Hit Man (2023)
Director: Richard Linklater
Screenwriter: Richard Linklater, Glen Powell
Starring: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Austin Amelio, Molly Bernard
Glen Powell possesses a clear leading-man charisma. Whether he was Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick, the affable Finnegan in Everybody Wants Some, or the earnest John Glenn in Hidden Figures, Powell projects an all-American charm that recalls the early careers of stars like George Clooney and Richard Gere. His confident grin and magnetic screen presence make him instantly watchable, and although he has taken on notable supporting roles, Powell is clearly ready for extended time in the spotlight. In Hit Man, his collaboration with director Richard Linklater gives him a role that lets him broaden his range and showcase his comic timing, physicality, and improvisational instincts.
Hit Man, co-written by Powell and Linklater and inspired by a true-crime article by Skip Hollingsworth, is a buoyant action-comedy that balances eccentric humor with unexpected emotional depth. The film follows Gary Johnson, a soft-spoken philosophy professor who, through a strange twist of fate, becomes the New Orleans Police Department’s most creative undercover operative posing as a contract killer. The set-ups are inventive: rather than presenting a one-note sting, Gary constructs elaborate personas tailored to his targets’ fantasies, using costumes, prosthetics, and carefully chosen behavior to convince people seeking murder that they have hired a professional. Each operation is staged as a convincing scenario in which the police wait nearby to make arrests, and Gary’s success comes from his empathy and understanding of what drives people to contemplate violence.
At first, Gary treats the role as a job. He explains in lively voiceover that real contract killers, as imagined by pop culture, are rare—or perhaps nonexistent—but his talent lies in reading people and catering to their desires. He becomes a chameleon who slips between identities effortlessly, from suave professional to unhinged psycho to macho redneck. Glen Powell delights in the versatility the part allows, and the film gives him room to play. He moves from the timid, sensible professor—denim shorts and all—to his flamboyant alter ego, Ron, with convincing physicality and comic precision. Watching him toggle between these extremes is one of the film’s great pleasures: he sells the absurdity while grounding each moment in humanity.
Trouble arrives in the form of Maddy Masters, played with layered vulnerability by Adria Arjona. Maddy is a woman trapped in a controlling marriage who seeks Gary’s services. In response, Gary invents Ron, a confident, seductive persona intended to convince her that her husband can be eliminated. Instead of enabling violence, Ron takes pity and counsels Maddy to use the money to flee and start a new life. Their relationship evolves unexpectedly: when Maddy returns, the two begin a tentative romance and Gary finds himself spending more time inhabiting Ron. The film then turns into a study of identity and desire, watching how a man’s performance for others gradually influences the person he believes himself to be. The increasingly blurred boundary between Gary and Ron fuels the film’s dramatic and comic stakes.
Richard Linklater’s filmmaking sensibility is a perfect match for this material. He is a director who pursues projects with singular focus and genuine curiosity, whether he’s making intimate, dialogue-driven pieces like the Before trilogy and Boyhood, or lighter, high-energy fare. With Hit Man, Linklater embraces the film’s tonal risks and leans into the oddball concept, allowing the movie to alternate between slapstick, satire, and tender character work. The result feels refreshingly free — unpredictable in the best way — and the commitment from the cast and filmmakers keeps the story lively from start to finish.
The supporting cast contributes richly to the film’s texture. Sanjay Rao and Retta, playing Gary’s pragmatic police colleagues, provide deadpan humor and act as a grounding force for the more outlandish stings. Their comic timing keeps scenes brisk and underscores the procedural backbone of the movie. Adria Arjona brings warmth and a necessary moral compass to Maddy, making her more than a plot device and giving the relationship with Gary real stakes. The ensemble’s chemistry makes the film feel cohesive and human even as it revels in theatrical setups and disguises.
Beyond the laughs and the set-piece stings, Hit Man raises questions about personal transformation and the performative nature of identity. Linklater has long been interested in how people change over time and what those changes mean; here, the theme is refracted through the lens of impersonation. Gary’s progression—from an academic who observes life to someone who actively stages it—forces the audience to consider whether reinvention is authentic or merely theatrical. The film doesn’t resolve this dilemma neatly, but it uses the premise to explore compassion, accountability, and the risks involved in becoming someone new.
Technically, the film is confident and economical. The stings are cleverly staged, frequently inventive in their design, and often hilarious in execution. Linklater and Powell strike a careful balance between satire and sincerity, anchoring the imaginative scenarios with character-based motivation. Powell’s performance is the connective tissue that makes the film work: his willingness to be playful, vulnerable, and occasionally ridiculous turns what could have been a gimmick into something emotionally resonant.
Score: 18/24
Rating: 3 out of 5.