review: hit man

Review: Hit Man
​Richard Linklater’s (Dazed and Confused, Waking Life) latest movie is based on a strange true story. Co-written with its star and longtime collaborator, Glen Powell (Everybody Wants Some! Top Gun: Maverick), Hit Man relates some of the real life experiences of one Gary Johnson. 

Johnson, who died in 2022, was a philosophy professor in Houston, Texas. He lived a fairly ordinary life except for the fact that his love of electronics made him a surveillance whiz, and he ended up assisting the local police with select sting operations. 

The movie transfers Johnson to UNO, his colleagues (played by another long-time Linklater favorite, Austin Amelio, the comedian Retta and Sanjay Rao) being undercover cops working for the NOPD. Events conspire to take Johnson beyond the surveillance van and into the field, where he takes on the persona of a fake hit man so that would-be hits are nipped in the bud. 

In real life, Johnson became so good at this - wearing costumes and faking accents - that his success rate was off the charts. This success also fuels the fictionalized plot here, as movie Johnson meets an attractive wife, Madison Masters (played by Adria Arjona) who wants her abusive husband taken care of. 

Johnson dissuades her, falls in love with her, and hilarity ensues. Well, not really hilarity, more like confusion and layers of deception that make the situation more and more complicated by the day. Bodies start to appear, and holes start to form in everyone’s alibis. Amelio’s dirty cop starts to exert leverage that makes Johnson and Masters’ lives spiral out of control. 

It’s an almost Cohen brothers-type romp, with coincidences, near-misses and lashings of deft manipulation. One of the most enjoyable elements for us New Orleans residents is that it is shot across the city, with scenes in The AllWays Lounge, St Roch Tavern and a couple of Uptown restaurants as well as lots of street scenes. I also spotted more than a couple of local actors with lines - not least KC Simms and Tony Frederick doing our town proud. 

It’s a fabulist, exaggerated telling of Johnson’s life, and although the stakes feel real, the comedic thrusts of the establishing scenes keep this a fairly light ride. Powell is a charismatic and compelling protagonist, and there’s plenty of chemistry on screen. Johnson’s back-up cops put in entertaining performances, especially Austin Amelio, who brings a chaos and edge to proceedings. 

It’s not a huge action movie, but there’s enough drama to keep you watching, and the colorful shots of our city’s neighborhoods are a real bonus - especially given that Linklater doesn’t often leave the city limits of his beloved Austin. It’s a solid thriller with plenty of romance and comedy, and that there’s some truth to it makes it more interesting than it otherwise might have been. 

Hit Man is playing at the Prytania Canal Place
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