He always fulfills his contracts.
Hitman Agent 47 is a 2015 American-German action film directed by Aleksander Bach and written by Skip Woods (who also wrote the original Hitman film) and Michael Finch. It is based on the Hitman video game series, developed by IO Interactive, and its main character, a mysterious assassin known only as Agent 47.
Agent 47 (Rupert Friend) teams up with a woman named Katia van Dees (Hannah Ware) to help her find her father and uncover the secrets of her past. Together, they aim to take down the leader of Syndicate International, a MegaCorp based in Singapore. Along the way, they must contend with a superhuman killer named John Smith (Zachary Quinto) and a small army of goons.
It was released on August 21, 2015.
Tropes in this film:
- Action Survivor: Katia is this as her superpower. She's inhumanly capable of surviving. Fighting? Not so much. Until later in the movie, at least.
- Adaptational Badass: John Smith, if he's meant to be Agent Smith from the games. Also a case of Adaptational Villainy. He's also a far more effective opponent to 47 than Mark Parchezzi III, the other character from the games he seems to be based off of, ever got to be (due to gameplay limitations).
- Adaptational Heroism:
- Doctor Litvenko is a substitute for Doctor Otto Wolfgang Ort-Meyer. Ort-Meyer was an evil Mad Scientist. Doctor Litvenko is not. Also qualifies as an Adaptational Name Change.
- Agent 47 seems to be helping Katia because he remembers her from his childhood. He was actually contracted to kill her father.
- Adaptational Villainy: John Smith, if he's meant to be Agent Smith from the games, and Diana Burnwood, who attempts to have 47 assassinated at the end of the movie.
- Ambiguous Situation: Is 47 honestly trying to help Katia or is she just a means to an end to kill Litvenko? Is his second target Litvenko or Katia?
- And the Adventure Continues: The ending of the movie has 47 and Katia facing Agent 48.
- Arc Words: "It's what you do which defines you."
- Armor Is Useless: Averted to an extent. Normal body armor is useless but John Smith's subdermal armor shrugs off pretty much everything, including a knife through the shoulder and gunshot wounds at point blank range.
- Badass Abnormal: Agent 47, of course, is this. So is Katia, a.k.a 90. John Smith turns out to be one, as well, though of a different sort.
- Badass Boast: The opening target talks about how he managed to take down an Agent after four weeks of searching for him. It was the finest achievement of his career. It doesn't help him.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- "Bombs."
- For that matter, the child's inhaler.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Katia, once she remembers 47 from the Asylum, wants this. Agent 47 shows no sign of reciprocating.
- Composite Character:
- John Smith has the name and CIA affiliation of Agent Smith from the video games, though other than that he seems to actually be a version of 47's Evil Counterpart Mark Parchezzi III, aka the Albino, from Blood Money; he's a "failed experiment" of the Syndicate created from their attempts to create their own Agent, considers himself The Rival to 47 and wants to prove himself as the truly superior supersoldier, and has a penchant for white suits. He even gets white hair in The Stinger after reviving from being electrocuted.
- At the end of the film, Diana is implied to have turned on 47, as evidenced by the scene where 48 arrives to kill him. This plot point is lifted wholesale from the ending of Hitman: Codename 47, where it was Ort-Meyer who turned on 47 and sent in an army of 48 clones to kill him.
- Consummate Liar: Both 47 and John Smith never convey any sign they're telling lies, even though both lie constantly.
- Consummate Professional: Agent 47, of course.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Le Clerq runs a MegaCorp as well as The Syndicate.
- Cyborg: John Smith is one. He possesses subdermal titanium armor grafted to his skeleton via nanotech—in other words, he's bulletproof.
- Deadpan Snarker: Half of 47's lines in dialogue with Katia consist of snark, and when he isn't answering verbally, his facial expressions do the job just as well.
- The Dragon: John Smith is almost as lethal as Agent 47.
- Dressing as the Enemy: During his escape from the police station, 47 pilfers a guard uniform, then does the same to a soldier who sought to question him as he was leaving the building.
- Exactly What I Aimed At: When Smith has 47 cornered, Katia shoots at him and apparently misses. When Smith tries to berate her for it, it's revealed she hit the protective glass between him and a running jet engine...
- Fatal Flaw: John Smith wants to prove himself better than 47, even giving up a chance to kill 47 just to force 47 to admit to being inferior. 47 ultimately uses this against him, as John Smith's boasts of superiority also tell 47 how to kill the otherwise invulnerable man.
- Gun Kata: A staple of the Agents, as shown by 47's first action sequence.
- Guns Akimbo: Agent 47 proves to be a master of this when the time comes, though the movie shows he prefers to deal with things via stealth as well as traps.
- Helicopter Blender: A helicopter is flown inside a building and blends plenty of furniture and at least one bad guy. Notably, it gets thoroughly wrecked in the process.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Played with as Agent 47 is, of course, the good guy in the movie but Katia has no reason to trust the bald man in the imposing black suit over the casually dressed and more approachable John Smith. Naturally, John Smith is the villain while 47 is nominally the good guy.
