Hit Man (Netflix) - Review (Non-Spoiler & Spoiler) 

The stakes of the climax also did not morally justify their decision. The "bad cop" was extorting them for life insurance money they barely seemed to care about. They could have paid him off and still had the same outcome.

My partner and I have felt we were alone on an island seeing all the praise for this movie, until I watched this review. Thank you Dan for letting us not feel alone anymore. Our issues with the movie were the exact same

Thanks for the review Dan. The movie was at it's best in the 1st act with Gary donning various disguises. I think it could have been a much better movie if they carried on down that road with him becoming more and more unstuck with even more elaborate disguises. Even let it seep into his college career (maybe one of his students recognises him at a bar with one of the disguises and say "Oh hi Mr Johnson!"). If they'd gone down the double life route it could have been really funny.

Just seen the movie, I felt exactly the same way. Weird feeling at the end

It's a light comedy. Nothing has any consequences. Gary immediately slips into his new role extremely well - too well. There's no tension because there's no chance of him making a mistake. That's a missed opportunity for comedy. Also Madison leaves her husband too easily if he was the controlling monster he was painted to be in her first meeting with Ron. She also gets over the abuse she suffered from him very quickly when she starts a steamy relationship with Ron. That wasn't believable and it was another missed opportunity for the movie to build character. Apart from Jasper there's no danger in the couple getting caught and that was a missed opportunity as well. The movie could have made a lot more of it's situation. It had vibes of Stakeout but Stakeout was a lot better. This movie has had very good reviews but I was disappointed. I was expecting more.

Sounds like they were trying to do live action Archer

The ending is, to least the say, surprising. They got away with it too easily. At least some hint should be dropped to suggest that they may face some consequences.

I agree 100% and I'm shocked that everyone seems to love this. I didn't hate it, but I had some serious issues with the characters and on top of that, didn't find it nearly as funny or sexy as I think it was trying to be. It's such a great concept but I would have preferred a much darker edge to it. And I say that as a huge fan of romantic comedies.

I know by the fact that he had done this with the Before trilogy and Boyhood but the idea of Richard Linklater currently doing a movie adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Broadway musical, "Merrily We Roll Around" for a 20 year production is absolutely insane. I hope I'm still alive to see the final product, imagine if it really does take Linklater 20 years from now to finally win an Oscar 😂😂😂

Dan, I completely agreed with you! Most people seem to like this, but I was baffled by it. Why did they get the ending they got based on what they did?! The most annoying part to me was the monologue Gary had near the end where he basically lays out the thesis of the movie, talking about how you can fundamentally change yourself. It felt like the movie was trying to justify everything that just happened based on the "growth" the couple went through. Then they get a fairytale ending. It really left a bad taste in my mouth. This movie wasn't like American Psycho where you're not supposed to be rooting for Patrick Bateman. You may find his antics twistedly entertaining, but the movie is a damning indictment of his character. It's a horror movie and a satire. This was a rom-com. I would say maybe it becomes more enjoyable if you think of it like a horror movie, but that's clearly not what they were going for.

I enjoyed this movie but I get where Dan is coming from. Good people being rewarded for doing bad things isn't particularly satisfying.

I watched this last night and I agree with you 100% they lost me in the third act. The whole time I thought that she was a plant from his ex-wife. As she said “you should go and see someone” That would’ve made things a little bit more interesting I think. lol But I agree, had he gone too deep into his other personas and getting lost in them would’ve been much more interesting

The ending lost me. I thought there would be an eleventh hour moral shift where Gary recognized he had changed too much and found a way to justice and redemption. The choice was there to kill and was easier, so they did. Not a happy ending.

It's OK because they are both good looking. 😊

Thanks so much for this review. I thought I was the only person who felt this way about the characters and stories.

I had the exact same reaction to the ending. Trying to square it with the narrative thread of his teachings to his students and conversation with his ex wife about changing as a person fundamentally.

