given tattoos of bar codes on the backs of their shaved heads and are then trained in weapons, demolitions, unarmed combat, stamina, and strength to become professionally trained hitmen who operate around the globe. In the present day, Interpol agent Mike Whittier arrives home and is met at gunpoint by Agent 47. The two talk about 47's life as a professional hitman, raised and trained by a clandestine group known simply as the Organization.
Three months prior, 47 is completing a hit on a Nigerian warlord named Bwana Ovie. In a subsequent change of plans, 47 is told by his Organization handler, Diana Burnwood, that he is to kill his next target, Russian President Mikhail Belicoff, publicly instead of privately. Agent 47 completes his mission by shooting the man in the head, but before he can leave Russia, he is contacted by his superiors. He is mystified when told the hit was a failure and that Belicoff survived the attack on his life. The Organization notifies him of a witness to the assassination and orders him to intercept and kill her. However, when 47 realizes she has never seen him before, he does not shoot her; instead, he narrowly avoids an assassination attempt on himself by another agent and realizes he is being set up.
His employers send his location and identity to the FSB, but Diana secretly calls 47 and tips him off, revealing that Belicoff himself had ordered the hit. After escaping from his hotel, 47 intercepts Nika, Belicoff's mistress and the woman who supposedly witnessed his hit. He interrogates her and discovers that Belicoff had a double, who ordered the hit on the real Belicoff in order to take his place as the president of Russia. The Organization, hoping to gain influence with the new government, ordered 47 to kill Nika and then set him up to be erased and thus cover their tracks.
Nika and 47, attempting to leave Russia by train, are pursued by Organization agents, whom 47 subdues in hand to hand combat and kills. Whittier then attempts to arrest 47 himself, only to be easily overpowered. Nika persuades 47 to let Whittier go free, and Whittier is forced to leave Russia by FSB officer Yuri Marklov, who is overseeing the manhunt, for interfering. 47 contacts his associate, CIA officer Carlton Smith, to offer him a deal: 47 will kill Udre Belicoff (Mikhail's brother and a wealthy arms dealer and human trafficker) in exchange for a favour. Smith informs 47 that Udre had been planning something with a German gunrunner named Price.
47 and Nika travel to Istanbul, where 47 abducts Price, poses as him to meet Udre at a club, and kills him, forcing Belicoff's double to attend Udre's public funeral. 47 kidnaps Marklov and forces him to order his own agents to disrupt the funeral and create a distraction while 47, disguised as a soldier, deals with the imposter's bodyguards and kills him before Whittier arrives with backup from Interpol to take him into custody. Smith delivers on his end of the deal and has his operatives intercept the convoy that is transporting 47 to the airport, allowing the hitman to escape.
Back in Whittier's home, 47 threatens Whittier into notifying the police that he has killed (a fake) Agent 47. Nika is seen picking up an envelope containing the deed to a vineyard, a dream of hers to own. Agent 47 is watching her from afar, through the scope of a sniper rifle. Looking at the corpse of another agent lying at his feet, he muses that he had warned him (meaning the Organization) not to touch her, and then walks away.
In February 2003, Hitman makers Eidos and IO Interactive entered negotiations with Hollywood production companies to adapt the video game to film. [4] 20th Century Fox eventually acquired the rights and hired screenwriter Skip Woods to pen the screenplay, with actor Vin Diesel executive producing and starring in the film. [5]
In December 2006, Diesel stepped down from the role. In January 2007, Olyphant was cast as the lead with director Xavier Gens at the helm. [6] In March, actor Dougray Scott was cast as Agent 47's nemesis, with Olga Kurylenko, Robert Knepper, Ulrich Thomsen, and Michael Offei also joining the cast.
Principal photography began the week of March 27, 2007 in Sofia, Bulgaria and lasted 12 weeks. [7] A second unit also shot in locations including London, Istanbul, St. Petersburg, and Cape Town. [8]
The release of the film was set back a few months to allow for the re-shooting of several scenes. These included a sword fight between four assassins in a train car, which replaced the original train platform sequence where Agent 47 fought only one assassin. Reports before the film's release confirmed that not only were reshoots taking place, but that Fox had fired Gens and denied him final cut. Nicolas de Toth was brought in at this stage to soften the edit and cut down material. [9]
47's origins were also changed at this stage, with a decision to add footage from the TV series Dark Angel , [10] which was also owned by Fox, in an effort to save money. Gens told an interviewer that whilst they are not directly dealing with the clone storyline, one scene (the original train station sequence) showing a bald, barcoded assassin (Jean-Marc Bellu) following Agent 47 (Olyphant), another bald, barcoded assassin, is very explicit and showed his intention to keep him as a clone. [11] The detail was likely changed to accommodate for the casting of actors of multiple races during reshoots, making it impossible for them to be clones (or at least clones of the same person).
