When I watched the trailers for Hitman:Agent 47 and Transporter Refueled, they looked very alike tonally and a large majority was pretty much convinced that both would be train-wrecks. In many cases that is true. But after watching both movies, I realise that the similarities do go a bit deeper, such as both are trying to kick off a dormant pre-existing action IPs, both leading men are cherry-picked from hit TV shows, and both are big Audi commercials. So instead of trying to write two reviews, what I will do here is see and sort-of compare both, and find out which one has the edge over the other. But it goes without saying that its better if you catch these on TV if you really feel game enough.
Hitman:Agent 47 revolves around the iconic genetically-enhanced assassin, Agent 47 who is tasked to stop Syndicate International from restarting the program from which he was built as well, to stop any more Agents to form and to do that he must need to find the daughter of the lead scientist who started the program in the first place. While on the other hand Transporter follows illegal goods/getaway driver, Frank Martin, who when his father gets kidnapped, must help a group of Russian prostitutes in France to get enough money to get out of the business.
It is safe to say that neither movie doesn't really focus that much on their respective stories and are mostly there to tie-in the action. However, at least to Transporter's benefit, the trailer doesn't spoil every plot-twist in the movie. Hitman clocks around 96 mins and the story as you can see from the aforementioned description, it is unapologetically convoluted. The plot just sort of happens without the movie giving any sort of clear background or motivation and plainly assumes that everyone is well-versed with the Hitman mythos. And who names their company 'Syndicate', that would be a PR nightmare and what does Syndicate even want with the Agent program, we are not told. In this regard, Transporter, with its more straightforward story is easier to follow, a better pace and with a really well delivered father-son relationship with Frank's father played by Ray Stevenson, is a bit more tolerable in the sense that you have the freedom to ignore the plot and have some plain fun.
However, both movies stab themselves when it comes to being faithful to their source materials. One of them is already starting on the back-foot due to the bad legacy of video-game movies and the flop Hitman movie that came prior to Agent 47. So you would think that the producers for Hitman (who also did the earlier Hitman movie) would put more effort into the movie to be more in-tune with the stealth and tense style of the games. Though in true Hollywood fashion, thy went as far they could from it and make it into a more generic action experience with explosions pretty much devoid of any tension. The closest. It just doesn't feel Hitman, or at least of what I've seen of the games. And add on that a very bad sequel bait/cliffhanger ending sticking out like a sore thumb
Now you may say that Transporter doesn't have near as much legacy as Hitman, but it does not justify completely ignoring the essence of the property. what Luc Besson got right with the first one was that it embraced the over-the-top action with really well choreographed car chases and a decent story about illicit smuggling. Refueled does that for a bit with the prostitutes/human trafficking (no wonder producers of Taken were in this) but loses focus afterwards. And long-gone have the tense and creative car-chases that actually demonstrated driving skill in favour for slow motion and crashes. Though I wouldn't say they didn't even try. I guess it was the director trying to set a more gritty atmosphere (with generic action music) while doing over-the-top stuff when originally it embraced the over-the-top stuff with a more exaggerated style and tone that made it consistent.
The underlying problem also trickles down to the lead characters as well. As much as Ed Skrein may be a better actor than Jason Statham, but Statham is Frank Martin and no one can take that away from him. One of my main complaints regarding the character ever since I think the second one has been that he has become more of an action hero when originally he was more of a driver character. Even though he is ex-special forces, his main asset had always been his driving ability and his discretion regarding the 'package'. I don't mind the close-combat bits, what I mind is Frank just beating up people for the sake of action, which has got worse in this latest instalment. The mannerisms feel too different from what Frank as a character is. In fact, Ray Stevenson who plays Frank Sr. a better character with more charisma, could have a made a great old Frank Martin, but I assume they wanted someone younger because franchise potential.
As for Rupert Friend as Agent 47, he definitely doesn't look exactly like the game though I could definitely see little signs of the cold and calculated killer especially in the beginning when he was giving at least 0.1 attention to stealth. I was quite surprised how much I bought Friend as 47 but as the film went somehow the character started to feel a tad one-note. I think that can be attributed to the overall tone of the film seemingly conflicting the inherently darker character, so he becomes rather odd-fitting and underused. That should not be happening when the character in question happens to be your protagonist. As I was saying before, even the previous Hitman starring Timothy Olyphant at least captured some of that grit that I believe was present in the games. I guess what has happened that the film-makers haven't really grasped the essence of the source material and dived head-first to make an action movie first rather than a Hitman movie.
Both movies are paper-thin for sure. Though what really surprises me is that these two films, both of which coming from very different source materials can result into very similar end-products. These movies seemingly lack in both story and creative action set-pieces and frankly I feel a bit guilty to be just thrashing them like this when they was actual money and human effort behind this. But it is my responsibility to give you an honest opinion. Coming back to the objective at hand, which one of these would I recommend. I would say neither because these also don't necessarily qualify as 'so bad they're good movies'. Though for closure, I will say watch Transporter Refueled its a better told story, has decent locations (via the French Riviera), good character interactions and you can have some mindless fun without pulling you hair out at every turn. I just hope that these producers have learnt their lesson.
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| Meet the real stars of Hitman and Transporter..... |
ps. Why would a stealthy Hitman go for a Blood-Red Audi?
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