Hitman: Agent 47

Hitman: Agent 47 is a 2015 action thriller film directed by Aleksander Bach (in his directorial debut) and written by Skip Woods (who also wrote the original 2007 Hitman film) and Michael Finch. It is based on the Hitman video game series, developed by IO Interactive, and its main character, a mysterious assassin known only as Agent 47.[4]

This article is about the film. For the videogame, see Hitman: Codename 47. For the character, see Agent 47.

Hitman: Agent 47
Five rows of ten indistinct figures. The forty-seventh figure is bald, wearing a suit with a white shirt and red tie.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAleksander Bach
Screenplay by
Story bySkip Woods
Based onHitman
by IO Interactive
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyÓttar Guðnason
Edited byNicolas de Toth
Music byMarco Beltrami
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • August 13, 2015 (2015-08-13) (New York City)
  • August 21, 2015 (2015-08-21) (United States)
Running time
96 minutes[1]
Countries
  • United States
  • Germany
  • Singapore
  • United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$35 million[2]
Box office$82.3 million[3]

The film, starring Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware, Zachary Quinto, Ciarán Hinds, Thomas Kretschmann and Angelababy, was theatrically released on August 21, 2015. It was panned by critics, even further than the original film, who criticized the screenplay, performances, score, visual effects, and lacking faithfulness to the source material. Nevertheless, the film grossed $82.3 million worldwide against its $35 million budget.

Plot

47 is an "Agent"; a genetically-enhanced supersoldier created by Dr. Petr Litvenko, a skilled Ukrainian geneticist. Litvenko, unable to bear the guilt of his creation, abandoned the Agent project. 47 works as a hitman for the ICA (International Contracts Agency) and has spent the last few years tracking down Litvenko's daughter, Katia; he gets a lead from mercenaries led by Delriego, who have been trying to find Litvenko in order to recreate the Agent program for their own means.

Katia, living in Berlin under the assumed surname of Van Dees, has worked tirelessly to find an unknown man and is plagued by overwhelming anxiety and a superhuman awareness of everything around her. Katia is approached at a subway station by a man calling himself John Smith. He tells her that 47 is on his way to kill her, and offers her protection, while hinting that he has information about the man she's searching for. 47 finds and attacks the pair, who are able to escape, but not before 47 grazes Katia's arm with a sniper bullet.

Smith and Katia hide out in a hotel room. He explains that he is an operative for a corporation known as Syndicate International and that the man she's searching for is her father. Katia shows him the clues she has put together and asks John to tell her everything he knows about her father. Based on the languages he knows, his age, his love of orchids and medical condition (lung cancer), Katia deduces where her father must be living. Before she can tell Smith, 47 enters, leaving Smith for dead and capturing Katia.

Once Katia awakens, 47 explains to her that she is an Agent, designed by her father to be better than even 47 himself (he explains that her name "Katia van Dees" is an homophone for her real name, "Quatre-vingt-dix"; which is French for "90"). He shows her how to use her heightened senses in combat and the two fight against Syndicate forces. They are confronted by Smith, who is revealed to have surgically implanted subdermal body armor, making him impervious to gunshots. After fighting off Smith, 47 and Katia manage to escape. Katia makes 47 promise that he won't harm her father and finally reveals Litvenko's location: Singapore. Elsewhere, 47's handler Diana, learning of his situation, contacts another Agent with a contract in Singapore.

47 and Katia track down Litvenko, who apologizes to Katia for abandoning her, saying that he only wanted to keep her safe and referring to 47 as her "brother". Just then, Syndicate soldiers attack the group and they are forced to flee. During the escape, Litvenko is captured by the Syndicate, but not before 47 slips him an inhaler.

Smith tortures Litvenko under the supervision of Syndicate director Antoine Le Clerq but Litvenko refuses to reopen the Agent program. 47 hacks into the Syndicate announcing system and Katia crashes a stolen helicopter into the building; 47 disguises himself as a firefighter to get inside undetected. The two fight their way through Syndicate security forces, and 47 is once again confronted by Smith. 47 defeats him by electrocuting him.

On the rooftop, 47 and Katia mop up the rest of the Syndicate's troops, but not before Le Clerq escapes in a helicopter with Litvenko. In mid-air, Litvenko detonates the inhaler, killing himself and the director. 47 then calls Diana and confirms his first target (Le Clerq) has been eliminated. When Diana asks about the second target (implied to be Katia), 47 drops his phone off the side of the building. As the two prepare to leave, they are confronted by Agent 48, an exact look-alike of Agent 47, who tells them "Diana says 'Hello'" before he, Agent 47, and Katia fire.