I thought that last scene was a set up between the former undercover hitman and the girl to take Glen Powell down. Didn't really buy into the actual ending. Really liked the movie though

Fair review. *spoilers* I also liked the movie up to the confrontation with Jasper. It was a credible 1990s type neo noir dark comedy up to that scene. I don’t know if it was intentionally meta, but it turns out I’ve seen Glen Powell in some movies and forgot he was in them. So bravo on the nondescript forgettable face. 😅 I agree the climax was unearned. We get vague allusions that Jasper is a bit of a creep, but no real evidence of his racism or general venality. At best murdering him with impunity is serial killer disproportionate resolution. The credits reveal that Gary Johnson was a RL character who’d never killed anyone. Using his real name with this story conclusion amounts to a character assassination.

I think Glen Powell was doing a lot of a McConaughey, especially as Gary and Ron merge more

Spoilers but I would've loved it if in the end, it turned out Jasper was actually undercover and pretending to die etc then both Gary and Madison get arrested

My takeaway was similar, especially the fact that I would've much preferred a larger focus on Gary and all of his personas, instead of just a montage. While I think he and the leading lady had chemistry, their resolution was definitely unsatisfying & somewhat confusing. Also 100% agree we did not get enough of the "bad cop" to justify turning Gary into a murderer...but I guess love can make you do crazy things, is the idea? There was a much better movie somewhere in here that went darker without feeling stretched, and funnier without feeling forced.

Since I really love this movie I will now try to defend it. Personally it's that it is a dark comedy, I'm not into depressing stories and laughing at people who are miserable and to me, this is a movie exploring people in a dark fantasy real life could never offer. I will admit I thought what he was doing was wrong but at the same time the scene where the two improv to each other said to me she gets why he does what he does, it's dark but as someone who doesn't like dark storytelling, it makes sense to me in the sense of the themes of how people are and what they are willing to change about themselves to be happy. This movie makes it clear it's somewhat realistic at the begging and it's descent into this fantasy shows a world of what could had been.

Great review Dan! Put into words exactly how I felt. Only watched it because heard a few reviewers say it was good.

Couldn’t agree more with your review. I intentionally stayed away from trailers because of the hype and was met with a movie that felt mixed within itself. I liked seeing Glenn Powell doing something different because I don’t want him to get stuck in the action genre. I liked the ideas of the plot but the story just felt weak.

Woo hoo! I was looking forward to your review of this film. Thanks, Dan! Have a great weekend.

Maybe it's just me.. But perhaps Linklater and company are trying to symbolize our time, when heating and lying and death are totally acceptable to some people, and those who commit these atrocities have no conscience concerning it, and will even brag about it to their children. This is the time we live in..and this film, unpleasant as I, also find it, reflects that...a time when immortality on a grand scale, even by those whose "convictions" should make them know better, celebrate it.

It started out so good and interesting and simply fell on it's face by the end, i was NOT happy by how it turned out.

Thanks!

Yeah I only watch the movie because of Glen Powell. He was super charming and funny in this movie. I honestly thought he would be a serial killer in the end (and that would be the big twist). Considering the thing he said in the beginning with ways of offing someone and the cops / partners reacting to it, I really thought he was basically going on his own experience. And he dressed like a creepy serial killer type. I wonder if Glen’s success in anyone but you influenced this movie to become a romcom. If it was a comedy action movie where the fake hitman ended up being involved with a real murder due to the female lead, think that’ll be funny instead of this weird romcom movie.

Yes this was exactly my thoughts!!! I was so lost that people loved it which I mean good for them! The beginning was fun but Madison pissed me off so much. I wanted them both to have a bad ending so badly 😭

One of my favorite movies is Crimes and Misdemeanors (though I've found it impossible to sit through, realizing that it might as well be Woody Allen's confession that he's been able to move on from his own alleged crimes), as it is such a haunting portrayal of the creep of moral corruption and the ability some people have to move on from it (which, again, now feels less like a condemnation than Allen's version of "If I Did it"). Divorced from Allen's personal life, the movie seems to be meant to portray the kind of cosmic nihilism that's become more prominent today in, say, Rick and Morty or No Country for Old Men--there is no supernatural force punishing the bad or rewarding the good. In C&M, Landau's character is shown to have become a sociopath, unable to see his actions as morally wrong anymore; in No Country, the unpunished "evil" creates a sense of existential dread in Tommy Lee Jones' character; in Rick and Morty, it's meant to show (at least by Dan Harmon's statements) cosmic nihilism as healthy to our mental and emotional health, at least potentially (obviously Rick and Morty themselves are poor examples of good emotional health, but the show portrays their journey, their stumbles and accomplishments, towards that goal). I do enjoy a good dark ending (Zodiac is my favorite of Fincher's film because of the infuriating, true to life fact that we still, even today, do not know who the Zodiac killer (or killers) were--I hate these kinds of real life mysteries, and the movie forces me to confront and come to terms with the fact that I will never know the answer to everything--I'll never know who DB Cooper was, I'll never know who killed JonBenet Ramsey, I'll never know the fate of Madeleine McCann, etc), but in the end I prefer movies like Pulp Fiction or Kill Bill.

