Coming-of-age stories. Decade-spanning humanist narratives. Rotoscoped paranoid thrillers. Richard Linklater is a member of a unique class of filmmakers whose next move can never be anticipated. With his newest project, Hit Man, Linklater seems to aim his sights at something less lofty and more crowd-pleasing. Relying on a classic formula with updated ingredients, Hit Man is a film that makes you say “Why don’t they make more movies like this?”
Somewhat based on a true story chronicled by Skip Hollandsworth in Texas Monthly, Hit Man follows mild-mannered college professor Gary Johnson (Glen Powell). Powell’s movie star charm is doled out sparingly, with the role of Gary seeming laughably dorky when garnished with Glen’s square jaw and Texas drawl. It’s when our unassuming protagonist is called into action during his part-time gig with the New Orleans police department that Powell truly gets to shine.
The “Based on a true story” claim comes to fruition here: Gary must fill in as an agent in sting operations for local Louisianans seeking to hire, what else, a hit-man. Powell comes alive in these sequences, establishing himself further as a reliable and versatile leading man. Donning aviator shades, he wows the target of the sting by describing his assassination plot with hilarious levity. As Gary goes on, the audience becomes acutely aware that he revels in becoming the hardened bad-ass, even if the character only exists in the booths of seedy diners.
Gary soon becomes enamored with the psychology of those seeking to hire a hit-man, Linklater stitches together a punchy montage of Gary tailoring each of his killer personas to the sting operation target. Powell gets to do plenty of accent work in these brief scenes, with identities ranging from a red-headed Dahmer ripoff to Patrick Bateman. Powell is game for all of it and even had a hand in crafting the montage as a co-writer on the film.
Eventually, Powell runs across Adria Arjona’s Maddy. Back in character as his charming, aviator-wearing persona, Gary learns that Maddy wants to put a hit on her abusive and controlling husband Ray (Evan Holtzman). Gary feels sorry for Maddy and tells her to keep her money and start a new life. In this first meeting, the real magic of Hit Man is revealed: the chemistry between Powell and Arjona.
The stars share a kind of on-screen chemistry rarely seen, even in Powell’s last rom-com hit Anyone But You. Under Linklater’s sure hand, the energy between Arjona and Powell is contorted to fit all manner of scenes, ranging from adorable meet-cute to steamy sex scenes. Arjona herself plays a sort of unknowable character, making Gary’s infatuation with her all the more fun to watch. While she can raise suspicions, almost a modern interpretation of a noir film femme fatale, it becomes clear that Maddy is just as lost as Gary, both keeping secrets from each other while trying to establish new lives for themselves.
But it’s not all bubble baths and bedroom eyes for the budding new couple. Maddy still believes Gary to be an underworld-embedded hit-man, and Gary’s sting operation success draws attention from his volatile and jealous co-worker Jasper (Austin Amelio).
As the lives of Gary and his killer alter ego dating Maddy become harder to keep separate, Linklater strikes a balance between comedy of errors and nail-biting thriller. Sparing any spoilers for now, the standout scene of the film involves avoiding a wiretapped conversation by using the Notes app. Powell and Arjona get to flex their comedic chops in this frantic scene, with layered physical performances and line readings.
As for thematic material, Linklater plays on a Psychology 101 level in Hit Man, with scenes of college lectures on Freud’s id/ego/superego becoming the overriding narrative to describe Gary Johnson’s actions. The film ends (a little abruptly, I might add) with a lesson about acting as though you are the person you want to be until you eventually become that idealized version of yourself. Not that I felt any material lacking here, Linklater and Powell’s script is perfectly digestible and clear with what it is saying.
To refer back to my position that Hit Man resembles a film we see few of nowadays, forgive me if this notion seems a bit simple. As someone who has never really experienced a cinematic landscape before absolute blockbuster dominance, it was endlessly refreshing to see a fun film for an adult audience, with light and clear thematic ideas, movie-star level performers who get to be funny and sexy, all under the creative guidance of a lauded filmmaker.
So it makes it all the more frustrating to know that very few people will get to see this film in theaters, with the film only receiving a limited theatrical run starting May 24. Linklater hits a three-peat with his films distributed by Netflix, and one must question if his next decade-spanning project, Merrily We Roll Along, will follow suit (if the streamer is still afloat when the film is completed in roughly 20 years). Regardless, I would highly recommend pulling the trigger on Hit Man when it comes to Netflix on June 7.