Frozen Bug and Hit Man (2023)

On a walk this morning, done for my health rather than my love for the bitter cold or my obligation to get to my employer, I noticed a small pool. The surface was a small frozen oval about six inches across. A glass ornament on the ground filled with rotten leaves, a cigarette butt, and a small bug. When the ice melts, will the bug spring back to life like the Demolition Man John Spartan in the tour-de-force 1993 action comedy film? Or has it frozen solid to death, soon smashed to pieces by the boot of a small child like that scientist’s face in Jason X that got too close to the liquid nitrogen by way of Jason’s meaty hand?

     Simple answer? I don't care.

     That also serves as my review of Hit Man, the 2023 comedy about a man pretending to be a hit man for the cops. Soon he falls for one of these victims of the surveillance state and finds himself questioning his own identity. Is he a man or a hit man?

     Who gives a shit?

     Writers Glen Powell (also lead actor) and Richard Linklater (also director) do. That's why they put in acres of film devoted to Powell discussing philosophical beliefs of self. These scenes underline the theme of the movie, you are who you pretend to be, much like a freshman underlines the text of their first psych textbook so they can later diagnose their friends. These scenes slow the story and make the pretentiousness rise like a paper bag in a tornado. Twisters reference for all y'all.

     Come'on, movie! You are good enough without all this. Powell and co-star Adria Arjona are electric together. The film looks great, never a problem for Linklater who has made a career out of “making people talk” feel interesting. But then you stop it cold for no reason. The plot has all this information, all the conflict of “self” inherent in the characters and how they act. Like the frozen puddle and the bug, it's great on its own, and we do not need Powell to explain the metaphor like he’s his own Greek chorus. 

     Anyway, I'll still watch whatever these bastards do as long as they aren't supporting shitheads in the government.