Hitman: Agent 47 | Film review - Rupert Friend's assassin is unstoppable but slick thriller fails to grip | Movie Talk | What's on TV

Hitman Agent 47 Rupert Friend Hannah Ware.jpg

(Image credit: /R.Bajo)

Rupert Friend plays an assassin even deadlier than Homeland’s Peter Quinn in Hitman: Agent 47, a sci-fi action thriller based on the bestselling video game. A genetically engineered killer – complete with a barcode on the back of his shaven head and a number for a name – he’s predictably unstoppable when he teams up with Hannah Ware’s enigmatic heroine and takes on the forces of a sinister corporation. But his very indestructibility means the story’s formulaic action never gets particularly gripping, while the slick photography gives the film the look of a luxury car advert.

Certificate 15. Runtime 92 mins. Director Aleksander Bach

Hitman: Agent 47 is available on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital HD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXOLurD1L6o

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.