GLEN POWELL STARS IN A “HIT” YOU CAN STREAM

He’s the hot commodity right now. Glen Powell has been in a string of hits lately and with good reason. Regardless of his charming, good looks he is a really good actor. Maybe his most recent film Hit Man on Netflix showcases his range and ability to be more than one person beyond an actor playing a character. We’ve seen the regular movies where a hitman is hired to either take out a good person or an evil one. There usually is a lot of running from the hitman whether the target is good or bad culminating in an action-packed movie. Hit Man is nothing like that. In fact, there is no real action or real feeling of life and death in this dark comedy by Richard Linklater.

Hit Man is based on the real-life story of Gary Johnson a college professor who helped the police catch people who wanted to hire a hitman. Powell plays Gary who realizes that he is more than the tech guy on the sting operations when he has to pretend to be the hitman the perpetrators are looking to hire. He gets really good at it and finds a new way to live outside his boring life. He gets a bit too involved with a would be client when he talks her out of having her abusive husband knocked off. She leaves her husband but after thanking Gary, who she knows as “Ron” for his help the two strike up a quite physical relationship. “Ron” becomes a conduit for Gary to not be himself and live a little on the wild side without anyone getting hurt and he can carry on his relationship with Madison played by Adria Arjona. It’s all good until their relationship gets exposed and things start to spiral.

This is one of those comedies that doesn’t have you rolling with laughter. It carries Linklater’s scent of being subtle in its situational humor. As I said, there isn’t really any action or chase scenes to get the blood pumping. Rather than tearing through town in a car they are mental chase scenes with the characters avoiding questions and actions that may get them caught. It also isn’t trying to be too smart or cute where you feel insulted as you’re always in on the joke so to speak. Powell plays the duality role perfectly as you can clearly see when he is Gary and when he is Ron. The chemistry between him and Arjona is great and makes the fantasy they are both living feel like something to cheer for. The supporting cast is perfect, and the cat and mouse game played when someone tries to expose their relationship is fulfilling. While I was concerned this movie might fall into rehashed action-comedy staples and redeeming moments, so everyone has a feel-good experience it really stays true to where it started and is satisfying all the way through even though the ending may skew a bit from what you expected. Get it on your list and you’ll enjoy sitting through this dark comedy from start to finish.