“Hitman: Agent 47” is aggressively awful, the kind of film that rubs its lackadaisical screenwriting, dull filmmaking and boring characters in your face, almost daring you to ask the theater operator for your money back. It is a film that feels made out of contractual obligation instead of artistic venture, or even a remote desire to entertain. Other than a few slow-motion action sequences, it does nothing to either distinguish itself from the action movie crowd or even to appeal to fans of the game series on which it is SO loosely based as to really insult its core audience. Here’s where you should know that I’ve played most of the “Hitman” games. I’m not convinced anyone involved in the production of “Hitman: Agent 47” can say the same.
Having
written and/or directed the likes of Training Day, Harsh
Times and End of Watch, David Ayer has staked his claim as
being one of Hollywood s go-to guys for wildly implausible and inexplicably
celebrated sagas involving cops who are on (or at least adjacent to) the edge.
With his latest work, Sabotage, he has divorced himself from the
recurring elements of his filmography in two key areas by giving viewers a
story that focuses on DEA agents who are on the edge and which is so
preposterous that no sane person could possibly celebrate it as anything other
than inadvertent comedy. This could well be the single most implausible film
REVIEW: Sabotage ★★ - Chicago Tribune chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.