“Hit Man” Review | The Many Talents (and Faces) of Glen Powell
With this modern crop of newer actors gracing our screens, few have the range of talent, personality, and cheer charm of Glen Powell, and Hit Man — Richard Linklater’s latest — proves that in spades. Premiering last year and finding its way to Netflix this past weekend, Hit Man blends electric romance, an ever-increasing sense of complications for our characters, and discussions about identity, the self, and the capacity for change. It does all of this, and does it in style as Linklater’s sharp directing seamlessly blends different tones and genres.
Psychology professor by day, undercover New Orleans Police Department specialist by night (and also day), Gary Johnson isn’t exactly in love with his solitary life, but he’s content with it. One afternoon, his team’s main impersonator Jasper is suspended for beating up some teenagers while on the job, and Gary is sent out to be the fake hitman for the department’s sting operations. And he ends up being really, really good at it. In fact, he adopts one of his personalities, “Ron”, when he meets Madison, a scared woman wanting to escape her controlling husband whom he falls for (and vice versa). Surely this will all end well. Right?
Before I talk about Glen Powell, Adria Arjona deserves a lot of credit for her performance as Madison. From the moment we meet her, we know…
