SYNOPSIS: HITMAN: AGENT 47 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 on the barcode tattooed on the back of his neck. He is the culmination of decades of research – and forty-six earlier Agent clones -- 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. Teaming up with a young woman who may hold the secret to overcoming their powerful and clandestine enemies, 47 confronts stunning revelations about his own origins and squares off in an epic battle with his deadliest foe.

REVIEW: The Indeed, with “Hitman: Agent 47,” audiences might not be aware that this is a reboot of “Hitman” (2007), the action-packed, first film adaptation from the videogame about a sleek, smooth operator, genetically engineered as a contract killer. Ruthlessly precise in his targeting and survives virtually invincible. Agent 47 was first played by Timothy Olyphant in the first movie and is embodied here by the steely-gazed Rupert Friend (Homeland, TV series), slickly sporting the recognizable character’s familiar black suit, white shirt and red necktie, with dual nickel-plated semi-automatics strapped to his lower abdomen. And of course he also sports the back-of-the-head barcode tattoo that serves as a continual visual reminder that 47 was cooked up in a government laboratory back in the 1960s, and that he is a cold-blooded killer devoid of such ordinary human qualities as fear, compassion and love. However, this latest effort is a much simpler story to follow. In fact, it's really more of an original story and isn't so much centered on the Agent 47 we got to know in the previous 2007 release. This time around Agent 47 is more of a tool to get the story to move along and wrap things up in a nice package, rather than being the focal point of the plot.

The thing that sold this movie for me was Rupert Friend's portrayal of Agent 47. I don't think anyone else has the ability to bring out the essences of the “Hitman” character the way Friend has done here. Actually, his performance is very much reminiscent of Robert Patrick’s T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). And in this case, there was a cold, methodical and precise look to his performance, suited as a man born and bred to be a killing machine. However, what differentiates Friend’s character is that he’s not hard enough to not fit in and he can even disappear into a crowd or not stand out and be noticed. Unlike Patrick’s character (T-1000) that would probably standout as a noticeable weirdo in most outings.

All in all, this latest effort is not a bad release. A good, decent and more importantly relevant, action flick that does gaming franchises, alike, some justice in my humble opinion. If you’re amongst those who yearned for more of a human factor to be injected in to the story, then hopefully you'll get the idea that the core of the story is actually more about Katia, and less with the original mission and what proceeded in the previous “Hitman.” That being said the story is told fairly well, though at times it did feel a little slow. It wraps up quite nicely and is certain to produce another installation of the “Hitman” franchise. Four stars out of five are well deserved here and is possibly a movie for theater viewing.

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