HitmanMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 35 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
16 Not for kids 17 and under
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Hitman stands right on the threshold between video games and art. On the wrong side of the threshold, but still, give it credit. Read full review

  • 70
    Washington Post | Desson Thomson

    The best movie derived from a violent computer game we've ever seen. You can take or leave that kind of qualified high-five, but, for us, it was a thoroughly entertaining experience. Think of bargain basement "James Bond" amped up into TV den-sittin', mouse-clickin' overdrive. But with human actors. Read full review

  • 50
    New York Daily News | Jack Mathews

    As a movie on its own, it's simple monotony. Olyphant, affecting Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry voice, is about as menacing as Mr. Clean, and the action scenes - whether the weapons are fists, feet, swords or guns - fly past without any tension or suspense. Hitman is a miss. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Peter Hartlaub

    Not a spectacular movie, but the action scenes are well shot, there's no shortage of R-rated gore and the plot moves along quickly enough to mask the fact that the whole endeavor is completely ridiculous. Read full review

  • 38
    Boston Globe | Ty Burr

    There have been plenty of movies adapted from video games before, but Hitman may be the first one that actually feels like a computer wrote and directed it. Read full review

  • 30
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    Hitman exploits every action-flick clich imaginable and still manages to be dull. It's bang, boom, blah -- action movies for bored dummies. Read full review

  • 30
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    All the while, the music screams and clamors like an ignored child because director Xavier Gens and writer Skip Woods can't pump suspense into this inept mess. Read full review

  • 25
    Entertainment Weekly |

    Based on a videogame, Hitman could be the year's dumbest movie. Read full review

  • 20
    Austin Chronicle | Marc Savlov

    To be sure, Hitman is a lousy film, but like the video game that inspired it, it's also great fun, drawing as it does on everything from James Bondian Eurotrash panache to Vin Diesel's moribund XXX character. Read full review

  • 10
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    A Eurotrashy vidgame knockoff that misses its target by a mile. Numbingly unthrilling as it lurches from one violent encounter to another, the pic's dark roots in an electronic, non-dramatic medium are plain to see, and unsuspecting gamers lured to theaters will soon wish they were back home participating in the action themselves. Read full review

View more reviews for Hitman on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Not for kids 17 and under Violent, video game-based mayhem. Pass.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie is based on a violent video game about a professional assassin; not surprisingly, it includes lots of shooting, fighting, stabbing, falling, blood, and injured or dead bodies. Characters are ruthless and calculating, even the ones who are meant to be the "heroes." The movie's damsel in distress is hyper-sexualized -- there are repeated shots of her breasts (sometimes naked), legs, back, and pouty mouth. Language includes several uses of "f--k," plus other profanity. Explicit cocaine snorting in one scene, plus cigarette smoking and drinking.
  • Families can talk about what separates the "good guys" and the "bad guys" in this movie. Are they really that different? Why are some characters more sympathetic than others? How are video game-based characters different from characters developed for other media? What do video game-based movies tend to have in common? How do they usually compare to the games they're based on?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: The hero is a cold, highly trained assassin; the damsel in distress is a prostitute; government agents are competitive, angry, and aggressive.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: As the title suggests, violence is essentially nonstop, featuring explosions, guns, vehicular collisions, blood, broken glass, flying bodies and limbs, and broken furniture and walls (especially in hotels). Lots of bodies and lots of blood. Some point-of-view shots emulate a first-person shooter game. Weapons include assorted guns (automatics, handguns, vehicle-mounted guns), knives, chains, and an elaborate contraption whereby a victim is tied up in a tub with a gun aimed at him. In flashbacks, children are trained to shoot, fight, and kill.
  • sex false5 Sex: Bare breasts in several scenes, plus visible nipples underneath a blouse. A female character also shows cleavage and lots of leg and wears very short skirts. She straddles the hero on a bed, but he resists her efforts to seduce him. The villain is flanked by women in skimpy outfits, showing more cleavage and skin. Agent 47 appears in the shower (nothing explicit).
  • language false5 Language: Several uses of "f--k," plus various other profanity, including "s--t," "hell," and "prick."
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: The movie is based on a popular video game. Coca-Cola vending machine visible.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Several characters smoke cigarettes, one man smokes a cigar. Some drinking (liquor and wine) in homes and clubs, once from a flask by someone who's visibly drunk. Villain's cohort snorts cocaine off a tray.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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Dave White

1.0

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

It ain't like it's cinema. Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

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