Hit Man

Richard Linklater’s latest is an entertaining romantic comedy inspired by real events – with a star-making turn from Glen Powell.

Hitting the mark: Adria Arjona and Glen Powell

Hit Man is a somewhat true story, inspired by the life of Gary Johnson. Or so we are told at the start of this entertaining biopic co-written by Richard Linklater and Glen Powell. Glen Powell plays Johnson, a nerdy professor of psychology and philosophy with outsize spectacles and an absurdly floppy fringe, who waxes rhapsodic on Plato and Descartes. “I used to believe that reality was objective, immutable,” he tells his students. “We’re all sort of just stuck – in a Plato-Descartes-Kant sort of way.” Gary is certainly stuck, is divorced and lives at home with his two cats, but assures us on the soundtrack that he is entirely content. Besides his interest in the id, Immanuel Kant and ornithology, he is a past master at electronics and in his spare time helps out with tech support for the police. He admits he was always too shy to go up for the school play, but that is his special gift – he is “perfectly forgettable.” So, when the department’s faux hit man is suspended during a sting operation to expose a murder-for-hire confession, Gary is forced to step in at the last moment. On the spot, he must summon all his verve to persuade a would-be murderer that the man is about to engage the services of a real contract killer.

To everybody’s surprise, especially his, Gary turns out to be a natural for the job, being smart, unmemorable and the proud driver of a Honda Civic. For him, it is easier being somebody else than the mild-mannered professor he is and he becomes a master of disguise, with an array of wigs, false teeth and tattoos. The film is a godsend for Powell, who till now has been known for his dashing turns as the astronaut John Glenn in Hidden Figures (2016) and for more prominent roles in Top Gun: Maverick and Anyone but You. He’s perfectly winning as the classroom dweeb, but even more so as a series of make-believe hit men that run the gamut in appearance from Ryan Gosling to Matthew McConaughey via Tilda Swinton (take your pick). But this is also a romantic comedy and the meet-cute moment between an abused wife, Madison (Adria Arjona), and her potential redeemer (Powell), is to kill for. The Puerto Rican-born Arjona is a deliciously comic and sensual foil, particularly when in the act of roleplay, whether at a crime scene or in the bedroom.

Initially, it’s hard to take Hit Man seriously, until it becomes clear that the film is doing anything but, even making a mockery of its oft-employed title (there are movie clips featuring Alan Ladd, Lee Van Cleef, Charles Bronson and Colin Farrell). It recalls the tone of Doug Liman’s ‘true-life’ American Made (2017) with Tom Cruise, but its screenplay has more wit and sinew, its various unexpected layers slapping neatly into place. Essentially, Gary Johnson is an irresistible character, as is his slick alter ego ‘Ron,’ who gives the geeky professor an opportunity to live out the life that he has denied himself. While the beautiful Madison just falls for the façade, Gary/Ron is still what he chooses to be. There’s a lovely scene with Gary and his ex-wife (Molly Bernard), who suggests that maybe he needs to see someone, either a therapist or another woman, or both. As Gary Johnson later concedes, “if the universe is not fixed, then neither are you. Seize the identity you want for yourself.” The colourful New Orleans locations and jazzy background score add to the pleasure.

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON

Cast: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Molly Bernard, Evan Holtzman, Gralen Bryant Banks. 

Dir Richard Linklater, Pro Dylan King, Richard Linklater, Glen Powell, Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan, Screenplay Richard Linklater, Glen Powell and (uncredited) Adria Arjona, from the article by Skip Hollandsworth, Ph Shane F. Kelly, Pro Des Bruce Curtis, Ed Sandra Adair, Music Graham Reynolds, Costumes Juliana Hoffpauir, Sound Justin Hennard, Dialect coach Susanne Sulby. 

AGC Studios/ShivHans Pictures/Monarch Media/Barnstorm Productions/Aggregate Films/Cinetic Media/Detour Filmproduction-Netflix.
115 mins. USA. 2023. UK and US Rel: 7 June 2024. Cert. 15.

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