Far from the bull's-eye

Hitman: Agent 47
English (U/A)
Cast: Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware, Zachary Quinto
Director: Aleksander Bach
Rating: **

Fans of the original “Hitman” game series will either have a nerd-gasm or seethe with rage at Aleksander Bach’s version of their favourite enhanced modern-day assassin. They will revel in the music reminiscent of Jesper Kyd’s electronica style from “Codename 47”, while gnashing their teeth at how stealth — the very concept on which the original games are based — is thrown to the wind so many times.

Then again, they will probably be the only ones in theatres to watch this film, a reboot after Timothy Olyphant’s last outing as the bald-headed barcoded assassin that did not exactly hit the bull’s-eye.

Sadly, Rupert Friend is an even bigger letdown, coming across as he does as a scowling Ty Burrell lookalike. In fact, none of the leads seem to have the need to put in much acting, with most of the action doing the talking. The story itself is revealed extensively in the film’s second trailer, which is not a good sign either.

A young girl (Ware) trying to find a man whom she only has vague memories about is told by John Smith (Quinto), an employee of the cryptically named Syndicate International, that the man she remembers is her father, and his human experimentations succeeded in creating stronger, more intelligent humans called Agents.

When one such Agent (Friend), codenamed “47”, captures her, she must choose whether to believe Smith, who has told her the Agents are out to get her, or the Agent who captures her, but instead of killing her, offers her an alternate explanation of her memories.

The story itself isn’t all that difficult to follow, and some of the games in the franchise have had better plotlines. There’s also little to engage the audience, visually or otherwise. Of course there’s the music, but that can only entertain so much before it starts getting repetitive. And what little philosophy of choice the makers try to proselytise with falls flat due to the film’s incongruences.

There is little to look forward to in this franchise, despite the promise from the mid-credits scene.