Back in 2007, Timothy Olyphant took on the role of Agent 47 in the film adaptation of the popular video game franchise, Hitman. Though he seemed a strange choice at first, he actually turned in a strong performance in the film, produced by action legend Luc Besson. Hitman didn't exactly light up the box office the way Fox expected it to and the critics certainly didn't go for it, so now the studio has decided to take the very original route of the reboot. Now that Olyphant is busy with Justified (and probably a bit above this material) and Luc Besson has moved on, Fox has hired none other than Paul Walker in the lead role and commercials director Aleksander Bach to sit behind the camera. If like me you think either one of those sounds like a very bad idea then join the club. However, I am an optimist and like to help people out when it seems like they need it, so I've decided we should give Fox a few pointers on mistakes they should avoid when rebooting the Hitman film franchise. Here goes....
5. Giving it a Giant Budget
One can already feel it coming. A giant studio like 20th Century Fox, a big name star and giant name recognition with the audience. Fox is going to pump further tens of millions into this thing and turn it into one of their tentpole action movies probably polluting theaters in the summer. But we already got a modest version of that with the mostly mindless first film (which I liked overall). Hitman is a dark story with a dark central character going through some dark changes. The key word being dark. Obviously. Going bigger is mindless because the bigger the film gets, the more mainstream it needs to be and more of these central themes you lose from the game and the character. We need a film that is working with a smaller budget and a more creative director who is more interested in the plight of the main character and entering the world of the hitman (which the games do very well). That film is not going to be delivered to us if we get a film thought up by studio heads and written and directed by people more interested in what they can blow up next than what is going on in the head of their main characters'. The central character in the Hitman universe is not necessarily a likable guy, why he is a whole person. Much like Max Payne, he doesn't need the audience to like him or root for him. What he needs is to be written wholly and clearly and be an invitation to a new world for the audience. He's an opportunity to introduce a dark and new character to enthrall audiences with his story and his struggle.