I’m with Dan on this. Murderers, cheaters, and liars win all the time in the real world. Movies are my escape and wouldn’t like this type of film either.

The funniest part was when his partner told Glen Powell's character that he had an unforgettable face :D

As someone noted online, his penchant for the costumes would have been great in a series. I enjoyed watching the movie, BUT I was hoping for a twist, not necessarily a "happy" ending. The husband was terrible, but had she used Gary for a double-cross and framed him, well, we could have had something to work with. Or, hell, have the nasty cop fall over and hit his head. ANYTHING.

Spoilers*** Reviews like this are why I love your channel so much. Usually we are in lockstep of what we like/dislike but I just watched this movie last night and loved it. Thought the two main characters were so charismatic and had great chemistry. I clocked that she was gonna kill her husband super early but I think the tone of the movie matched where the story went. I enjoyed the philosophical commentary of changing who you are. Plus I found it funny as the credits are about to roll that it shows the real life person and it’s says 0 murders (we changed that part). All that being said I totally get where you’re coming from and love that you can articulate how/why something didn’t work for you.

As many times as I've seen her name, I did not know that was how it was pronounced. Thanks!

The romance had me until Madison’s 3rd act confession and then the climactic scene lost me on the tone of the movie. I kept waiting for some kind of double-blind twist that never happened. While I enjoyed the movie and romance more than Dan, I have to agree with his assessment of the script’s wrong turns towards the end. It muddled what the otherwise enjoyable movie was saying for me

I kind of wish he had come clean to the cops and got her arrested. Then she could've used their relationship and information he provided her with as a defense, got a not guilty and they could've gone their separate ways or something. Maybe have him lose his job and have to start over? The whole scene with Jasper at the end I just didn't enjoy, and I didn't understand why Gary was so nonchalant about his actions, or how that plastic grocery bag was supposed to do anything. I feel like the movie just time jumping didn't help; in that case this would've been better as a tv show than a movie in order to actually explore the consequences of the characters' actions.

‘Unlikeable character’ is code for not well written… there are bad characters- eg Travis Bickle- but you usually hear “complicated” or “damaged” when they are actually interesting

I agree with your points. It is tough to root for these characters and ending didn’t feel right. I would have wanted to like the movie given that I loved linklater’s previous movies but couldn’t really get on board for this one

The ‘happily ever after’ didn’t sit well with me. I was (kind of) expecting it to end with them becoming hit people for hire. They realised their talent for covering up killing and put it to use helping people get out of abusive relationships.

I have made 3 attempts at watching this movie, I got as far as the corrupt partner asking for money. I haven't seen the ending yet. but I just figured Gary and the girl would 100% kill him rather than let themselves get caught. I just didn't care enough to see how they pulled it off and I guess I was right.

Great review Dan. I have enjoyed noir films like Body Heat, Sunset Boulevard, Chinatown and The Big Sleep where the main characters were flawed too, so it's not about the movie being amoral or immoral for me. But this one definitely left an unpleasant taste for its attitude towards its amorality, which is hip, glib and celebratory.

Could not agree with you more Dan on the ending and the motivations and fate of these characters. I dont think Linklater excels at these type of movies: hes at his best with likeable characters doing likeable things (Dazed, School of Rock, the Before series), and I could definitely feel all that charm shine through with Gary’s uncover work and the characters around him. But I did not root one second for the Ron-Maddy romance, and you add in double homicide and zero comeuppance then Im totally out. Not a terrible film but I wouldn’t recommend it and will def need to see Twisters totally hit for Powell to get the star status Hollywood is clearly trying to sell us on.

