![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99The case for the prosecution:
Giant spoilers lie beneath
Hitman 2 has several problems. It's partly that it's a sequel no-one wanted, but mostly it's that an unstoppable killing machine makes a much better villain than a hero. As a hero, there's no peril, which makes it hard to latch onto the character. This goes doubly when the character is supposed to be emotionless and distant. While I'd normally complain about the acting, Rupert Friend is actually good when the film gives him something to do. It's a shame that the film doesn't give him more to do. He only really gets to emote in the last section.
Matters are really not helped by the fact that about 1/4 of the way in, we are introduced to John Smith. John Smith is working for the Feds, he is trying his best, is vulnerable and human and adorable. Unfortunately, he is played by Zachary Quinto. Well, I say unfortunately, because Quinto is a much better actor than he's normally let to be when he's playing ordinary rather than brain-sucking cannibal, but he film cannot resist the unnecessary twist of having John Smith actually be a bad guy. And we all know how I feel about unnecessary twists.
The scene itself:
Why the scene is so good:
This is the only fight in the film where there's even the vaguest sense of danger, and any peril to Agent 47. It makes it so much more interesting. It helps that this is just after 47 gets given a hint of personality, so we have a reason to care. Unfortunately, all that comes in the last half an hour, and the blank-slate-ness of 47 is hard to take.
Also, unlike a lot of the other fights in the film, it's shot in daylight so you can actually see the fight choreography which has been decent throughout but variously hidden by poor lighting, fast cuts and/or scenery.
The other two are, in reverse chronological, but forward awesome order:
1 - Right at the end, we hear that the company are going to send another assassin Agent to kill Agent 47 and capture Katja. We know it is Agent 48, and we know that they get better with each number. 48 comes up in the lift, all we see is his back, and then, when he reaches the floor our heroes are on, the doors open and we then see that 48 is, basically, exactly the same as 47 (same actor) but we know he will be that little bit better, and ooooh. Of course that's where the film ends. And like, I know, barring the actor and his stunt guy both having twin brothers, we're never going to get the fight scene I want but it's still a really cool moment.
2 - The film features one of the greatest uses of word play! Ever!!!1! I exaggerate slightly but it is certainly a far better bit than this film deserved.
The female lead is called Katja van Dies. She has skills, including Hitman-esque ones, but has, until the start of the film, only ever used them to avoid detection. Agent 47 has been training her to get her to use them because her survival is important to him. And we're told that she's the daughter of the lead scientist of the Hitman project, who ran away from the company. The bad guys are after her because she's an even better version of the Hitman programme and they want to know how. The truth is that she was one of the Hit-babies, but the scientist's wife made him steal her so they could have a child. 47 knew her when they were both children, which is why he is protecting her.
As 47 says, the truth about who she is, and how much more advanced than him her models is, has, like Katja, been hiding in plain sight. Because she's Agent Quatre Vingt Dix, which her father switched to Katja van Dies when she was young. She's Agent 90 and that's why she leaves him in the dust.
Why yes, I enjoy multilingual word play far too much.
But it's a good twist, because it builds on what went before, it illuminates what went before, and expands on it.
Giant spoilers lie beneath
Hitman 2 has several problems. It's partly that it's a sequel no-one wanted, but mostly it's that an unstoppable killing machine makes a much better villain than a hero. As a hero, there's no peril, which makes it hard to latch onto the character. This goes doubly when the character is supposed to be emotionless and distant. While I'd normally complain about the acting, Rupert Friend is actually good when the film gives him something to do. It's a shame that the film doesn't give him more to do. He only really gets to emote in the last section.
Matters are really not helped by the fact that about 1/4 of the way in, we are introduced to John Smith. John Smith is working for the Feds, he is trying his best, is vulnerable and human and adorable. Unfortunately, he is played by Zachary Quinto. Well, I say unfortunately, because Quinto is a much better actor than he's normally let to be when he's playing ordinary rather than brain-sucking cannibal, but he film cannot resist the unnecessary twist of having John Smith actually be a bad guy. And we all know how I feel about unnecessary twists.
The scene itself:
Why the scene is so good:
This is the only fight in the film where there's even the vaguest sense of danger, and any peril to Agent 47. It makes it so much more interesting. It helps that this is just after 47 gets given a hint of personality, so we have a reason to care. Unfortunately, all that comes in the last half an hour, and the blank-slate-ness of 47 is hard to take.
Also, unlike a lot of the other fights in the film, it's shot in daylight so you can actually see the fight choreography which has been decent throughout but variously hidden by poor lighting, fast cuts and/or scenery.
The other two are, in reverse chronological, but forward awesome order:
1 - Right at the end, we hear that the company are going to send another assassin Agent to kill Agent 47 and capture Katja. We know it is Agent 48, and we know that they get better with each number. 48 comes up in the lift, all we see is his back, and then, when he reaches the floor our heroes are on, the doors open and we then see that 48 is, basically, exactly the same as 47 (same actor) but we know he will be that little bit better, and ooooh. Of course that's where the film ends. And like, I know, barring the actor and his stunt guy both having twin brothers, we're never going to get the fight scene I want but it's still a really cool moment.
2 - The film features one of the greatest uses of word play! Ever!!!1! I exaggerate slightly but it is certainly a far better bit than this film deserved.
The female lead is called Katja van Dies. She has skills, including Hitman-esque ones, but has, until the start of the film, only ever used them to avoid detection. Agent 47 has been training her to get her to use them because her survival is important to him. And we're told that she's the daughter of the lead scientist of the Hitman project, who ran away from the company. The bad guys are after her because she's an even better version of the Hitman programme and they want to know how. The truth is that she was one of the Hit-babies, but the scientist's wife made him steal her so they could have a child. 47 knew her when they were both children, which is why he is protecting her.
As 47 says, the truth about who she is, and how much more advanced than him her models is, has, like Katja, been hiding in plain sight. Because she's Agent Quatre Vingt Dix, which her father switched to Katja van Dies when she was young. She's Agent 90 and that's why she leaves him in the dust.
Why yes, I enjoy multilingual word play far too much.
But it's a good twist, because it builds on what went before, it illuminates what went before, and expands on it.