- Hostage For Macguffin: Notably averted. Litvenko is threatened with death if he doesn't give the Big Bad what he wants; he refuses. Said enemy then threatens to take his daughter, but Litvenko knows they don't have her. Then the Big Bad promises that he'll leave the daughter in peace if Litvenko complies, with the implication that he'll kill her if he doesn't. Litvenko still refuses, knowing that giving him what he wants will cause far more death and suffering.
- I Am Not Left-Handed: In his first fight with 47, John Smith gets beaten down pretty easily. When he's revealed as the villain, it's clear he was holding back and is actually much tougher, enough that 47 can't overpower him in a straight fight.
- Implacable Man:
- John Smith doesn't look it, but he is.
- 47, of course, is this in spades.
- Light Is Not Good: John Smith initially wears dark clothing when the audience is supposed to think he's the protagonist, but switches to a near-white suit after he's revealed as a villain.
- Manipulative Bastard:
- John Smith preys on Katia's fear in order to make him trust him. He's actually out to find her father to have him make his employer an army of super-soldiers.
- Agent 47 proves to be this as well. It's entirely possible he played Katia the same way as Smith to kill her father.
- Meaningful Name: Katia's name is actually a misspelling of the French word for Ninety.47: Your name isn't "Katia van Dees", it's "Quatre Vingt-Dix".
- MegaCorp: Subverted by Syndicate International. While they have a massive skyscraper in Singapore, it's stated they're on the verge of bankruptcy due to how much effort they've put into their super-soldier program.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Doctor Litvenko conducted inhuman and evil trials. He decided they were too evil and fled with his family.
- Ms. Fanservice: Katia swims around in a pool on the rooftop of the hotel she and 47 are staying at....for literally no reason.
- Mythology Gag:
- The Agent deployed to hunt down 47 and Katia at the end of the movie is Agent 48, who in the games was the final boss of the first Hitman game, Hitman: Codename 47, a "superior" clone created by 47's creator intended to be a replacement for 47, due to 47 having an unacceptable amount of free will.
- The movie's producer has confirmed that John Smith is actually intended to be a version of Mark Parchezzi III, aka the Albino, 47's Evil Counterpart from Blood Money, as confirmed by The Stinger where he revives with white hair and white eyes (which would necessitate the need for sunglasses to blend in).
- Instinct is depicted as heightened sounds and vision that allows Katia to hear and see things from far away as if she's in the same room as the sound. While this is a very realistic take on the mechanic, none of the Hitman games allow for this specific setup, only NPC and target actions through walls can be seen via silhouettes, and not heard. Even more confusingly, 47 does not appear to have this ability, despite having it in the games.
- Not Quite Dead: John Smith survives his electrocution, becoming what is meant to be Mark Parchezzi III from Blood Money.
- Obviously Evil: Agent 47 comes off as this to Katia, and it's even invoked by John to turn her against him during their first meeting. He should really work on his appearance.
- Playful Hacker: You wouldn't think it, but 47 proves to be one of these. He enjoys killing people with computers in delightfully silly ways.
- Professional Killer: Naturally. Though, this time, it doesn't seem to be why 47 is doing this. Except, it actually is.
- Race Lift: The Caucasian Diana Burnwood is played by Chinese actress Angelababy. Her accent and her dress sense are the only connections she has to the Diana fans know from the games, and here she's much more ruthless-sounding.
- Sherlock Scan: Agents, as well as Katia, all possess this as one of their basic abilities.
- The Stinger: John Smith revives from being electrocuted, now with white hair and white eyes.
- The Stoic: Agent 47 displays no real emotions except when talking about parenthood and sacrifice, which may well be just to manipulate Katia.
- Super-Soldier: The plot relates to the attempt to create the Agents by Doctor Litvenko.
- Supporting Protagonist: Agent 47 is this. The main protagonist is actually Katia with 47 escorting her to find her father and train her how to use her power.
- The Syndicate: And named the same thing too, and also doubles as a Megacorp.
- Tested on Humans: The source of the Agent program.
- Too Dumb to Live: Katia disassembling Agent 47's guns because of her nervous habits, whilst he slept no less. 47 looks like he's ready to kill her after being forced to dispatch armed assassins with a screwdriver as a result.
- Trailers Always Lie: The first trailer portrays 47 as the main antagonist hunting Katia.
- Training from Hell: 47 puts Katia through this to prepare her for their mission together.
- Turbine Blender: 47's first test for Katia involves tying her to a chair which is right in front of a jet engine he's just turned on. She gets out in time. Two mooks, however, gets sucked in later when she breaches the glass of the testing room with a bullet.
- Unskilled, but Strong: John Smith is this compared to 47. He's been enhanced physically to a greater degree (including bulletproof skin), but lacks the enhanced intelligence, perception, and mental capabilities of the original Agent series, which is why the Syndicate considers him to be a failed experiment (even though he's actually quite cunning by regular human standards). He's also not quite the skilled fighter that 47 is, but his enhancements cover that weakness.
- Villain Protagonist: The film follows two other viewpoint protagonists with Agent 47 hunting them along with another third party that is hunting both. In the end, only Katia isn't a villain.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: 47's accent seems to zig zag between a decent impression of David Bateson to the actors' actual accent.
- Wham Shot: 47 and Katia prepare to fight their way out of the legion of guards in Syndicate Headquarters, but Katia says there's only one. Out of the elevator steps a clone of 47, a barcode ending in "48" on his neck.
