Glen Powell as Gary Johnson and Adria Arjona as Madison Master in Hit Man.Netflix
- Hit Man
- Directed by Richard Linklater
- Written by Richard Linklater and Glen Powell
- Starring Glen Powell, Adria Arjona and Austin Amelio
- Classification 14A; 115 minutes
- Opens in theatres May 24
Critic’s Pick
If this summer cannot make Glen Powell a movie star, then maybe there are no more movie stars left to be made.
Over the next three months, the Texan actor is headlining two top-tier productions – Richard Linklater’s romantic comedy Hit Man, and the looks-surprisingly-good sequel Twisters – while producing a third (the U.S. Navy documentary The Blue Angels). All while still riding a wave of affection spilling over from this past winter’s Anyone But You, to say nothing about his breakthrough turn in Top Gun: Maverick.
As if predivined by the Hollywood gods, Powell is the unstoppable Next Big Thing, with the actor already attached to a smattering of high-profile projects, including Edgar Wright’s reboot of The Running Man and J.J. Abrams’s latest shrouded-in-mystery directorial outing. And, in an increasingly rare occurrence, it seems as if the film industry’s gatekeepers are actually getting it right this time.
A compact, perfectly sculpted force of drawling charisma and bottomless machismo, Powell grabs every inch of the screen, not so much chewing scenery as rolling his tongue around it. The actor seduces and destroys as if it was pure instinct. Which is what makes his performance in Hit Man so irresistible: Linklater knows exactly the power that his leading man commands, but instead of lazily exploiting it off the top, the director reverse-engineers a charm offensive so earth-shaking that it registers on the Richter scale.
Adria Arjona, left, as Madison Masters and Glen Powell as Gary Johnson in Hit Man.Netflix
At the beginning of Hit Man, Powell is in pure nerd mode as Gary, a buttoned-down college professor and surveillance-tech expert who is struggling to let go of his ex-wife and move on with his life. With his hair parted down the side, his too-large glasses hiding much of his beautiful face, and his fashion choices screaming end-of-season Target sale, Gary is the definition of non-threatening – a persona that Powell sells with ease through awkward body language and insecure tics.
But Gary also has a side hustle helping out the local police force conduct undercover operations. It’s not much – and many of the cops, including sleaze-bag Jasper (Austin Amelio), regard Gary as little more than a techie nuisance – but it’s something to get him out of his shell. And through a series of rather unbelievable circumstances, Gary starts to go undercover himself as a fake hit man, which is when the character gets to unleash his, well, inner Glen Powell – an object of pure magnetism. It is a hall-of-mirrors game that the actor plays exceptionally well, flitting back and forth in character with ace comic timing and smouldering charm.
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Linklater then raises the stakes significantly when Maddy (Adria Arjona) walks into one of Gary’s stings: She wants her abusive husband killed, and Gary simply wants her. Unwilling to arrest Maddy and unable to reveal his ruse, Gary extends his assassin shtick to incredible heights, resulting in a madcap series of misadventures that drip with sexual tension, thanks to the fiery chemistry between Powell and Arjona.
Very loosely adapting a Texas Monthly article about a real undercover officer, Linklater and Powell – who co-wrote the film after previously working together on the 2016 comedy Everybody Wants Some!! – twist their tale just right.
While much of the police shenanigans feel just an inch above sitcom level, especially the banter between Gary’s handlers played by Retta and Sanjay Rao, every moment between Powell and Arjona is thrilling and alive. There is one electrifying scene in particular toward the film’s end that, during its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September, sent the sold-out crowd into wild hoots and hollers.
Yet despite Linklater’s and Powell’s big-screen, communal-audience intentions, Hit Man will be seen by most at home on Netflix, which paid a reported US$20-million to snap up the rights for most global territories. Except, that is, in Canada, where the film’s theatrical rights are held by homegrown distributor VVS Films. Here’s hoping, then, that Powell sends a bountiful bouquet to VVS’s offices. After all, movie stars – both of the cemented and hopeful variety – need movie screens.