If you want to experience a heartwarming light comedy this weekend, then ‘Hit Man’ is your best choice. Co-written by Richard Linklaters and Glen Powell, this movie might not have won any awards at Venice Film Festival, where it has been premiered. Still, the movie has garnered positive responses from people around the world. Richard Linklater is popular for writing famous movies like School of Rock, Boyhood, and the classic Before Trilogy.
The Glen Powell Supremacy
Much like other Glen Powell movies, this one is already a hit. His career has been far from regular. In the initial years of his career, he had several significant roles to play – from being cast in Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over in 2003, Ethan Hawke’s musical drama named The Hottest State in 2006, Washington’s The Great Debates (2007) and several others.
However, ‘Hangman’ (2022) changed his career significantly. This movie was a megahit of his career and helped him sign several other big-budget projects. This is not the first time he is paired up with Richard Linklater.
In fact, during the initial years of his career, he acted in Richard Linklater’s topical drama Fast-Food Nation in 2006. He has also worked in a small supporting role in Christopher Nolan’s movie The Dark Knight Rises (2012). He garnered his first lead role in 2013 with the film Red Wing, produced and directed by Will Wallace. He was also seen in The Expendables 3, a 2014 Sly Stallone-written sequel. This movie was a huge success in his career.
We Are Loving Hit Man, and You Will Too
In his recent movie, Glen Powell has once again proved his prowess in acting by effortlessly playing the character of Gary Johnson, a university lecturer whose character is believed to be based on someone from real life. This movie is not a regular, ordinary comedy movie, it has got thriller, action and involves deceit, corruption, murder and a lot more! The power-stuffed performances of every actor make it even more appealing to the audience.
Richard Linklater is known for his unique entertainment genre of filmmaking, which involves a huge intellectual sensitization and portrayal of human emotions in its raw and subtle forms. This movie is no break from it and is widely accepted by the audience, already making it a ‘hit’!
The character of Gary Johnson is interesting enough to hold the audience’s attention right from the beginning. Gary Johnson is a psychologist who delivers lectures at his university and inspires his students to live on Nietzsche’s philosophy of living on the edges without following it. Interestingly, he lives in a Bungalow in the suburbs, drives a Honda Civic, and lives with his two cats, Id and Ego, thus clearly depicting his geeky persona. He also has the world’s smallest kitchen table, where he dines alone.
Psychological References, Galore
This film is stuffed with psychological references smeared throughout the screenplay. Even the ending leaves several questions to the audience. The plot develops when we experience the alternate lifestyle of Gary Johnson, who also works on his part-time police surveillance job. He gets into this job when an undercover cop pretending to be a hitman is suspended, and he tries in his position and excels in it naturally.
The stark contrast in his life as a boring university lecturer sets the movie’s mood on a paradigm shift. Rarely a celebrity of Glenn Powell’s stature wishes to experiment with the usual trends of hit movies, but this movie is undoubtedly one of his best works. The range and diversity of accents Glenn Powell had to capture in this movie are commendable. The film reaches its climax when Gary Johnson meets a young woman named Madison, played by Adria Arjona, stuck in her marriage with her tyrannical husband and asks him to assassinate her husband.
What do you think happens next? Do they fall in love? Does he assassinate her husband? And most importantly, do hit men exist, or is it a pop-culture fantasy?
Do not forget to watch the movie yourself to get all your answers. This movie can be listed among the best of Glen Powell movies and is widely accepted by audiences all across the globe. This movie is already a hit on Rotten Tomatoes and has garnered positive critiques from other platforms. Well Deserved!
