Glen Powell is Hollywood’s new “it guy” and if you haven’t seen him in Anyone But You, it’s worth watching. Especially if you’re into romantic comedies (even the cheesy, predictable ones). He’s also in a movie I watched recently called, Hit Man. I went into it a little skeptical because the idea reminded me a lot of True Memoirs of an International Assassin starring Kevin James. A common person gets mistaken for someone they’re not and then they have to become that person to get out of 90 minutes-worth of dicey situations. I was hoping they weren’t too similar.
In the first act, I was pleasantly surprised that Hit Man was a lot different from Memoirs. But actually, if I’m being to totally honest– by the time Hit Man ended I wished it was more like Memoirs. I really didn’t know who to root for (and aren’t we supposed to connect with the protagonist?). Glen Powell’s character was torn between two things he had feelings for… his work and a woman. Fine. And I’ll say that Glen Powell delivers a fantastic performance, and so do the other actors. I guess my issue with the movie is how it ended. [spoiler upcoming]
The love birds (Glen and actress Adria Arjona) thinking killing someone will solve the central problem of the plot… because that person knew too much, a premise which is supposed to show how unfamiliar the pair is with killing people and how Glen’s character is, in fact, not a real assassin. So they kill the guy and then the movie jumps forward by a few years and everything is fine? No justice? They’re never caught?It’s one of the clearest examples of writers wrapping up a story without having any idea how to do it properly… leaving viewers with more questions than answers.
Which brings me to my next point. “Lost.” If there was ever anything on TV or in the movies that left viewers with more questions that were never even remotely answered it was “Lost.” The entire series is streaming on Hulu and my brother-in-law has introduced my nieces to it. They’re somewhere in the middle of season 1 and I wish I could tell them to save hours (and hours and hours) by shutting it off while it’s still good. Just like Hit Man, “Lost” ends terribly. In the show’s case, it gets lost in the details of all these weird things happening and when it was on network TV, I don’t think I was the only one who thought the writers were just winging it week to week, throwing in stuff they thought was cool but never offering an explanation. Plus, this is just a pet peeve of mine but all the flashbacks to the character’s lives before the crash. Who cares? Show us how they get off the island you buffoons!
The other day I watched ep 3 with the nieces and bro-in-law and I had already had enough. Knowing where the story goes and how it all pretty much builds to an extremely anti-climatic finale, I will never watch that show in its entirety again. It’s a shame because it started off so well. But then the creators let it all go off the rails.
I wouldn’t say Hit Man is quite as bad as “Lost,” but they both share the idea that an ending can spoil everything that came before it.
-Out of the Wilderness
Out of the Wilderness 