Richard Linklater is no stranger to jumping from one genre to another: teen comedies, romantic dramas, rotoscope animations, and time-centered pictures. With his latest Hit Man, Linklater returns to adapting true crime articles, penned by Skip Hollandsworth in Texas Monthly, and delivers not only his best film since 2014’s Oscar-winning Boyhood – but one of his best films, period. The amalgamation of action, noir, and romantic comedy into one is a difficult task on its own, but leave it to Linklater and star/co-writer Glen Powell to bring one of the most exciting films you’ll see this year. 

Based on Hollandsworth’s 2001 true-crime article, Powell stars as college professor Gary Johnson, who works part-time as a tech consultant for the New Orleans Police Department. After a last-minute mishap, Gary becomes assigned to impersonate a contract killer. Surprising his fellow officers, as well as himself, he continues to put on the “hitman” persona, which all escalates when he encounters Madison (Adria Arjona), who is trying to hire him to kill her abusive husband.

Very quickly, sparks begin to fly between Madison and Gary – disguised as his sleek, smooth-talking pseudonym, Ron. Things get even trickier when “Ron” convinces Madison not to hire him, leading to confusion among Gary’s colleagues. From there on, the noir elements escalate, and the mysteries become much more intriguing.

Having collaborated with Linklater prior to Hit Man, Powell was bestowed the opportunity to further showcase his talents as an actor. The ability to swap from Gary to Ron so seamlessly is remarkable, as he invokes an awkwardness as Gary and completely tosses that way with confidence as Ron. He brings a great sense of charisma to the screen that was so universally adored in another Powell/Linklater collaboration, Everybody Wants Some!! (2016). 

Arojna’s performance deserves equal attention in what could’ve been the generic femme fatale of the story. She elevates the outstanding material handed to her from Linklater and Powell and brings a performance akin to Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity. Without the strong relationship between the two stars, Hit Man’s romance would’ve felt incredibly flat.

Linklater and Powell do wonders with their screenplay by placing the audience into Gary’s world immediately without feeling rushed or overly long. The comedy injected will go down as some of the funniest of Linklater’s entire career, with a particular sequence between Gary and Madison involving slamming doors, excessive language, and an abundance of a cell phone.

A major curveball with Hit Man was how thrilling it ended up being, especially in the third act once Gary’s jealous colleague Jasper (Austin Amelio) and Madison’s ex-husband Ray (Evan Holtzman) become more prominent on-screen. From there, the comedy is dialed back, the thrills are amped up, and if in the hands of a different director, it would have been jarring. Thankfully, the nail-biting tension is utilized terrifically while also subtly incorporating humor in the moment.

After having a fairly mixed run following his masterwork in Boyhood, it felt reinvigorating to see another gem from Linklater. The screwball zing to the pacing, blended with a steamy romance and entertaining premise makes Hit Man one of the hottest titles flowing through the festival circuit this fall. The buzz following the Venice Film Festival world premiere led to my curiosity increasing, and after attending the North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, I can confidently say that Hit Man lived up to the hype and is destined to be a winner with audiences when Netflix, who recently acquired the film in a whopping $20 million acquisition, launches it to the world.

Review Courtesy of Bryan Sudfield

Feature Image Credit to Netflix via Deadline