REVIEW OF HITMAN: AGENT 47

2015 rating: ***

Cinematic Déjà Vu, in reverse... Because right now, playing in a theater near you, is a film called AMERICAN ULTRA, involving an oblivious guy who's a Secret Agent with hidden powers and, during and after quick flashes of what remains a convoluted mystery, he kicks some ass... And now we're dealing with an English woman who goes through the same turnaround, initially part of a somewhat complicated plot explained thoroughly within the first minute of screen time... so don't be late to this non-stop rollercoaster ride that is the 47th film in the AGENT series...

Seriously, 47 is his name and he's a HITMAN first and foremost, but may not be all that bad... A predictable element since he's our leading man, and yet the first half plays out like another film in theaters, the TERMINATOR reboot (and especially the original): a hired protector is helping a vulnerable woman survive this inhuman assassin...

Then, during part two, as the tables turn with frantic shootouts and creative car chases, it's pretty much an action-packed wallop (all based on a video game) with a few loose ends explained that weren't covered earlier: Not slowing the pace but after a while you can only handle so much bloodshed. For once 47 gets started there's just no stopping him, again and again and again... And the movie could have ended a lot sooner for to be that much more satisfying.