Olga Kurylenko revealed she refused to have a body double for her sex scenes. [12]
Hitman was originally slated to be released on October 12, 2007, in the United States and Canada, [13] but the film's release was postponed to November 21, 2007. [14] Hitman opened in 2,458 theaters in the United States and Canada, grossing $13,180,769 in its opening weekend, ranking fourth at the box office. [3] The following weekend, Hitman opened in 12 markets, having the following highlights: $150,355 in 38 theaters in Indonesia, $224,449 in 37 theaters in Malaysia. and $244,329 in 32 theaters in the Philippines. In Taiwan, the film opened in fourth place with approximately $100,000. The film also performed weakly in Lebanon with $19,321 in 6 theaters. [15] As of March 13, 2008, the film has grossed $39,687,694 in the United States and Canada and $60,278,098 in other territories for a worldwide total of $99,965,792, exceeding its estimated $24 million budget. [3] [16] [ better source needed ] The DVD sales equal $27,858,148 in the US alone, putting the total gross for Hitman at around $128 million, not counting television airing rights. [2]
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 16% based on 106 reviews, with an average rating of 3.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Hitman features the unfortunate combination of excessive violence, incoherent plot, and inane dialogue." [17] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [18] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. [19]
Critics found fault with several aspects of the film, including a weak and often confusing plot, dry acting, and extreme violence. Roger Ebert notably gave it a positive, three-stars-out-of-four review, and said "Hitman stands right on the threshold between video games and art. On the wrong side of the threshold, but still, give it credit". [20] In 2008, Time listed the film on their list of top ten worst video game movies. [21]
Despite Hitman's mostly negative reception, Slovenian philosopher and film theorist Slavoj Žižek included the film in his personal list of 10 greatest films in a 2012 poll conducted by the Sight & Sound magazine. Commenting on his picks, he said the list contains "only 'guilty pleasures'" and he made "no compromises for high quality or good taste". [22]
An unrated version of Hitman was released in the high-definition Blu-ray format on March 11, 2008, and features extras including deleted scenes, an alternate ending and a gag reel. This version also features a special digital copy of the film which can be transferred to a portable media device like an iPod. [23] A standard-definition DVD was released on the same date in three versions. A single-disc theatrical version, a single-disc unrated version, and an unrated special edition including many extras, and the digital copy mentioned above. [24] The unrated DVD is one minute longer than the theatrical cut and includes a few extended scenes with more blood. [25] The UK version of the film was available on Blu-ray and DVD from 31 March 2008.
The French Blu-ray version of the film came with 10 deleted scenes, accompanied with French audio commentary by Xavier Gens. Some of the scenes included are the original assassination, in which Ovie survives, is taken to hospital only to be killed via lethal injection by 47 disguised as a doctor; the alternate train platform sequence which features no sword fight, as well as showing the older assassin biting off his tongue to avoid giving answers to 47; and an extended departure sequence between 47 and Nika, which shows Yuri and his men stopping their train and boarding it to look for 47.
An alternate ending in the special features of the DVD shows 47 watching Nika through his sniper scope as she opens the envelope. She then turns down a corner of a small street to be shot dead in a drive-by, possibly by men loyal to the organization behind the fake Belicoff, all while 47 watches.
IESB had confirmed that 20th Century Fox hired writer Kyle Ward to pen the script for the sequel to Hitman. [26] Adrian Askarieh, Daniel Alter and Chuck Gordon were to return as producers. American actor David Hess, who died in October 2011, had been reported to have an as-yet-unnamed role. Daniel Benmayor had signed to direct the sequel. Olyphant stated on the Nerdist podcast that he had no interest in returning for a sequel and only did the original film in order to pay for his new house following the sudden cancellation of Deadwood . [27]
On February 5, 2013, it was reported that the film would be rebooted with the title of the film being Hitman: Agent 47 , and would have starred Paul Walker as Agent 47 prior to his death on November 30, 2013, with commercials director Aleksander Bach making his feature film debut helming the project. The screenplay was written by Skip Woods and Mike Finch. Shooting was expected to take place in Berlin and Singapore in summer 2013. [28] [29] On January 9, 2014, actor Rupert Friend was in talks to replace Walker as the character. [30] On January 31, 2014, actor Zachary Quinto was cast in an unnamed role. [31] On February 6, 2014, actress Hannah Ware was cast in the female lead role. [32] On February 19, 2014, production on film began filming with Friend as Agent 47. [33]
The film was theatrically released in the United States on August 21, 2015 and was panned by critics, even further than the original film, receiving even worse ratings than the 2007 movie. [34]
Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is a 2002 stealth video game developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. The game was re-released for Windows through the Steam online distribution service, and a DRM-free version was later made available through GOG.com. It is the second installment in the Hitman video game series and the sequel to Hitman: Codename 47. The single-player story once again follows Agent 47, a genetically enhanced human clone who worked for the International Contract Agency (ICA) as an assassin. Following the events of Codename 47, the former contract killer has retired and started a peaceful life at a church, but after his only friend, Reverend Emilio Vittorio, is kidnapped by unknown assailants, 47 resumes work for the ICA in hopes of tracking him down.
