Don Shanahan
Early on in Richard Linklater’s snappy and slinky Hit Man, a co-worker remarks to the main character Gary Johnson that he has an “unreadable face,” one that is “perfectly forgettable.” In certain situations, such a trait could be seen as a helpful advantage. Those descriptors could be meant as a compliment. That’s well and good, but others in the same position who seek memorable attention might not accept those comments so pleasantly. Distinction can be its own plus.
The funny thing about this dilemma concerning faces is that Hit Man has—no, scratch that, needs—its leading one to work both ways. Loosely based on a zany 2001 (somewhat) true story written by journalist Skip Hollandsworth for Texas Monthly, Gary Johnson leads a double life, one where he is unassuming and bland and another where he creates himself to be intentionally illustrious. Finding someone who can hopscotch between demure and debonair is a tricky casting challenge for a movie. Either a character actor chameleon has to be shined up enough to become more appealing than usual or a showy matinee idol must dampen themselves to not overpower the material.
Now, Richard Linklater, the five-time Oscar nominee behind Boyhood and the Before trilogy, is a respected auteur who is equally beloved at a casual, crowd-pleasing level. He could have summoned his choice of dedicated character actors or headliner movie stars to become the many sides of Gary Johnson. Linklater turned to Anyone But You‘s Glen Powell, one his ensemble players from 2016’s Everybody Wants Some!! With Powell, Hit Man gets pronounced good looks packaged in a consummate performer who is considered—even at 35 years old—to still be a fresh face of untapped potential with a rocket strapped to his back primed for a launch to stardom. At the end of the day, Linklater could not have found a more perfect choice.
The “perfectly forgettable” Gary Johnson we are introduced to via voiceover and establishing shots of life’s mundane routines is a divorced, single, and well-read cat lover and college philosophy professor at the University of New Orleans. His hair is a tad long, unstylish, and wraps around a pair of charisma-masking glasses that would make Clark Kent proud. The simple Gary would love to be noticed and have people pay attention to him, but that has not been in the cards for him in quite some time.
One spark in Gary’s life is a cushy side hustle gig working with the New Orleans Police Department. A team of undercover detectives, led by Claudette (Retta of TV’s Good Girls), frequently enlists his knack with electronics to be the A/V tech helper in the reconnaissance van for sting operations. One day, the team’s point man Jasper (Austin Amelio of The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead) is unavailable due to suspension to play the pretend contract killer where Gary, the next white male available, is asked to step in at the last minute.
Composing himself on the spot, Gary strolls into a diner and sits down to share a booth with a desperate and ne’er-do-well man looking to have someone bumped off. Gary finds an untapped tenacity inside of himself to unfurl a tough-talking persona that, in a matter of minutes, has the mark shivering his boots and eating out of his hand. He slays it on the first try and saves a life, ensuring a collar for the gumshoes and more chances to be the fake hit man.
From this first encounter, Hit Man begins a montage stride of Gary’s next opportunities playing this pop culture fantasy of a gun for hire. With eager meticulousness, Gary (and Glen for that matter) finds ease and success tailoring his undercover persona for the wannabe client, right down to eclectic makeup, wardrobe, and accents. His mantra is to “become” not debunk the dangerous myth and preconceived hype.
This is where Glen Powell’s megawatt charisma is released with full concentration in all sorts of directions. Each of Linklater’s mini-episodes of these creations and encounters with a rainbow of nefarious citizens exude and pour on the character’s and the actor’s disarming charms and keen mind. Watching Powell put on this cocksure show in Hit Man is like watching an entire kaleidoscope of butterflies emerge and flutter majestically. He’s the real deal and has been for years now.
When a very attractive and tormented wife named Madison Masters (Adria Arjona, recently seen in The Absence of Eden) is the next one seeking his false services, Gary shifts his tactics to talk her out of hiring a killer rather than setting the usual trap. They part ways only to meet again privately and hit it off romantically. Maddy falls for the edgy alter ego and not the real, true, and semi-pathetic Gary. This is especially problematic if Gary’s cover becomes blown or, worse, if someone ends up dead.
Throughout Hit Man, Gary is finding new confidence from playing these characters of illusion, even to the point of having trouble turning that coolness on or off. Beyond the roleplaying, the philosophy professor in him is weighing the well-worn principle of behaving as if you are the person you want to be. The classic id and ego wrestling match is underway. Madison, sporting this hot stud of a lethal beau, is also feeling rejuvenated in more ways than solely within her loins. The fetching Adria Arjona, melting with Glen Powell to a bluesy score composed by Graham Reynolds (Bernie), brings forceful steam that raises the entire movie’s temperature to a fervor.
This baked-in layer of brains amid the brawn in Hit Man is credited to Linklater and Powell working together to punch up a screenplay allowing fun to frolic next to intrigue. All of the nerdy philosophy would normally feel like serendipitous mumbo-jumbo tacked on a less intelligent premise. Instead, Hit Man’s slick polish and playful panache combine to create witty smartness seething with sensational sexiness at a level higher and hotter than we have seen in years with romantic comedies and crime capers. This date night delight is just what this summer season needs, be that in a theater or on your Netflix couch.
