Bullet Points: The Hitman Agency
You may know me solely from the reviews I post on this site a few days a week but I would be lying if I said that I didn’t daydream about making my own film some day. Hell, I would be happy just to frame together an action sequence or be the guy to get the crap kicked out of him by the hero. Action movies have been a part of my life for so many years that it only seems right that someday I could be set on fire and blown through a window into a shallow pool of water. It’s kind of a dream of mine.
Either way, film lovers like us see and appreciate when a member of our loyal following gets past the day dream phase and follows through with their goal. I could be wrong but this movie feels like director Dominik Starck has been thinking about it for a long time.
Synopsis: Hitman Lucas Kane (Everett Ray Aponte) works for an agency of killers who will stop at nothing to attain their goals. His most recent target, though, is legendary hitman Joseph Kyler (Erik Hansen). Joseph was presumed dead years earlier but now Lucas is tasked with getting information from Joseph about some of the secrets of the agency. The deeper Lucas and Joseph dive into the secrets of the agency, the more they begin to realize that they’re not so different from one another.
- Shadowy stuff: The opening scene introduces us to Lucas Kane and his profession. We see him on a job which includes infiltrating a rich pony-tailed dudes’ house and then murdering him before another freelance killer can do the job. Kane seems to notice right away that there is another guy on the trail and it’s almost a race to see who can get to the mark first.
- Eat your heart out MacGruber: Lucas watches the freelance assassin break some necks on his way to the target. I couldn’t help but think of the movie MacGruber and his penchant for ripping throats.
- They don’t make’em like they used to: The movie doesn’t waste any time getting to some fight scenes and a couple deaths and it is better off for it. While I wasn’t a fan of the actual action that was happening on screen, it was good to see a “hot opening” to the movie instead of just a group of people sitting around a table talking about killing people. I don’t know the level of fight experience from Aponte and company but it sure didn’t feel very smooth watching him and the other guy fight their way into the mansion.
- Flashback city: We start learning about Kane and his employers after the events that take place in the opening. Lucas is a hitman working for some mysterious agency and now he’s being tasked with taking out the old man assassin Joseph Kyler. Kyler has been living a quite life in the middle of nowhere but he allegedly has some secret information that could bring down the agency if it gets out. That means that Lucas is able to capture and torture the geezer until he spits out all the goods or dies in the process. What ends up happening is a serious amount of flashback sequences from Joseph as he tells his story to the unbelievably patient Lucas. Negative points to Starck for playing the young version of Joseph and not tossing in a nude scene with the cute blonde chick.
- The Dragon: Don “The Dragon” Wilson is featured prominently on the poster and I assumed his role would grow as the film neared the end but he hardly shows his face on screen. The little that he does do is relegated to a throwaway scene where he pops up briefly to kick a dude in the face a couple of times and then smirk.
- Joseph and his accent: Young Joseph has a thick German accent but old man Joseph is from Vermont or something. They mention that he’s had extensive plastic surgery done to look differently but the accent kept creeping back up on me as I watched.
- Agency business: Shadowy hitman agencies always have some skeletons in their closets. The main difference between some of the others and this one is the shit they pull to get Joseph into the game and then the lengths they go to cover up their mess. There is always some up and coming power-hungry person trying to kill their way to the top and it only takes a minute to realize who is good and who is bad in this one.
The Verdict: The Hitman Agency was a tale of two movies for me. It took me a while to get into the story but part of that was because I went into the movie not knowing what was going on. I immediately assumed that it was about Lucas Kane after the opening scene but it soon switched to a story about Joseph. Good move. Kane bored me. Both with his action and with his motivations. Joseph’s story was better the longer it went on and the flashbacks started to make more and more sense as the movie progressed. Movies like this shouldn’t be too paint by numbers and The Hitman Agency will keep you guessing as to what might happen next. Give it a watch.