Hitman is a stealth game franchise created by Danish developer IO Interactive. The player controls the contract killer Agent 47, who travels the world to assassinate various targets who are assigned to him.
Hitman: Contracts is a 2004 stealth video game developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It is the third installment in the Hitman video game series, and serves as both a remake of Hitman: Codename 47 and sequel to Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, incorporating gameplay elements introduced in the latter into missions from the first game, which have been remastered with enhanced graphics. The game also includes several new missions, which serve as flashbacks experienced by the cloned assassin Agent 47 after almost being killed on a failed mission.
Hitman: Codename 47 is a stealth video game developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive for Microsoft Windows in November 2000, and the first entry in the series. In the game, players control Agent 47, a genetically enhanced human clone who is rigorously trained in methods of murder. Upon escaping from his testing facility, 47 is hired by the International Contract Agency (ICA), a global contract killing organization. His missions take him to locations in Asia, Europe, and South America to assassinate wealthy and decadent criminals, at first seeming to share no connections with each other, but who are soon revealed to have all played a role in a larger conspiracy. The gameplay revolves around finding ways to stealthily reach and eliminate each target; to this end, players can make use of various tools, including disguises and suppressed weaponry. However, some levels are more action-focused and do not feature stealth as a possibility, instead playing like a traditional third-person shooter.
Hitman: Blood Money is a 2006 stealth video game developed by IO Interactive and published by Eidos Interactive. It was released in May 2006 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360. It is the fourth installment in the Hitman video game series, and the sequel to 2004's Hitman: Contracts. The story follows cloned assassin Agent 47's efforts to bring down the Franchise, a rival contract killing organization that is threatening his employers, the International Contract Agency (ICA), and seeking to obtain the same cloning technology that created 47. Meanwhile, a frame story presents 47's life and various contracts he carried out, as narrated by a former FBI director to a journalist.
Timothy David Olyphant is an American actor. He made his acting debut in an off-Broadway theater in 1995, in The Monogamist, and won the Theatre World Award for his performance, and then originated David Sedaris' The Santaland Diaries in 1996. He then branched out to film; in the early years of his career, he was often cast in supporting villainous roles, most notably in Scream 2 (1997), Go (1999), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), A Man Apart (2003), and The Girl Next Door (2004).
Live Free or Die Hard is a 2007 American action thriller film directed by Len Wiseman, and serves as the fourth installment in the Die Hard film series. It is based on the 1997 article "A Farewell to Arms" written for Wired magazine by John Carlin. The film's name references New Hampshire's state motto, "Live Free or Die".
Smokin' Aces is a 2006 American action thriller film written and directed by Joe Carnahan. The film centers on the chase for Las Vegas magician turned mafia informant Buddy "Aces" Israel, on whom a one-million-dollar bounty is placed. The ensemble cast includes Ryan Reynolds, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Common, Andy García, Alicia Keys, Taraji P. Henson, Ray Liotta, Chris Pine, and Matthew Fox, all co-starring as the various individuals attempting to either capture, kill or protect Israel.
Olga Kostyantynivna Kurylenko is an actress who rose to prominence by playing Camille Montes in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace (2008).
Hitman: Absolution is a 2012 stealth video game developed by IO Interactive and published by Square Enix's European branch. It is the fifth installment in the Hitman series and the sequel to 2006's Hitman: Blood Money. Before release, the developers stated that Absolution would be easier to play and more accessible, while still retaining hardcore aspects of the franchise. The game was released on 20 November 2012 for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. On 15 May 2014, Hitman: Absolution – Elite Edition was released for OS X by Feral Interactive; it contains all previously released downloadable content, including Hitman: Sniper Challenge, a "making of" documentary, and a 72-page artbook. On 11 January 2019, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released enhanced versions of Absolution and Blood Money for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as part of the Hitman HD Enhanced Collection.
