Hitman

NEW YORK (CNS) -- It's more than a digit's distance from Agent 007 to Agent 47, the protagonist of "Hitman" (20th Century Fox). The former was merely licensed to kill; the latter has been trained to do it since childhood.

In this slick but exceedingly violent action film, the numbered-but-not-named killing machine (Timothy Olyphant) -- whose designation comes from the last two numerals in the bar code tattooed onto his bald pate -- has already killed dozens of prominent people in all parts of the world. Now he is assigned to assassinate Mikhail Belicoff (Ulrich Thomsen), the president of Russia.

His orders come, as always, from "the Agency," a shadowy international organization that not only educates hosts of killers like Agent 47, but also manages to control all the governments of the world. (Belicoff, for whatever reason, is not complying.) So 47 does his usual meticulous job. Yet to his surprise, he later sees the Russian leader on television with his scalp merely grazed.

Sensing a double cross and searching for answers, 47 kidnaps the president's girlfriend, Nika (Olga Kurylenko), and the two take to the road. He is pursued by Interpol agent Mike Whittier (Dougray Scott), who has been trying to track him down for years, and by the head of the Russian secret service, Yuri Marklov (Robert Knepper). Not surprisingly, these two refuse to cooperate and instead work at cross purposes.

Before the last bullet flies, there's a four-way sword fight in the Moscow subway, a visit to the lair of the president's narcotics-dealing brother, Udre (Henry Ian Cusick), and a helicopter gunship attack on the living quarters of the Orthodox patriarch.

Director Xavier Gens' adaptation of the titular video game is a blood-spilling, bone-crunching rampage with stops along the way for pompous dialogue and misogynistic humor. Thus 47's idea of how to treat a lady includes transporting her in the trunk of his car, side by side with the corpse of her late bodyguard.

The beginning and end of the film hint at some sort of limited reformation on 47's part, and there are some philosophical ruminations about how even a good man might find himself forced to kill. But they are quickly drowned out amid the ongoing violence. Agent 47's resolute refusal of Nika's feverish advances, meanwhile, is motivated not by moral reticence, but only because he feels amorous involvement would interfere with his professionalism. Ever the gentleman, when she persists, he jabs her in the neck with a syringe full of sedatives.

Viewers of taste will find themselves shaken, not stirred by such proceedings.

The film contains pervasive graphic violence, rear and sustained upper-female nudity, nongraphic sexual activity, much rough and some crude language, and two uses of profanity. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is O -- morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops