The Plot:
For three years, a top Interpol agent has been chasing an elusive, unidentified killer. When a Russian politician is gunned down, the cop clearly suspects that the notorious Number 47 has struck again. On his end, the assassin seems to believe that he is being framed. 47 is informed that a prostitute named Nika may have witnessed the crime. He is ordered to take her out. Of course, it's all a setup. Belicoff, the supposedly dead candidate, shows up for a speech, and the entire intelligence community is rattling 47's cage, trying to trap him. Our antihero saves Nika, travels to Istanbul to interrogate Belicoff's drug running brother Udre, and returns to the scene of the initial shooting to discover why he was framed. Turns out, it has more to do with one man's paranoia and ambitions than a simple contract hit -- and 47 is destined to play a part in it all.

The DVD:
Hitman rocks!

Sorry...wrong word. Hitman REEKS! If game adaptations have their generic benchmark, this mediocre translation would be it. Avoiding much of the mythos that made the Eidos Interactive game a massive hit, and substituting a far share of John Woo rip-off slo-mo into the stylization, this uninvolving actioner truly tests an audience's patience. It's not just that Timothy Olyphant makes a problematic Number 47. A few fans may enjoy his Clint Eastwood on Quaaludes interpretation of the part. He definitely has the Dirty Harry voice down pat. Yet, when one thinks of a hired gun with an almost superhuman ability to cause carefully controlled chaos, one hopes they have more dramatic heft than some borderline B-lister. Olyphant is just too slight, too lacking in abject magnetism to carry the part. Place him next to someone like Chow Yun-Fat, Michael Madsen, or Samuel L. Jackson, and the professional assassin tag becomes a casting agent's in-joke. Worse, he's never inventive - the situations are. They are so scripted, so 'one step ahead of the second draft' direct that no person, preprogrammed or not, could line them all up.

Naturally, this is the fault of Skip Woods' script. Instead of going for the gunplay gusto inherent in the game, we get a tired lovers/professional triangle between 47, the inept Interpol agent chasing him, and some Russian Asia Argento wannabe. While the focus should reasonably be on our killer, Woods keeps piling on the ancillary characters, hoping to avoid the bloodbath the material mandates. Viewers shouldn't be surprised, really. This is the mind behind the equally feeble Swordfish (and he's currently mucking up G.I. Joe, for those wondering about that project). Of the many supplemental space holders, Olga Kurylenko is the best, if only because she has no problem baring her body at the drop of some dialogue. As 47's Moriarity, Dougray Scott comes off as too old and easily outwitted. There are several times in the film when his character, Mike Whittier, says something so painfully obvious that even the celluloid groans. With a Russian espionage plot that feels peeled from a rejected rewrite of Gorky Park, and some bookending material that gives away much of the ending, it's clear that Woods' participation requires some of the blame.

But it's Xavier Gens who will earn most of the entertainment ire. The one thing a ballistic bullet ballet doesn't need is quiet introspection or random choruses of "Ave Maria". Recent efforts like the ridiculously ludicrous Shoot 'Em Up and the ludicrously ridiculous Smokin' Aces can vouch for that. Players of the game didn't respond to the intricacy of the political stances or masked machismo of the competing intelligence agencies. They want BLOOD, and lots of it. Luckily, this new UNRATED version of the film fills the previous MPAA ordered gore gap. Instead of minimal arterial spray, Gens now gives us exploding brains and vein draining body shots. From a violence standpoint, Hitman is no longer anemic. But all other directorial decisions remain questionable. From the limited star power of the cast to the back alley dullness of the supposedly international backdrop (Eli Roth's Hostel films have more local color) Gens constantly gets in the way of his premise. When you add in the lackluster dynamic of Olyphant, and Woods weak screenplay, it's a trifecta of tedium. Hitman is not horrible, but it should have been a Helluva lot better than this.

The Video:
Presented by Fox in every critic's favorite "Screening Only" review copy format (complete with random logo placement), it's hard to comment on the image here. The transfer offered is less than impressive, but then again, it's not final product. One hopes the eventual 1.85:1 widescreen anamorphic image surpasses the slightly compressed version experienced for this review. On the other hand, this is clearly a new, unrated cut of the film. There is ample blood, some full frontal nudity, and a couple of extended sequences.

The Sound:
Though information indicates that this screener provides all the necessary sonic situations of the final Fox packaging, this critic will again reserve judgment. The Dolby Digital 5.1 offered was good, but not great. The back channels come alive whenever 47 is spraying ammunition, but the rest of the time, the speakers hardly spark. The musical score is the standard amalgamation of classical and death metal electronic and the dialogue is easily discernible.

The Extras:
The added content present is mostly EPK oriented Making-ofs. We see how the video game became the film, the set up for the action scenes, some backstage statements from the cast, and a collection of bloopers and gags. Sadly, there is no audio commentary. It would be interesting to hear Gens defend his choices in retrospect. The best material here are a few intriguing deleted scenes. Some are nothing more than expansions of other sequences (the opening torture, for example). But there is an alternate ending which suggests a much sadder, more downbeat finale for the film. While none of these bonus features are top notch, the various edits are indeed intriguing.

Final Thoughts:
Since it's not a very good action movie, it's hard to believe that genre mavens will flock to this somber shoot out. And since it interprets more than taps into the console title it's based on, gamers will probably have a hard time embracing it as well. Therefore, in order to make both sides of the situation happy, Hitman: Unrated will receive a rating of Rent It. That way, there's a clear "try before you buy" dynamic involved in the evaluation. Perhaps this film never had a real chance to begin with, what with amazing masterpieces like Hard Boiled and The Killer as comparisons. The professional assassin as troubled antihero has also had its category defining creations. Sadly, Hitman can't comply with either one. Instead, it hopes to raid the fanbase of its disposable cash and be on its way - and it takes a truly tired path getting there.

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