Richard Linklater’s 23rd film, Hit Man, premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Fest on Tuesday, September 5.
The indie action-comedy stars Glen Powell, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Linklater.
No one was expecting Hit Men to be any special event (or Oscar bait), even if it was made by a respected and vet writer-director like Linklater, but it became the sleeper if the festival.
Venice 2023: Trio of Movies about Killers
The movie was coming at the end of several films about contract killers (or those who impersonate them). First came David Fincher’s The Killer, then there was also Woody Allen’s Coup de Chance, which has a murder-for-hire as a central plotline.
Hit Man came relatively late to the game, but it instantly enjoyed warm audience response and early critical buzz for the acclaimed director of “Dazed and Confused,” Boyhood,” “School of Rock,” “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight.”
The story is very loosely based on a 2001 Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworthabout Gary Johnson, a real-life mild-mannered college professor who moonlit as an undercover police informant – posing as a hit man to catch and arrest people trying to hire one. Plenty of liberties and embellishment are said to have been taken with the real story. For instance, in reality it took place in Houston. In “Hit Man,” it’s New Orleans.
Several crucial details in the screenplay are made up, and those are the (ones) that help make the move a winner, as well as Linklater’s most commercial movie since School of Rock.
Powell was singled out for what’s being called “a star-cementing turn,” he also had a role in Tom Cruise blockbuster, Top Gun: Maverick among other films.
It is sorta-true story about an average guy who finds himself caught in a web of crime and deception, ‘Hit Man’ is a cute and clever showcase for Powell’s magnetic charm.”
The movie is buoyed by a go-for-broke turn from Powell. There are immaculate one-liners throughout, delivered with aplomb, especially in the last reel.
Tall and slim, with a sweep of honey-brown hair, Powell has an offbeat leading-man vibe, with a slightly goofy grin that radiates charm and sincerity.
Tightly written, finely-tuned tonally and rapidly paced, Hit Man was this year’s hidden gem at Venice.
Hit Man stands alongside ‘School of Rock’ for big laughs and good vibes – albeit with a darker streak.
Multiple Oscar Nominee (as Writer and Director)
Linklater is a five-time Oscar nominee, with three of them coming in 2015 for his masterwork “Boyhood” (original screenplay and directing as well as producer of the Best Picture nominee).
His adapted screenplays for Before Midnight (2014) and Before Sunset (2005) were also Oscar nominated.
Hit Man best shot at the Oscars is likely for its clever script.
Hit Man will play at the New York Film Fest on October 3, by which time it will have a theatrical distributor.