I saw this Sunday and have sat with it a few days. The ending does feel like such a bizarre turn. I'm like, are they really doing this? It went from a lark to dark. Now, the scene where he took the class outside set this up. I just don't know if the threat really necessitated it. Gary was really getting lost in Ron, but the confession seemed to snap him back to reality. Then it didn't. The script had been so entertaining with the back and forth between Gary and the dirty cop. They kept one upping each other that I think Linklater and Powell wrote themselves into a corner. So I think it's still very good, but the ending knocks it down a couple points for me.

Yep I totally agree with your assessment, and I was surprised by how upset I was with this movie after I saw some of the good reviews. Like I have no problem with people getting killed, no problem with anti-heroes, but you have to build up the characters so their actions feel adequately motivated. Like in "Love Lies Bleeding" from earlier this year, the murders seemed to make total sense, both for the killers and the victims. But in this movie, it was like OK these people are basically just psychopaths at this point, and there are no consequences to their actions, and I'm supposed to be happy for them? I mean the only thing Jasper actually did wrong on screen was trying to get Gary and Madison to pay a bribe, other than that there was really no motivation for his killing.

I think it was interesting where it ended, wasn't particularly satisfying but I liked that it was different

I'm happy I'm not alone, I kept seeing everyone loving it, while I started to think I must be wrong but know seeing that you had exact same thoughts I feel vindicated lol

I agree almost 100% with your review. The characters, and where the story took them in the end, was deeply unsatisfying for me. Also, for me personally, the movie took far too long to get interesting, and right as it did, it was over. I loved seeing them try to cover up the first murder, very well done scene, but then that's it? Could have used more of that vibe, where it felt like there were genuine stakes.

Mna, I disagree completely but at least you were honest about the subjectivity of this particular review

Honestly the ending is where it kinda lost me. I thought it’d end on a shot of the dying cop, leaving it more ambiguous

It was "True", in the sense that it was a story. That is the way it always is in Hollywood.

It was indeed - fine. But there were so many little things that had me scratching me head. I kept waiting for the ex-wife to come back - why even have her? And his character shift was so weird. Even the police comment on it. I get that’s part of the story - but give us something, liked movies growing up, always wanted to be an actor…something! And she was quite sketch the whole time, I almost don’t believe anything she says. I almost question how bad the relationship with her husband was!!

Bravo! Well said. The film's ending was morally repugnant. It would have worked in a black comedy but not in a pastel-coloured, sexy rom-com with a happy ending.

I'm an 80s era macho man action movie guy. I literally cannot stomach US romance films. I'm a "Carter", "John Wick" type of guy. But this movie is awesome.

I wasn’t going to watch the spoiler section but decided what the heck and did anyway…and it was pretty much exactly where I figured the movie was going when we watched the trailer. Probably watch it anyway seeing as there are so few decent flicks coming out this summer. Sounds like Dan wouldn’t mind a return of an updated version of the Hays Code.

The movie hates cats and intellectuals. Our nice lead character turns into a lying, sadistic sociopathic bro and is rewarded by the other characters (isn’t Ron so cool) and the movie itself. Also, it alludes to him getting rid of his cats (because cat-people are apparently beta) in favor of being a dog-loving alpha who fuckkkkkks.

This movie has it all and doesnt know what to do with it. Im pretty much with you on all points. Linklaters breezy comedic style should have given way to a much darker outcome tonally if this is the ending they wanted. Still was an easy watch for me.

SPOILER REPLY... I had a similar sour feeling about the ending. The murder of the "bad cop" was not earned or set up well. It's ok to have a "the bad guys win" movie but it needs to be be set up. That said I did have some great laughs with the bust skits, those were a lot of fun.

Thank you for the review!

