Hit Man review: Glen Powell excels in this raunchy R-Rated comedy by School of Rock director
It’s official, Glen Powell is a movie star.
With his newest film Hit Man, Powell has confirmed what we already knew from Top Gun: Maverick, Anyone but You, and Set it Up – he has all the tools to become the next big Hollywood star.
The film, by School of Rock director Richard Linklater, focuses on a fake Hit Man, played by Powell.
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Gary Johnson is a divorced college professor who moonlights as a fake Hit Man – getting confessions out of criminals for the police.
When he meets Maddy Masters, played by Adria Arjona, this all changes, as he decides to let her off, and they stay in contact – her still thinking he is a hitman.
The R-Rated film, coming to Netflix on June 7, is a raunchy, hilarious comedy – that at points is even thrilling and tense.
Powell and Arjona have electric chemistry, and their numerous racy scenes set the scene for a whirlwind romance at the core of the film.
The film is loosely based on the real-life story of Gary Johnson, who worked as a fake hitman for the police for 30 years from 1989.
Hit Man takes the best elements from this, but isn’t constrained by the occasionally dulling limitations of a biopic. Linklater and Powell worked on the screenplay together, and it very much stands on its own.
Something that they did pull from Johnson’s real-life story however is his ability to camouflage himself.
In the film, Powell changes his hitman persona based on each person he is hired by, catering his specific persona to who they would think a hitman would be.
This ranges from a Patrick Bateman style sleeze ball to a MAGA hillbilly to a weird Scandinavian creep.
Powell is as much a chameleon in the roles as his character, playing each of them to perfection.
The main duality of the role though is that, when around Maddy – he is a suave direct smooth-talker, while his everyday life of Gary Johnson is as a submissive soft-spoken nerd.
Powell not only does a great job at hitting both extremes, but also by portraying his suave hitman persona that Maddy knows bleeding into his every day.
Richard Linklater has had a mixed output in recent years.
Mixed in with hits such as Boyhood are films that came and went with little reaction such as Last Flag Flying and Where’d You Go, Bernadette.
With Hit Man though, Linklater has managed his best comedy of his career – beating out School of Rock in my eyes.
With the film coming to Netflix next week, it’s certain to be a hit with viewers across the board.
Topics: Netflix, Film and TV
Michael Slavin