Jun 20, 2024 | Arts, Visual | 0
“You have to live passionately – on your own terms,” instructs Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), a mild-mannered, tech-savvy, psychology/philosophy professor at the University of New Orleans, who moonlights occasionally for local law enforcement, setting up recording/listening devices for their ‘sting’ operations.
That’s just the beginning of “Hit Man,” streaming on Netflix.
One day, while in the audio surveillance truck, Gary is summoned to fill in for a veteran undercover detective (Austin Amelio) who was caught in a compromising situation. Basically geeky, he’s told to pretend to be a hitman for hire.
Taking role-playing the cool ‘assassin’ very seriously, Gary stuns his police colleagues (Sanjay Rao, Retta) by scoring successfully from the get-go.
“Forgettable-looking” Gary, who has a goofy grin, has always lived quietly in suburbia with his two cats, named Id and Ego. Driving an unobtrusive Honda Civic, he’s divorced but still friendly with his ex-wife.
Following Nietzsche’s ‘identity’ advice: to live dangerously in order “to harvest from existence the greatest fruitfulness” – a.k.a. ”self-liberation” – Gary soon adapts to taking risks to truly embody a cold-blooded contract killer, complete with convincing disguises, accents and backstories.
But then Madison Masters (Adria Arjona), an attractive young ‘femme fatale,’ wants him to kill her abusive, controlling husband. Visibly moved by her plight, Gary – assuming the persona of stud-muffin Ron – breaks protocol and convinces this potential client to abandon that plan.
What happens next becomes a smart, sexy, screwball comedy/crime rom-com, a saucy thriller filled with unexpectedly subversive twists and turns. Does pretending to be someone else long enough change a person? No spoilers here!
Based on Skip Hollingsworth’s article in the October 2001 issue of Texas Monthly, the wildly entertaining, ‘somewhat true’ story was co-scripted by director Richard Linklater (“Dazed and Confused,” “Boyhood,” “School of Rock”) and actor Glen Powell (“Top Gun: Maverick”).
Charismatic 35 year-old Powell, a native of Austin TX, is headed for stardom. Mentored by Tom Cruise, he’s committed to marketing his movies as well as making them – playing a tornado-chaser in “Twisters,” scheduled for July.
“To be a lasting success in Hollywood, you have to make people money,” he told the New York Times. “I find the gamification of the business fun. How do we make a movie that is rewatched and rewatched over decades?”
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Hit Man” is a nihilistic ‘noir’ 9, now streaming on Netflix after a limited theatrical release (making it Oscar-eligible).
The most compelling theme of “Manhunt” – which focuses on the pursuit of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, actor John Wilkes Booth – is what it takes to maintain and defend the democracy that we currently enjoy: i.e. the political cost of freedom.
This new historical miniseries from Apple TV+ begins on April 14, 1865, the day that Booth (Anthony Boyle) shot President Lincoln (Hamish Linklater) during a performance of “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater.
Plotted as a chase thriller, the drama depicts how – enraged by the celebratory mood that marked the end of the Civil War – treacherous supporters of the South conspired not only to kill Lincoln but also Vice-President Andrew Johnson (Glenn Morshower) and Secretary of State William H. Seward (Larry Pine).
Based on James L. Swanson’s 2006 nonfiction book “Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer,” showrunner Monica Beletsky – using flashbacks – has created an intricate, highly detailed account from two differing perspectives: that of Confederacy-supporter Booth and also of Lincoln’s comrade, asthmatic Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Tobias Menzies).
Strikingly handsome yet insecure John Wilkes Booth wasn’t the best actor in his thespian family. That honor went to his father, Junius Brutus Booth, or brother, Edwin Booth. But he was a desperate, delusional, obviously narcissistic racist, determined “to be more famous than anyone in my family.”
After firing his derringer into the back of Lincoln’s head, Booth leaped from the Presidential Box onto the stage. Despite breaking a leg, he jumped onto a horse that had been tethered near the stage door and galloped into the night.
Several segments revolve around Booth’s post-assassination escape from Washington, D.C, southward through Maryland to the devastated Confederate stronghold of Richmond, Virginia – with its conspiratorial ties to Montreal.
Lawyer-turned-statesman Edwin Stanton was a lesser-known yet heroic patriot who sacrificed his health and family to bring the traitors responsible for his friend’s murder to justice and to then relentlessly shepherd Lincoln’s Reconstruction amendments to ratification through Congress.
That was no easy task, given Wall Street’s support of the slave trade and the revocation of land grants to newly freed Blacks; the compromises struck then reverberate even today. And in the opening episode, Stanton says: “This is America – we replace our Presidents with elections, not coups.”
On the Granger Gauge, “Manhunt” is an insightful, impassioned 7 – with all seven episodes now streaming on Apple TV+ and Emmy nominations in the offing.
Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See all her reviews atwww.susangranger.com.
