Hitman: Agent 47 movie review

I remember reading a quote to never judge a movie by its book. Author Dan Brown even admit that writing a screenplay is hard. Same thing also applies to video game adaptations. So, I will critic the movie according to its content so for those who played the game, please bear with me.

“Hitman: Agent 47” is based on the top-selling and award-winning videogame franchise “Agent 47”.  Directed by Aleksander Bach, the movie centers on an elite assassin who was genetically engineered from conception to be the perfect killing machine, and is known only by the last two digits 47 on the barcode tattooed on the back of his neck.  He is the culmination of decades of research — endowing him with unprecedented strength, speed, stamina and intelligence. His latest target is a mega-corporation that plans to unlock the secret of Agent 47′s past to create an army of killers whose powers surpass even his own.

Rupert Friend plays the title role and I haven't seen him in his previous works so it will make me have a fresh perspective of him and the cast with exception of Zachary Quinto. Rupert Friend plays the character well since 47 is engineered to not have emotions which is ironic when Zachary Quinto plays a famous Vulcan in the Star Trek reboot. It is like looking at a robot but sometimes he reacts but his expression remains blank.

It's been a while since Zachary Quinto was in an action genre that involves super-powered beings and in these case, genetically-enhanced assassins. Since he is doing well in movies especially in the sci-fi genre since the TV series Heroes where he became popular for the role of Sylar.

Even though it is based on a game, I see no connection with it so I can only see it as a movie that is not based on the game and not even the first Hitman movie last 2007. But I like the story for its character development. For someone like 47, he is a rare kind, since he has no emotional attachment except for the will to survive, he is the perfect assassin. We haven't been able to clone a human yet but it's not far from impossible since there are animals that are successfully cloned.

The story sequences are somehow predictable but I enjoy the action especially the final action scene and the scenes that integrated Filipino martial arts skills. I only wish there are more background stories on how they were created the agents.

I gave it a rating if 3 clones out of 5. For more movie reviews, follow this blog and like L.E.N.S. blogs on Facebook. Opens August 19 in the Philippines by 20th Century Fox.