It gave me Bernie vibes, Linklater should do some more true crime movies xD

I always enjoy your reviews, even when they don’t align with my own. There is some muddling to be had I think with the idea that this is “based on a real person” whom we are kind of preprogrammed to understand as maybe a complicated individual but also a good one that we should be rooting for. Where the disconnect comes in is in how much or how little the film at any given moment chose to stay close to the reality of it all. Because there are hints - some in my mind pretty overt that Gary the character was never intended to be a good person - certainly all of the courtroom sequences remind us that this guy was doing entrapment on the regular, and that maybe Ron was never an act at all. Then we get the end card that actually Gary the person seemed to be an incredibly standup guy which feels like a final whiplash. Further muddled by Powell’s offscreen presence which contributed to this perception of he’s the hero, along with some very confusing marketing (that this movie takes the turn it does feels like something you CAN’T spoil but also makes for a confusing pitch to an audience). Not sure if you got a chance to see it in a theatre, because the ending did kind of elicit a collective reaction that in some ways helped to button it up for me. FWIW because he sat down for the very first con and utterly nailed it - I think it shifted me into the headspace that this was a world where stumbling if it did happen to these characters wasn’t going to actually harm them for better or worse.

Guess you could say this is another *HIT* for Linklater

I agree about the ending. The movie was strangely bland, as if Linklater refuses to develop a style. RL doesn’t have to go all the way The Killer or Spiderhead, but this kind of story needed a little more editorial commitment.

I waited to waited to watch this review until after I saw the movie and I COMPLETELY agree with you, again. I don’t root for liars and murderers in real life nor the movies. It had some nice Linklater touches like the street signs highlighting Gary’s emotional state but that’s not enough to hold my interest. Sadly, it seems every director has to make a crappy streaming movie and this was Linklater’s.

This is how I felt after watching the Ashley Madison series.

Just watched this last night. Yeah it was just OK. At the end i was like "Thats it?!". But i was very happy to see Retta from Parks and Rec!

I'm surprised you weren't this hard on Love Lies Bleeding. The two protagonist of that movie were also pretty terrible people, or at least became terrible people by the end of the movie.

Linklater hasn't been the same since Boyhood didn't Win Best Picture.

I like the concept of this film but it is not executed well. I prefer either Grosse Pointe Blank or Out of Sight which seem to have been blended here but not well. I do like Glen Powell tho I cannot say why. He reminds me of the charm of Cary Grant which maybe why I like him. I hope a better film finds use for his charm.

I’m curious about your thoughts on the film Nightcrawler now. In my mind the same exact criticism could be applied to something like Nightcrawler, which I guess to me would kinda be missing the point of the movie to some extent. Like I think the movie is more aware of the shadiness of its characters than you’re giving it credit for. And Glen Powell’s character even gives a very similar speech at the end of it to the “I would never ask you to do something I wouldn’t do myself” speech at the end of Nightcrawler, so in my mind the audience would interpret both endings in a somewhat similar manner. I also think beyond the literal interpretation of how you feel about the characters themselves there is a deeper commentary going on about love and its corrupting effect. Throughout the film the ideas of shaping your own identity and love being so powerful it can fundamentally change your values (like maybe to hire a hitman to kill the person you once loved) are discussed and I think the ending represents those ideas in a sort of twisted way.

Hey Dan, this is my first comment in your channel. I was wondering if you could do a break down of Disney's John Carter from the production to the marketing to the box office numbers. This popped in my head for some reason and since you like to analyse box offices, i'm curious what's your thoughts on John Carter's failure which definitely had one of the worst marketing campaign in movie history. I hope you read this and i hope you can make a video of it. I know the movie has been out for a decade but still, it'd be interesting to know what to do and not to do based on the making of that movie Thanks Dan, have a great day ❤

So it's no Gotcha!

All Murrell videos are a hit, man.

I really liked the movie. I'm glad the ending wasn't what I expected. It's nice to not have the same old good guy ending.

dude totally agree with you lol. solid analysis as always.

Well I went in blind and I had the same reaction as you. What is up with Hollywood these days. Are they so out of touch they can't see when I story subverts expectations so hard it jumps the shark.

I enjoyed the film.

