- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Hitman (2007) – Action/Thriller • 1h 40m
CBFC: A | Directed by: Xavier Gens | Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott, Olga Kurylenko
Overview
Hitman (2007) translates IO Interactive’s stealth-action video game series into a sleek, globe-spanning thriller. Guided by director Xavier Gens and written by Skip Woods, the film follows Agent 47, a ruthlessly efficient contract killer raised by a shadowy Organization to be the ultimate weapon. Timothy Olyphant embodies the taciturn, barcoded assassin whose every move is calculated, while Dougray Scott plays Interpol investigator Mike Whittier, the dogged lawman piecing together the trail 47 leaves behind. Olga Kurylenko co-stars as Nika, whose connection to a powerful Russian figure draws her into 47’s perilous orbit.
Story: From Controlled Precision to Conspiracy
The film opens with a chilling prologue: in a hidden training program, boys are conditioned, branded with barcode tattoos, and molded into operatives with mastery of combat, weapons, and endurance. Years later, one of those engineered assassins—known only as Agent 47—confronts Interpol’s Mike Whittier at the agent’s home. Their tense conversation frames the narrative, teasing a long pursuit and the blurred lines between hunter and hunted.
Months earlier, 47 executes a high-stakes hit against a Nigerien warlord with clinical efficiency. His next assignment appears straightforward but comes with a twist: the Organization orders 47 to eliminate Russian President Mikhail Belicoff in full public view, not from the shadows. The mission seemingly succeeds—47 delivers a clean headshot—but the fallout is baffling. The Organization claims Belicoff survived and suddenly marks 47 for termination, leaking his identity to the FSB and setting in motion a deadly chain reaction.
Ordered to silence a supposed witness named Nika, 47 discovers she never saw his face. The contradiction makes one thing clear: he has been set up. Surviving an ambush by another assassin, 47 digs deeper and learns that a political double is impersonating the Russian leader. The hit he carried out removed the real Belicoff, paving the way for the imposter to seize power—an outcome certain factions within the Organization wanted all along. Nika, held under the thumb of the Belicoff machine, becomes both leverage and liability in a spiraling conspiracy.
Racing Across Borders
On the run across Europe, 47 fends off waves of rival operatives, including a brutal showdown aboard a train that pivots from stealth to swords. Whittier briefly corners him, only to be outmaneuvered; the Interpol man remains a moral counterweight, determined but outmatched. To flip the chessboard, 47 strikes a pragmatic deal with CIA contact Carlton Smith: in exchange for help, he will remove Udre Belicoff, Mikhail’s notorious brother whose criminal network spans arms and human trafficking.
The plan leads to Istanbul, where 47 impersonates a German arms dealer to infiltrate Udre’s world. When Udre is eliminated, the imposter president must appear at the funeral, offering 47 a rare window. Orchestrating chaos through coercion—he forces FSB figure Yuri Marklov to redeploy his own units—47 slips into the cordoned service. Disguised as a soldier, he dismantles the imposter’s security and completes the mission while Interpol converges too late to stop him. Smith’s operatives later intercept the convoy carrying 47, honoring their bargain and enabling his escape.
Aftermath and Quiet Resolutions
Back in Whittier’s home, 47 ensures his freedom by pressuring the investigator to report a false conclusion: that a decoy “Agent 47” is dead. The assassin maintains a watchful distance as Nika receives papers to a vineyard—an echo of a dream she once voiced. It’s a gesture that suggests, for all his conditioning, the man behind the barcode still makes choices beyond kill orders. With the Organization warned to leave her alone, 47 vanishes into anonymity, the consummate professional resetting the board for whatever comes next.
Cast & Characters
Timothy Olyphant gives Agent 47 a cool, minimalistic intensity—few words, precise movement, and emotion compressed into glances.
Dougray Scott plays Whittier as relentless but grounded, a foil who recognizes the assassin’s strange code of conduct.
Olga Kurylenko’s Nika mixes vulnerability with resolve as a woman exploited by power yet determined to reclaim her life.
The ensemble rounds out with Robert Knepper as the calculating Marklov.
Ulrich Thomsen double-dipping as both Belicoff and his doppelgänger.
Henry Ian Cusick as Udre, whose decadence and brutality make him a volatile catalyst.
Production Notes
The project took shape after the game’s creators pursued a screen translation. 20th Century Fox secured the rights and initially attached Vin Diesel, who later departed the role. In early 2007, Timothy Olyphant signed on, with Xavier Gens directing. Principal photography began in Sofia, Bulgaria, stretching across roughly three months, while a second unit captured additional cities including London, Istanbul, St. Petersburg, and Cape Town. The film underwent reshoots and editorial adjustments prior to release, with reports of changes to action beats—such as expanding a train confrontation—and tweaks to elements of 47’s origins to fit the final cut.
Release, Box Office & Reception
After a brief delay from its original October 2007 date, Hitman premiered in the United States on November 21, 2007, followed by the United Kingdom on November 30 and France on December 26. Critics largely faulted the film’s tangled plotting and uneven tone, though many singled out Olyphant’s controlled presence as a highlight. Audience reaction skewed warmer than reviews, and the movie overperformed commercially relative to its modest $24 million budget, ultimately earning around $101.3 million worldwide in theaters, with additional revenue arriving via home video sales.
Over time, the film has acquired a certain cult curiosity: a glossy, European-inflected actioner that helped cement Agent 47’s look in mainstream pop culture. While its critical reputation remains mixed, the movie paved the way for a separate reboot, Hitman: Agent 47 (2015), underscoring the enduring draw of the character and the franchise’s clean aesthetic—shaved head, barcode, suit, gloves, and silverballers—across mediums.
Credits & Key Details
| Directed by | Xavier Gens |
|---|---|
| Written by | Skip Woods |
| Based on | Hitman by IO Interactive |
| Produced by | Daniel Alter; Adrian Askarieh; Luc Besson; Chuck Gordon |
| Starring | Timothy Olyphant; Dougray Scott; Olga Kurylenko; Robert Knepper; Ulrich Thomsen; Michael Offei; Henry Ian Cusick |
| Cinematography | Laurent Barès |
| Edited by | Carlo Rizzo; Antoine Vareille |
| Music by | Geoff Zanelli |
| Production companies | 20th Century Fox; EuropaCorp; Anka Film; Daybreak Productions; Dune Entertainment; Prime Universe Productions; IO Interactive |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox (Worldwide); EuropaCorp Distribution (France) |
| Release dates | November 21, 2007 (United States); November 30, 2007 (United Kingdom); December 26, 2007 (France) |
| Running time | 92 minutes |
| Countries | France; United States; United Kingdom |
| Languages | English; Russian |
| Budget | $24 million |
| Box office | $101.3 million |
Why It Still Gets Talked About
For fans of the games, Hitman captures the surface iconography: the suit-and-tie silhouette, the quiet menace, the choreography of infiltration. For action devotees, it offers international backdrops, crisp gunplay, and the occasional operatic flourish. And for adaptation watchers, it stands as an instructive case—how studios balance fidelity to source material with mass-market demands, and how post-production can reshape tone and mythology. Imperfect yet unmistakable, Hitman (2007) remains a snapshot of late-2000s action cinema filtered through a cold, stylish lens.
Comments
Post a Comment