In the mid-credits scene, Smith is shown to be still alive.

Cast
  • Rupert Friend as Agent 47, a mysterious assassin who works for a top secret non-government organization called the International Contracts Agency (known as either the ICA or just the Agency) which carries out the assassinations of high-profile targets worldwide.[5] Friend also portrays Agent 48.
    • Jesse Hergt as Young Agent 47
  • Hannah Ware[6] as Katia, a woman with enhanced senses, who is on the run, and is desperately searching for Litvenko
    • Helena Pieske as Young Katia
  • Zachary Quinto[7] as John Smith, a high-ranking member of Syndicate International surgically enhanced to counter Agents like 47
  • Ciarán Hinds as Piotr Litvenko, doctor and the founder of the Agent program and Katia's father
    • Johannes Suhm as Young Piotr Litvenko
  • Thomas Kretschmann as Le Clerq, the chairman of an organization called Syndicate International,[8] which is described as an international terrorist organization responsible for creating an army of unstoppable assassins in an effort to destroy the ICA.
  • Angelababy as Diana, the handler of Agent 47
  • Dan Bakkedahl[9] as Sanders, an American diplomatic official in Berlin who interrogates Agent 47
  • Jürgen Prochnow as Tobias
  • Rolf Kanies as Dr. Delriego
  • Jerry Hoffmann as Franco

Production

On February 5, 2013, it was reported that 20th Century Fox was developing a new film based on the Hitman video games, with the title Agent 47 derived from the lead character Agent 47. Skip Woods wrote the screenplay with Michael Finch, and commercial director Aleksander Bach directed as his feature film debut.

Casting

On February 5, 2013, Paul Walker was attached to play the title role as Agent 47, but on November 30, 2013, he died in a car accident, before filming had begun.[4] On January 9, 2014, Rupert Friend was in talks to replace Walker. On January 31, 2014, Zachary Quinto joined the film in a supporting role.[7] On February 5, 2014, Hannah Ware also joined the film to play the female lead. On March 6, 2014, Thomas Kretschmann signed on to play the high-profile villain Le Clerq.[8] On March 13, 2014, Dan Bakkedahl joined the cast of the film.[9] On March 14, 2014, Ciarán Hinds signed on to star in the film as a scientist.

Filming

Filming was originally set to take place in Berlin and Singapore in summer 2013,[4] but was later postponed to March 2014.[7] Principal photography began on February 18, 2014; an image from the European set was released that week.[8]

Soundtrack

The official soundtrack was composed by Marco Beltrami.[10]

Reception

Box office

Hitman: Agent 47 grossed $22.5 million in North America and $59.9 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $82.3 million, against a budget of $35 million.[3]

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $8.3 million, finishing fourth at the box office.[11]

The film opened in 60 markets internationally.[12] It opened in France at number 2 with $1.9 million, third in the United Kingdom with $1.4 million, and first in Colombia.[12]

Critical response

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 8% based on 130 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Hitman: Agent 47 fails to clear the low bar set by its predecessor, forsaking thrilling action in favor of a sleekly hollow mélange of dull violence and product placement."[13] Metacritic gives the film a score of 28 out of 100, based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[14] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[11]

IGN gave the film a score of 6.0/10, saying, "Hitman: Agent 47 is almost certainly going to be too much of a generic action film for those heavily invested in the game franchise, and too video game-like for those who aren't."[15] IrishFilmCritic gave the film 3.5/5 stars, describing the target audience as "those of us who grew up in the 70's and 80's and thrived on overly exaggerated action films with anything that starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis... Go to this movie and just have fun, it's that simple."[16] Kotaku also gave the film a positive review.[17]