I had exactly the same problem with mystic river

I really enjoyed this a lot. I felt completely opposite of Dan. I liked how his disguises/schtick was only a side gag and not the main plot. I was actually interested in both main characters and the love story. As for Gus big lie to Madison, she actually made the rules to not get to know the true Ron/Gary. As for her killing her husband, she just killed him first! As for the scumbag cop who tried to frame them, he’s a complete POS. Like I said: total opposite of Dan. 😂 (FTR, I usually agree with him)

Yeah I'm with you Dan and the commenters also, surprised by the super high buzz this movie has received. Although I didn't mind the relationship so much because they were both fucked up people, not sure we meant to fully root for them.

I liked this movie but yeah the ending did feel off. I think a lot more could have been done to justify that final act.

Dan's comment reminds me of my feeling about 'Body Heat'. Could not stand either main character and even though it was well done, never bothered to watch it again or recommend it.

I'm with you, Dan. In fun, light-hearted rom-coms I really need to like the characters. I can't even get behind all those plots in Hallmark movies where the girlfriend cheats on her boyfriend that's supposed to be justified because he wouldn't leave his high pressure job in the city to help her rescue her family's Christmas tree farm. I know the plots are stupid but all I keep thinking is: dude, how do you know she won't cheat on you later? Plus, I can't respect a man who hits on and pursues a woman he knows is in a relationship. As a plot in a dark drama with meaningful things to say about the human condition, sure. But in relax and enjoy entertainment, I need people I can root for.

I thought it was amusing but the ending got too dark too quick and a seemingly good person went bad too easily. Also, he could have put the ex in jail easily and chose not to.

Glen Powell having a fantastic year! Can't wait for Twisters, looks good

Felt the exact same way, Daniel.

so it's basically Mr Right without the charm?

Yea you summed up my feelings watching this.

I read the comments on IMDb and thought that I might find it somewhat enjoyable. I bailed a little more than halfway through. Not a big fan of rom coms unless really well done and this turned into a snooze fest rom com without the com.

The problem for me was actually not their lying or actions. It was that the movie takes over half of it´s running time until finally we got something interesting cooking with the setup. Because otherwise the movie has no big thrills, laughs or action to speak of. The german title for once is the better one with A KILLER ROMANCE. It´s fine even good because of the final part. And it´s perfectly suited for a streaming platform. This you wouldn´t need to see in theatres. There´s nothing in here that demands to be seen on the big screen. 7/10

Interesting - I stopped watching at 1 hr 1min and I'm uncertain I will return and for exactly the things you've stated - so much good stuff up to that point but the whole love thing based on a falsehood wasn't working for me - at this point I'm not certain I will press the start button to coninue watching - cheers

I liked it more than you. I do agree that they didn't do enough to set up the villainy of the one cop but he was clearly a bad person who was willing to let people get away with murder for money. In the end, though, I enjoyed it. I don't get the issue with their romance though. Maybe it was too pat but it was set up intentionally in the script that they were having a purely physical relationship, at least at the beginning, and that's why Gary was okay with it.

This movie felt like it was written by sociopaths and not in a self-aware way. In an ignorant, aloof kind of way.

Completely agree with your review. I don't necessarily think it's a question of personal values but of character development and plausibility. Like you, I do think the first part of the movie where he meets all those different characters was were the focus of the film should have been, while keeping the romance in the background as there's nothing that interesting about it. I didn't believe either that the students were really bored at the start nor really engaged at the end. So like you said: don't tell me - show me. I did think that the ex-husband was terrifying, though. I believed that. And her attitude was a little carefree in comparison. I also thought Gary as a character was very bland and two-dimensional. I know that was the point, but it seemed very caricatural and I didn't buy it to begin with.

A good review. 🙂👍🏾

Out of Sight did the cop and baddy romance so much better.

I'm not going to lie I clicked on this video thinking I would like to find out about a Hitman project that I did not know about based on the Hitman video games. This is apparently really not that😢

It was fun, entertaining, but hardly a memorable film I'll ever watch again. My main complaint about the film is the ending (no spoilers) - just an unrealistic tonal shift that felt abrupt and jarring. It didn't seem to respect or continue the complexity that came before. I didn't even mind the thing they did together, just the way it shifted in a weird ending that seemed like it was from another movie.

Soo... when you are on the road making these videos and you are trying out those opening lines do you have an audience just off screen either groaning or laughing? 😄