Hit Man

I didn't even know this movie existed when my wife picked it at random on Valentine's Day. She just cruised through Netflix, reading descriptions until something tickled her fancy, landed on this, and hit play. I didn't even get a chance to see what the logline said, so I was flying blind, except for one element: that bright red N in the thumbnail. A Netflix movie. The mark of "eh, I guess". A three star glass ceiling of mediocrity and background noise. Much to my surprise, Hit Man turned out to be a lot better than that, and the credit goes to a few people. First is director Richard Linklater. I've seen only a couple of his movies, but I know he has a pedigree; not the household-name status of a Spielberg or a Hitchcock, but among cinephiles, he's been a consistent filmmaker. He did not play down to the level of Netflix originals. The movie is about a college professor of psychology and philosophy, who moonlights doing IT work for the New Orleans police, working as the tech geek behind murder-for-hire sting operations. When the cop who normally does it is suspended, he has to step in as the fake assassin. He winds up being great at it, using his expertise in psychology to tailor the role he plays to the person looking to hire him. This allows Gary (played by Glen Powell), who is rather buttoned-up and passionless, to play other people. Trouble arises when he meets a would-be client, a smoking hot woman in a bad marriage; he falls for her and advises her to leave instead, so he can keep her from going to jail ... and then keep playing the role he's created to date her. Despite the premise pivoting around a murder-for-hire plot (that gets more complicated later with an actual murder), Linklater's direction in this blend of romance, comedy, and crime never drags the movie down one avenue or another. All of the tones blend together nicely and balance each other out, and the pacing and overall feel of the movie is energetic and entertaining. And when it needs to hit a specific note, it does so in the right way; the comedy is funny but not sitcomy, the romance is cute and sexy, but never cheesy or Hallmark-esque, and the crime element is serious, but never feels out of place. Powell and co-lead Adria Arjona also get credit for having great chemistry and being fantastic individually, too. Both of their characters evolve over the course of the movie, with Gary using his cover identity Ron while he's with Madison, and it brings out his confidence, a little swagger, and oodles of charm. Gary's journey is finding out that "fake it till you make it" isn't about living a lie until it becomes the truth, but about pushing your own boundaries until you're so comfortable going there, the boundary has moved. Madison's journey is similar, as she's trapped in a bad marriage, and Gary's advice and then courtship helps her not only find herself again, but find new sides of her she didn't know she had. And the chemistry between them crackles like static electricity. This isn't a perfect movie, though. Because Gary is seeing Madison under the pretense of Ron the contract killer, that means we have a liar-revealed "twist" and a third act break-up/reconciliation angle. Given the framework of the movie, it could not have gone any other way, so I'm not mad at it for happening. But I am annoyed at how quickly it begins and ends. At an hour-forty-five or so, this thing runs through the lie revealed, break-up, and reconciliation in ... five minutes? Seven, tops? And it isn't so much a reconciliation as they're forced together by circumstances, so they're just back together because reasons. There's also a pair of twists -- really, character pivots -- with Madison and her abusive ex-husband that come out of nowhere. From one scene to the next, they act like completely different people, Madison's ex-husband being so different, I literally didn't recognize him. It very much feels like the script was forcing plot developments to happen rather than events unfolding because the characters are driving the story. And there's a revelation late in the movie that potentially reframes Madison as a character. The movie doesn't really touch on it, so it may be reading more than there is, but it could leave a sour taste in some people's mouths. Overall, though, this was definitely a net positive experience. I laughed a few times, the romance felt genuine and sweet (and sufficiently steamy when called for), and the criminal element was engaging and never felt out of place. I probably never would've seen this without my wife's random stop on the Netflix carousel, but I'm glad she did.