Hitman Blu-ray delivers great video and solid audio in this fan-pleasing Blu-ray release
Based on the top-selling, award-winning videogame franchise, the Hitman is a genetically-engineered, elite
assassin known only as Agent 47. His hallmarks are a lethal grace, unwavering precision, and resolute pride in his
work. But even 47 couldn't anticipate a "random equation" in his life of exactitude: the unexpected stirrings of his
conscience and the unfamiliar emotions aroused in him by a mysterious Russian woman. The Hitman is a
mysterious and complex man of profound contradictions: He was bred from the world's deadliest criminals, but
raised by an exiled brotherhood of the Church. His very existence seems to be a sin, but he wages a quiet war to
rid the world of evil. He's brilliant, charismatic and charming — yet reveals little about himself, has no name, and
is known only by the last two digits of a barcode tattooed on the back of his head.
I was hardly aware of its existence when Hitman "hit" theaters a few months back.
Admittedly, I don't find myself seeing what's coming to the local multiplex on Fridays all that
often, instead looking at Tuesdays months in advance in anticipation of the latest Blu-ray
releases. My reaction upon seeing a preview for it somewhere was "ho-hum" at best, but being a
fan of pointless action movies (of which I had no doubt this would be), I figured I'd eventually
give it a watch somewhere down the line. Lo and behold, I now find myself with a screener of it
on Blu-ray. Hitman proved the least appealing of a recent batch I received, a batch
including the likes of Enchanted, Independence Day, and I, Robot. After viewing those three fine
films and writing glowing reviews for each, I was hoping my luck would continue with
Hitman. It did, sort of. This is another fine Blu-ray release from Fox, but I was almost
literally bored to tears by the movie, despite quite a bit of action, blood, guns, swords, and
barcodes, everything a growing boy needs.
Even Timothy Olyphant can't prop up 'Hitman' alone.
Hitman stars Timothy Olyphant (Live Free or Die Hard) as Agent 47, a
professional hit man who has been raised since birth to be just that, learning discipline above
reproach, martial arts, and the intricacies of modern weaponry from an early age, all the while
maintaining a stylish shaved head with a tattoo of a barcode on the back of his neck (reminding
me of the tattoos on the soldiers trained from birth in the Kurt Russell action flick
Soldier). The story revolves
around his assassination of the Russian President, or so we are led to believe. Agent 47 takes the
shot
and puts a round through the Russian President's nasal cavity from a great distance (a shot that
would make Mark Whalberg proud), a definite kill shot, but the
President appears on television soon thereafter, claiming only to have been grazed by the shot
(akin to a plot device used in the currently-showing Vantage Point, a conclusion I reach
only
through trailers, having not seen the film).
Agent 47 becomes a target for assassination himself (yup, Shooter again), and along with a woman
named Nika (Olga
Kurylenko, Quantum of Solace) whom he was told to assassinate but chose not to after
discovering she was merely a set-up to expose him, he unravels a government conspiracy whilst
creating a blood
trail as long as Russia in his wake.
The film opens with Schubert's "Ave Marie," which also serves as the score to the video game
(according to online sources). The music provides a counterpoint to the training of the young
people seen in the opening scenes of the film--the majestic music so associated with Christianity
contradicts the purpose of the training, that is, to create a cadre of assassins. Filmmakers have
often used classical music to either augment a moral theme, or, as in Hitman, to provide
a tone
of conflict. Die Hard for example, at the moment when
the terrorists successfully opened the vault, provided a rousing and booming instrumental score
of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," which punctuated the triumph of the terrorists while reminding the
audience of the moral conflict that delineates right and wrong. I found the opening score to
Hitman encouraging, thinking that I would soon enjoy a film worthy of Schubert's
masterpiece.
How soon I was to find myself not only disappointed, but mystified.
There's plenty
of action in Hitman, but it felt as if the filmmakers just missed, creating a more generic
action film rather
than trying to do anything special which my parenthetical reminders above suggest.
