I know it can work! I just need to crack that formula...
So let's start by saying the obvious: The Hitman movies were bad. I think... everyone can agree on that much, right? Of course not. Of course there's going to be one outlier in the world who rants and raves daily about how "sick" it was "When Forty-Seven stood in the middle of the street like a startled sasquatch bullet-time shooting all these cops on ziplines who all appear to be doing nothing to prevent their obvious impending demise", but aside from little endorphin hits like that; I'm pretty sure we can all agree that as adaptations of the Hitman property both those films are objectively failures. But by some strange merit not at all like myself, I can't help but feel somewhat forgiving to those movies, because in a way it's not their fault how they totally missed the mark. Well, it is their fault- but only because their creators followed the established and staunch directives of traditional Hollywood media, where Hitman soared to the place it is in pop culture by being just that little bit different than what you would expect.
See, the connective tissue that ties together both of the failure Hitman movies is the basic idea that both are action gun-slinging films staring a calm-mannered bald-headed protagonist who communicates only in pithy dryly ironic remarks. And if you squint your eyes than that doesn't seem too far off from the actual Hitman franchise we love. Thus these movies turn into action romps of adrenaline filled carnage where Agent 47 is the 'man on fire' tossed in the middle of a carnage of death. Of course every film needs to challenge it's heroes, and most action movies fall into the pattern where the situation slips out of the control of the protagonist and they need to skirt past danger by the skin of their teeth- but such doesn't really fit 47's character. He is the definition of control in most everyone situation. Which is why the movies tend to lean more the direction of John Wick; where the scale of the situation seems to veer towards the insurmountable almost as a dare to the protagonist to see if this is one obstacle too much. (Which, it inevitably, is not.)
Of course, there is a fundamental problem with this set-up. Namely, that Hitman is not an action series regardless of what a few misguided missions from the literal first Hitman game might lead you to believe, (We forget about those outliers for a pointed reason) Hitman is much more akin to an espionage thriller. Yes, Agent 47 is a contract killer who travels around the world performing audacious and impossible hits on a cadre of increasingly bizarre and enigmatic villains, but he does so methodically, atypically and, canonically, without ever being noticed and/or without anyone knowing it was an assassination in the first place. That's his talent- utter, unbreakable discretion. Which is what makes is so frustratingly galling that every adaptation thus far has featured the man going on massive shooting sprees in the middle of the street. How is his increadibly distinctive face going to brag it's way to a Visa now? Did you ever even stop to consider that, Square franchise right's holders?
When it comes to Hitman, my real love for the franchise didn't really descend into the ravenous pits of hunger within which it currently resides until very painfully recently, with the release of Hitman: No Subtitle. I absolutely adore that game, mechanically, thematically, intellectually; I believe it to be a masterpiece of game design and weep openly when explaining it's many ascendant attributes in conversation with others- simply because I must confer to them the same level of reverence that was conferred on to me. I often stare them in the eyes and make them swear never once to whisper anything bad about that seraphic angel of a video game- and I'm just starting to come around to the reason why I actually don't have any friends... wow, that's a stark reality check...
My point is, Hitman: No Subtitle really gets what Hitman is about at a fundamental level, unfortunately that level of innate understanding doesn't translate so effortlessly to film. Because at it's heart Hitman is about choice and replayability; which... well, only Clue got away with multiple endings in the cinema as far as I'm aware. (And even then, the multiple endings are considered the reason why the movie itself was a bomb) Alternatively, Hitman is also about strategy, creativity and controlled execution- which itself presents a little bit of a challenge being presented to screen as none of those inherently scream: 'exciting screen action' at a glance. If 47 spends all of his time observing his target, figuring out how to get close without being seen and then perfectly orchestrating a 'Rube-Goldberg' style death trap, that might be satisfying for a player but the audience aren't getting that all important peril they're searching for. Watching someone who's great at everything constantly succeed isn't what Cinema is about- that's what Isekai anime is about!
Once upon a time I did actually write an awful screenplay for a brief Hitman scene, more to try and test out the way that I thought the franchise could be translated to film. I handled the perspective of the audience as a sort of omniscient observer, taking them mostly to focus on the personality of the target and their daily set-up with the arrival of 47 and his antics being more background noise that would occasionally leach the spotlight before giving it back to the target. In this way I hoped to create the effect that 47 was some sort of lurking animal stalking around his prey in a manner that seems purposeful even if the audience couldn't quite work out what he was up to, such as through the way he'd lure someone into a bathroom with an errant noise and then leave wearing their clothes. Only after the big assassination did I adopt a more traditional scene progression, focusing on 47 as he made his wrap up and slipped out of the ceremony. The pages themselves were trash and I sincerely hope I burned them, but I think the idea works in playing up the mystique of the character and treating him almost as the antagonistic force threatening the scene- feeding that all important 'gun in the crowd' mythos.
Unfortunately an approach like that only really works for a single, preferably introductory, scene; and to expand that out into an entire movie one would have to be a bit more clever. And actually, I think the video game 'Hitman Absolution' knew how to handle this well. In Absolution there are several missions wherein 47 is thrown into situations out of his control that leave the bald assassin on the back foot, but the way the game handles it never forces him to morph into the immortal blink-assassin that the movies always fall for. Absolution chucks him into an abandoned book store with Police searching about for him, requiring 47 to stealth his way past their torch beams by the skin of his teeth. That game blew up his hostel and set an entire ICA death squad on him, planting a bruised and beaten 47 in a game of cat and mouse with his weird erotic Nun foils. (I don't know why the ICA employs fetish Nuns.) Absolution may not have been the most faithful Hitman game in it's structure, but bizarrely I think it knew how to command the spectacle of a 'movie' better than any attempt has managed thus far.
As much as I deride the failures for their attempts, there is a potential in a Hitman movie being made. Not to say I particularly want one, but after The Last of Us met some actual critical aplomb there really is no longer a question of 'will they, won't they'. However, Square has been deprived rights over the franchise and now, probable Lex Corp subsidiary, 'Embracer Group' have their hands on it. Oh wait... actually I totally forgot that IOI left Square before they got sold off to Embracer! I guess that gives us... two maybe three years before Embracer buys them up too in their 'Absorbaloff' style conquest of all the known universe. What I'm saying is that another Hitman movie is inevitably coming, it's up to us to make sure that it is the right movie when it arrives.
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