Richard Linklater is the most underrated filmmaker currently working. It feels weird even to say that, as he has five Oscar nominations. Yet, his name never gets brought up when discussing great directors who have never won a Best Directing Oscar (Pedro Almodovar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Spike Lee, David Fincher, and more). I always want to get on a soap box and remind people that this guy defined the hang movie (there would be no CLERKS without SLACKER and DAZED AND CONFUSED). And he made the greatest trilogy of all time with the BEFORE trilogy (I’ll debate this one to this day).
Alas, I’ll step off my soapbox. HIT MAN has the coolness and darkness of OUT OF SIGHT and the hilarity of a Coen Brothers movie. It’s all held together by the underrated leading man Glenn Powell and a star-making performance by Adria Arjona. Since Linklater makes hang movies, he can have Powell and Arjona play off each other to become two characters you want to spend more time with. I couldn’t get enough of their chemistry, the twists and turns of the plot, and just how much damn fun it was to watch them for a couple of hours.
But what made HIT MAN the Netflix movie to watch this past weekend was Glenn Powell. His portrayal of Gary Johnson and his masks should keep audiences glued to their seats. Linklater has worked with Matthew McConaughey in the past, and Powell’s Texas background allows him to seamlessly transition to working with Linklater.
All pies may be a good pies, but HIT MAN is a great pie.
It’s available to stream on Netflix.