As I
mentioned earlier, I was pretty bored throughout, even at a nice and tidy ninety minute run time
that's
replete with several of the aforementioned loud action sequences, at least one of which had
me noting "similar in style to the lobby
shootout scene in The Matrix." That's all well and good, but it's one part formulaic and
two
parts dull nevertheless, and I just didn't enjoy the movie or any of its action sequences for that
matter.
I'm beginning to have serious doubts about any movie that comes out that's based on a video
game. You'd think that it wouldn't be that hard to make a good one, but apparently it is. Other
than the first and third Resident Evil films, I cannot think of a video
game adaptation off the top of my head that I've enjoyed enough to want to watch again.
Forced to watch a video game-based film other than one from the Resident Evil series,
I'd probably choose Hitman, if for no other reason than it makes for a decent Blu-ray
experience. Timothy Olyphant does
bring the film some credibility, and he's not bad as "the hitman," but unfortunately, other than
his performance,
which wasn't really anything special, I found nothing to like about the movie.
20th Century Fox brings Hitman to Blu-ray with a pretty good 1080p high definition
transfer. As always, the movie is framed in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The stylized image
of many scenes provide whacked-out contrast and grain galore.
Nevertheless, this is a serviceable transfer, but one that is not without flaws. I noted
almost immediately the good-but-not-great black levels. They sometimes appear a dark
gray rather
than true black, and there are a few instances of contrast wavering, especially in those darker
scenes. While much of the movie is razor-sharp, several scenes exhibited some softness,
especially
background scenes, and I felt that fine detail suffered a bit as a result, especially that of
inanimate
objects such as pillars, walls, and floors both in the foreground and in the background. Heavy
grain also appears to spike in certain shots, and while the grain fits in some places, it doesn't in
others. For instance, there is a sequence featuring two men talking to one another, sitting at the
same table. The camera switches back and forth, showing one actor and then the other. One
angle looks clear, while the other angle is plagued with the heaviest grain in the film, not to
mention abundant softness and reddish flesh tones. This could have been intentional, but it just
didn't fit with the mood of the picture at the time, or in the context of the other, less-than-stellar
(but intentionally so) scenes throughout the movie. It's always slightly more difficult to rate
these heavily
stylized transfers, and in the case of Hitman, the image is just far too inconsistent, even
taking into account the artistic licenses of the director. Despite all these quibbles, the image is
still fairly good, all things considered. Perhaps had I not screened I, Robot before this I
would have been a bit more forgiving. This is not a bad effort here, but it's one of the
lesser of the recent Blu-ray offerings from Fox.
Fox has once again delivered a fine DTS-HD MA soundtrack for this release, but compared to the
ones I recently heard in Independence Day and I, Robot, this one seemed slightly lacking,
especially in the clarity and fidelity departments. The music over the opening titles, as pleasing
and
angelic as it is, sounded a bit harsh, as did many of the musical presentations throughout. The
movie does feature very good surround presence, especially in the action scenes, but it fails to
deliver the niceties of a top-notch track. For example, both Hitman and the recently
reviewed Enchanted feature a pouring rain sequence.
Whereas in the latter the track engulfed the viewer in a virtual rainstorm, sounding as clear as if
you were really there, the former simply sounded like rain rather than actually recreating it,
save
for
the whole wet part. Music enters the rear soundstage with a powerful authority. Sounds like
blaring alarms are played through the rear with, well, alarming realism. However, a few surround
effects
sound phony, such as a few lines of dialogue after the hotel shoot-out early in the film, almost as
if they were placed there by accident. Dialogue reproduction was alright, but nothing to write
home about,
sounding a
bit coarse at times. There was also at least one scene where a few lines seemed out of synch
with the movement of the actor's lips. This is certainly a very loud track, perhaps one of the
loudest I've heard yet, but loud doesn't always mean good. It lacks the crispness and definition
of the better mixes, such as those found in the above-referenced Enchanted and I, Robot. Bass is perhaps best described
as raucous, especially during a shoot-out in chapter 16. It seemed almost too loud and maybe a
bit over pumped. On the whole, this is a very loud, very boisterous mix, and if you're trying to
break in that new high dollar sound system, this would be a good disc to choose for that task, but
for a crisp, clean, natural, and polished mix, I'd look elsewhere.
