Hit Man
If Hit Man has an analog in writer/director Richard Linklater's storied filmography, it's his Jack Black vehicle Bernie.
Playing loosely with “too weird to be true” facts and sporting a dark comedic tone, both features rank among the richest of the indie icon’s career while also delivering plentiful silly moments, resulting in a tantalizing balance that only our best filmmakers can produce.
Based on the 2001 Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth and adapted (embellished?) by Linklater and star Glen Powell, the thoroughly entertaining tale centers on Gary Johnson, a New Orleans university professor who moonlights for the NOPD, helping an undercover sting operation arrest would-be hirers of contract killers.
When lead cop Jasper (Austin Amelio, Everybody Wants Some!!) suddenly becomes, er, unavailable, Gary gets thrown into posing as one of the numerous fake titular figures…and proves an instant natural. His quick uptake tantalizingly suggests such chameleonic prowess was always in his repressed, Type A self, particularly as he goes all in with various disguises, eliciting quality laughs with each new carefully curated look and personality.
Powell’s Gary walks the line between these disparate lives exceedingly well, exuding a greater appeal in the classroom that makes some of his female students take notice. But good as he is, one can't help but wonder when the bottom will inevitably drop out and his double life comes to a screeching halt.
Linklater wisely doesn't draw things out too long. Gary soon falls hard for Maddy (Adria Arjona, Morbius), and the writing/directing team wrings tremendous tension out of the kindly divorcee’s awareness of knowing better but being unable to control his urges as another chance at romantic bliss potentially awaits. It also doesn’t hurt that there’s sizzling chemistry between the two leads. Arjona matches Powell’s wit and charisma, peppering her performance with an air of mystery, suggesting that this love interest may not be as trustworthy as Gary wishes.
Connecting Gary’s opposing yet oddly complementary existences, his interspersed campus lectures on the id, ego, and superego are a tad on the nose, but our protagonist playing out these concepts in real life makes them palatable and decidedly non-academic. And as the core romance advances, Hit Man achieves peak suspense as the secret relationship gains unwanted attention and Gary's proverbial chickens come home to roost.
From start to stunning finish, tonal mastery leads the way in concert with assured direction from Linklater. who now has a nice little hot streak going with this and Apollo 10 ½ after the lackluster Last Flag Flying and Where’d You Go, Bernadette.
Ultimately a celebration of being whatever version of yourself that brings you joy, Hit Man may not rank in the upper echelon of such Linklater gems as Boyhood and the Before Trilogy, but it joins Dazed and Confused, Everybody Wants Some!!, and School of Rock as his most re-watchable films yet.
Grade: A-minus. Rated R. Available to stream via Netflix starting June 7.
(Photo: Brian Roedel/Netflix)
