19 Comments

I watched Hitman the other day and I have to agree with you. My take away was they were trying to make a comedy but tried too hard to make it edgy. Especially with the ending. It is an interesting way to take it but when you do something like that, in the serious manner that they handled it, it just comes off harsh. Almost more like a character study of how if you pretend enough you can become something you're not.

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I agreed to watch Hit Man although it didn’t really appeal to me despite having enjoyed previous Linklater flicks. Wish I hadn’t wasted the time. This was my introduction to GP and the early part of the film could serve as a highlight reel for his range. I would’ve preferred if the entire movie had consisted of him adopting these various personas and looks rather than focusing on the romance, etc.!

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Completely agree. The movie sours as a Powell vehicle but misfires as anything else.

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I don't think Hit Man wants to be a thriller. It wants to be fun, first and foremost, and it delivers on that front handsomely. In fact, I'd go even further saying that the movie has more in common with Linklater's Before Trilogy than any classic "killer thriller." It constantly searches for an identity and eventually finds it. That means, it has to turn into a black comedy as you said, and I'm totally fine with that. Won't be a classic or a Best of anything, really, but I was thoroughly entertained throughout.

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I’d say persevere with The Expanse but sometimes a programme which should be fun and engaging and in your demographic just doesn’t click and it’s weird as when it happens

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Hit Man was a hit with this gal! I never saw a Glen Powell movie before but Emperor Simon's write-up really sold me on it and I had to give it a watch. Loved it! To me it was like a modern James M. Cain storyline, and the chemistry of the leads was great.

P S. Just binged One Day over the last couple days and my hubs and I loved loved it!!! It had both of us crying at the end. I mean talk about chemistry between the leads. So romantic and sad and touching. Thanks for putting this one on my radar!

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Glad you enjoyed One Day but sorry for the traumatic turn it took. I wasn't ready for it!

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Glad you too find the claims that The Acolyte is "ruining Star Wars" and "breaking the lore" to be overblown and unserious.

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It's definitely a problem.

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I'm going to argue that the reason everyone is "falling all over themselves" about Hit Man, the reason it is, in its way, in the "same league" as Dune Part Two, is precisely the reason we can't put our finger on what it is. It's *different*. Not wildly, impossibly unique. (which would be admired but unlikely to connect with mass audiences.) All the elements are recognizable, but assembled in new-ish ways, creating a final product that feels fresh, to where someone like yourself can say "It doesn't know what it wants to be," but I think it does. It's just that what that is doesn't have an easy genre term.

Sometimes that can be the kiss of death, and of course anything can be done poorly or mishandled to where it doesn't in fact work, but Hit Man does. So audiences are responding to a) the "freshness", b) the familiarity, and c) the quality craftsmanship of the overall final product. Just like Dune, which is a sci-fi space opera very much in the vein that we recognize and love, but done with a tone and style we haven't in fact been handed before. Neither connects with everyone, but both I think are being correctly celebrated for being something approachable yet new and very expertly handled.

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I admire the film's ambition but it didn't land for me. Good not great. Glad you enjoyed it!

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I'll take the comedies of studio system Hollywood any day over these cold fish.

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Eric - This is the first review of this movie I’ve read that seems to actually capture the movie. 100% with you on this!

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Hey Christine! Good to hear from you! Have you been on Substack long?

I enjoyed Hit Man, but everyone is raving about it, and I just don't see it.

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A little while on Substack, trying a shorter-form posting style posing questions rather than answers. 🤷‍♀️ Happy Friday!

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Always love a trip to the library. I really need to visit mine more often.

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Jun 14
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Insert <Stepbrothers "did we just become best friends" gif>

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Can I join the Didn't Enjoy The Expanse Club? I think I made it 5 minutes into the first episode before the schmoozy melodrama made me bail. The set up made it seem like it was going to be Big Brother in Space, where the major conflict is people & relationships, vs situations and events. Not my thing.

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Agreed! I'd rather rewatch Firefly for the umpteenth time. 🤓

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