Fox has brought Hitman to Blu-ray with a few very good special features that proved
much more entertaining than the film itself. First off is In The Crosshairs (1080p,
24:18). This feature looks at the transition from game to big screen feature film.
Hitman,
here is described as a "good" film. All those involved are very proud of this movie, and they
should be. Even though I didn't enjoy it, it's a competent, fairly well made, if not a bit tedious
film that accomplishes what it sets out to. There is a lot of time spent on comparing the movie to
the game (including scenes from the game) and a discussion of why director Xavier Gens was a
good choice for directing this picture. Watching this feature made me want to go back and watch
the film again, and I think I'll revisit it at sometime in the future. Next up is Digital Hits
(1080p, 10:36), a feature that examines the history of the game franchise, from its origins in
2000, the parallels between the game and the film, and how fans of the game (I've
never played it) will want to look for homages to the series on the big screen. Instruments of
Destruction (1080p, 14:26) was my favorite featured supplement. It provides a detailed
look
at several of the firearms prominently used throughout the film, the safety measures employed
in the firearms sequences, and the training the actors received to make sure they knew how to
safely handle firearms. Some of the firearms examined are the FN Herstal FS2000 and M-16
battle rifles. Settling the Score (1080p, 5:13) is next, a brief look into the creation of
the music used throughout the film with composer Geoff Zanelli. Finally, five deleted scenes
(1080p, windowboxed, 7:57), a gag reel (1080p, windowboxed, 4:53), and the film's theatrical
trailer (1080p, 1:50) conclude the extras on the Blu-ray disc included in the package.
Complimenting a decent array of supplemental features on the Blu-ray disc itself is perhaps the
disc's most
intriguing feature, the inclusion of a digital copy of the film that can be installed and played on a
computer, iPod, iPhone, or other portable device. This copy comes on a separate disc, and an
instruction sheet is included with the Blu-ray. It is a 1.07GB file, and I transfered it to iTunes on
my MacBook Pro. All I had to do was double-click the icon, which launched iTunes and led me
step-by-step through the installation process, including entering a unique 16-digit code.
Although I
do not own an iPod capable of video playback or an iPhone and was therefore unable to test it on
those devices, I was able to view the film in iTunes. The movie played in 2.35:1
with
no black bars on the top or bottom. Scrolling the mouse over the bottom of the picture caused a
control panel to pop-up. The picture quality was suitable for this sort of playback. I must admit I
like this feature, and I am wanting an iPod Touch even more after playing with this feature.
Hitman is a movie I wanted to like, and despite my affection for the genre in which it
resides, I found myself bored stiff throughout. The simple fact that the movie is derivative in so
many ways (Soldier, Shooter, The Matrix, and Vantage Point, to
name a few) may
account for my ho-hum reaction. In fact, the entire opening sequence was lifted directly from
the television series Dark Angel. Despite the copious amounts of blood, guns, and
explosions, the
movie seemed too disjointed with a plot that was overly complex for what should have been a
more
straightforward, simple, high-octane extravaganza. It seemed like the filmmakers couldn't make
up
their minds if the movie should be a non-stop, bloody action film, a deep, complex, and
thought-provoking film, or an artsy, highbrow movie. There's a little bit of everything in here,
and
that may
be its biggest fault. The Blu-ray disc itself is pretty good, sporting passable video quality, a loud,
aggressive, but ultimately harsh soundtrack, and a pretty good array of extras, including a
portable
digital copy of the film. This is a pretty good package that will please fans of the movie. For
anyone
unfamiliar with the movie or the video game on which it is based, I'd suggest a rental before
purchasing.
Fox Home Entertainment has announced that they will bring 'Hitman' to Blu-ray on March 11th in its unrated form. The disc will feature a massive amount of extras, including deleted scenes, alternate ending, four featurettes, and a gag real. Also included with be ...
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