A professor moonlighting as a hit man of sorts for his city police department, descends into dangerous, dubious territory when he finds himself attracted to a woman who enlists his services.

Richard Linklater’s new film, ‘Hit Man’, was written in collaboration with actor Glen Powell, who also stars in the leading role. He’s an actor you’ll probably recognise as he’s been in supporting roles in quite a few movies of late including ‘Top Gun: Maverick‘ but to this point he wasn’t anyone who stood out to me as an actor who is as versatile or as talented as he proves in ‘Hit Man’. This film is a sheer delight, an effortlessly entertaining movie that straddles genres, sitting somewhere between a rom-com and a dark thriller. It is Linklater at his easy going best and in many respects it is a movie reminiscent of the mid-tier crowd-pleasers that were more common in the 1990s – ‘Out of Sight’ an example that comes to mind.

So in terms of the plot. ‘Hit Man’ is loosely (and I mean loosely) based on a true story of a seemingly ordinary man who did a bit of side work for the New Orleans police department posing as a hitman, with the aim of catching would be criminals before someone got murdered. Think ‘Minority Report’, but less futuristic and more rustic. It’s one of those true life stories that seems too unrealistic to be true, even in a watered down version, but seemingly it is. Powell stars as the aforementioned ‘double agent’ Gary Johnson, who is a mild mannered college professor when he isn’t putting on disguises and inventing characters for his work with the police. On one of his ‘meetings’, he encounters Maddy Masters (Adria Arjona), a woman who wants him to kill her husband, but sensing an attraction with her, he talks her out of the deed and starts a secret relationship with her – as his cool, calm and collected character Ron of course, not deadbeat Gary. The story plays on from here as developments draw Gary into a more dangerous situation that threatens both of the lives he is now leading.

This hasn’t been a bad year for genuinely sexy movies with ‘Challengers’ out a few weeks ago, and ‘Hit Man’ is more than a match for the tennis themed movie in this department, with the chemistry between Powell and Arjona off the charts. Their scenes are the highlight of the film, but I really enjoyed all of it. It’s a good example of a film that isn’t trying to win awards, isn’t trying to break box office records, nor a cheaply made horror – just good solid, well written, well directed and well acted moviemaking. It is heading to Netflix shortly so I guess I’m fortunate I saw this at the cinema, but sadly that seems the most common destination for movies like ‘Hit Man’ these days. Wherever you can watch it, I recommend you do so!

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Richard Linklater

Starring: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Evan Holtzman and Molly Bernard

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3661210/