Tech-savvy site Geek.com awarded the film a decent review. Critic Will Greenwald commented that "It isn't a must-watch, and doesn't stand out as memorable or terrible, but it's enjoyable enough to at least feel like Hitman... The premise feels like The Professional... And, as stupid as that all sounds, it's actually very loosely the plot of the first Hitman game, Hitman: Codename 47... the first hour the film feels like a bizarre take on The Terminator. The action is frantic and creative. Gunplay feels a bit like Equilibrium, which means it's eye-catching, brutal, and incredibly unrealistic... and it's entertaining despite not feeling as genuine and harsh as the action in Dredd or John Wick... I liked Hitman: Agent 47, but it's not a very good movie. It's uneven and weird, and while it's much more enjoyable than the previous Hitman film, it doesn't leave a very lasting impression. It's not Hitman boring and it's not Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li bad or faithless to the source material, but it isn't consistently as strong as it could have been with a bit more logic in the writing and much less reliance on CG and film speed trickery to make the fights seem flashier (and faker). There are just too many little things that feel off for the big, eye-catching things to really stay with you."[18]

The Sci-Fi Movie Page awarded the film two stars out of five. Film critic Tim Janson stated: "First time Director Aleksander Bach makes the mistake in thinking that more characters with special abilities makes for a better film. Unfortunately this is not the case. There's little attempt at developing any of the characters as more than one-dimensional cutouts."[19]

Future

In 2015, Adrian Askarieh told IGN in an interview that he may oversee a film universe with Just Cause, Hitman, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Thief.[20]

A sequel to Hitman: Agent 47 was planned, but was scrapped in 2019 after Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox.[21]

See also

References
  1. "HITMAN: AGENT 47 (15)". British Board of Film Classification. August 6, 2015. Archived from the original on September 1, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  2. Brent Lang (August 19, 2015). "Box Office: 'Straight Outta Compton' Will Dwarf 'Hitman: Agent 47', 'American Ultra'". Variety. Archived from the original on August 21, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  3. "Hitman: Agent 47 (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on October 20, 2015. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
  4. Fleming, Mike Jr. (February 5, 2013). "Fox Reloading 'Hitman' With Paul Walker As Bald Barcoded Assassin Agent 47". deadline.com. Archived from the original on August 5, 2015. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  5. Kit, Borys (January 9, 2014). "'Homeland' Actor Rupert Friend in Talks to Replace Paul Walker in 'Agent 47'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on February 7, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  6. Kroll, Justin (February 5, 2014). "Hannah Ware Lands Female Lead in 'Agent 47,' Based on 'Hitman' Videogame". Variety. Archived from the original on February 5, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  7. Billington, Alex (January 31, 2014). "Zachary Quinto Also Joins the Cast of Fox's Hitman Sequel 'Agent 47'". firstshowing.net. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  8. Kit, Borys (March 6, 2014). "'Avengers 2' Actor to Play Villain in 'Agent 47'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 7, 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
  9. "Dan Bakkedahl Cast In 'Agent 47'". Deadline Hollywood. March 13, 2014. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
  10. "Hitman Agent 47 (Original Motion Picture Score)". Apple iTunes. August 25, 2015. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  11. "Late August Blues Hit The B.O., But Audiences Remain Excited About 'Compton' As Film Hits $111.1M – Monday Update". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on August 22, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  12. Nancy Tartaglione (August 30, 2015). "'Terminator', 'Mission: Impossible' Each Cruise Past $300M; 'Compton' Tops In UK, Germany – Intl Box Office Update". Deadline Hollywood. (Penske Media Corporation). Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  13. "Hitman: Agent 47 (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Archived from the original on August 1, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2021.
  14. "Hitman: Agent 47 reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on September 9, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  15. Josh Lasser (August 19, 2015). "Hitman: Agent 47 Review". IGN. Archived from the original on May 23, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  16. James McDonald (August 20, 2015). "Movie Review: "Hitman: Agent 47" Is Ridiculously Excessive Fun". Irish Film Critic. Archived from the original on January 7, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2015.
  17. Owen, Phil (August 23, 2015). "I Saw Hitman: Agent 47, and It Was Fine". Kotaku. Archived from the original on August 26, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2015.
  18. "Hitman: Agent 47 is a solid 7, but not quite a hit - Reviews - Geek.com". @geekdotcom. Archived from the original on September 6, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  19. "Hitman: Agent 47 Blu-Ray Review". SciFi Movie Page. Archived from the original on January 21, 2016. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  20. Krupa, Daniel (September 9, 2015). "JUST CAUSE MOVIE WILL TAKE CUES FROM JUST CAUSE 3". IGN. Archived from the original on July 30, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  21. "Disney Canceled Over 200 Films Fox Had in Development". FandomWire. August 22, 2019. Archived from the original on August 7, 2022. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
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