The Impossible Kid is a 1982 exploitation film directed by Eddie Nicart, and starring Filipino actor Weng Weng. The film is a sequel to For Your Height Only (1981), which was also directed by Nicart. The original Tagalog language audio track is lost.
The November Man is a 2014 spy action thriller film based on the novel There Are No Spies by Bill Granger, which is the seventh installment in The November Man novel series, published in 1987. A British-American production, it stars Pierce Brosnan, Luke Bracey and Olga Kurylenko, with Bill Smitrovich and Will Patton also appearing, with the screenplay written by Michael Finch and Karl Gajdusek. The film is directed by Roger Donaldson, who previously worked with Brosnan on Dante's Peak. The film was released on August 27, 2014 in the United States.
Hitman: Agent 47 is a 2015 action thriller film directed by Aleksander Bach and written by Skip Woods and Michael Finch. It is based on the Hitman video game series, developed by IO Interactive, and its main character, a mysterious assassin known only as Agent 47. The film is a reboot to the 2007 film.
Soul Assassin is a 2001 thriller documentary film directed by Laurence Malkin and starring Rena Owen, Kristy Swanson and Skeet Ulrich. It was released 24 July 2002.
Hitman is a 2016 stealth video game developed by IO Interactive and published by Square Enix. The game, which has six episodes, is the sixth mainline entry in the Hitman franchise, the first installment of the World of Assassination trilogy, and the successor to Hitman: Absolution (2012). The single-player story follows genetically engineered assassin Agent 47 as he goes on a worldwide adventure and solves a mysterious series of seemingly unconnected assassinations. Hitman features a number of large, open-ended sandboxes that Agent 47 can freely explore. The game presents the player with various assassination opportunities, many of which are unconventional. IO Interactive introduced a "live component" to the game with new content being regularly delivered in downloadable form.
The Hitman's Bodyguard is a 2017 action comedy film directed by Patrick Hughes and written by Tom O'Connor. It stars Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson with Gary Oldman and Salma Hayek. In the film, Michael Bryce (Reynolds) must protect Darius Kincaid, an imprisoned hitman (Jackson), who is on his way to testify at the International Criminal Court against a sadistic Eastern European dictator Vladislav Dukhovich (Oldman).
Hitman 2 is a 2018 stealth video game developed by IO Interactive. It is the seventh main installment in the Hitman video game series, the sequel to 2016's Hitman and the second game in the World of Assassination trilogy. The game continues the story arc started in Hitman, following genetically engineered assassin Agent 47 as he searches for the mysterious "Shadow Client" who is trying to destroy Providence, a secretive organization that controls global affairs. It also explores more of 47's mysterious background, which Providence offered to bring to light in exchange for 47's assistance. Like its predecessor, the game is structured around six large sandbox locations that players can freely explore to find opportunities to eliminate their targets. It also included two online multiplayer modes called Sniper Assassin and Ghost Mode, though the game's servers for both modes have since been shut down; Sniper Assassin can still be played single-player.
Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is a 2021 American action comedy film directed by Patrick Hughes and written by Tom O'Connor and Brandon and Phillip Murphy. The film is a sequel to the 2017 film The Hitman's Bodyguard and features Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, and Richard E. Grant reprising their roles, with Frank Grillo, Antonio Banderas, and Morgan Freeman joining the cast.
Hitman 3 is a 2021 stealth game developed and published by IO Interactive. It is the eighth main installment in the Hitman video game series, the sequel to 2018's Hitman 2, and the third game in the World of Assassination trilogy. Concluding the story arc started in 2016's Hitman, the game follows genetically engineered assassin Agent 47 and his allies as they hunt down the leaders of the secretive organization Providence, which controls global affairs and was partially responsible for 47's creation and upbringing. Like its two predecessors, the game is structured around six levels, five of which are large sandbox locations that players can freely explore to find opportunities to eliminate their targets. Each mission presents challenges that players can complete to unlock items.
Chief of Station is a 2024 American action thriller film written by George Mahaffey, directed by Jesse V. Johnson and starring Aaron Eckhart, Olga Kurylenko, Alex Pettyfer, Daniel Bernhardt, Chris Petrovski, Nick Moran, Kris Johnson, and James Faulkner. It was released on May 3, 2024.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)