Hit Man
Hit Man is the most pleasant surprise of 2024's theatrical calendar. Richard Linklater and Glen Powell teamed up to make a romantic crime comedy that is so relentlessly charming, so well-paced, and so smartly cast that it's easy to overlook the fact that its moral center is... somewhat missing.
Full analysis below
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What you see is what you get. Hit Man is a fun, energetic romantic crime comedy from a director (Linklater) who is liberal in his personal politics but consistently makes films about human beings rather than political agendas. The film's moral relativism is genre convention, not progressive manifesto.
Our Verdict on Hit Man
Hit Man is the most pleasant surprise of 2024's theatrical calendar. Richard Linklater and Glen Powell teamed up to make a romantic crime comedy that is so relentlessly charming, so well-paced, and so smartly cast that it's easy to overlook the fact that its moral center is... somewhat missing.
Glen Powell plays Gary Johnson, a mild philosophy professor who moonlights as a technical consultant for New Orleans police sting operations. When the regular undercover operative gets suspended, Gary falls into the role of posing as a fake hitman to lure would-be murderers into confessing on tape. He turns out to be extraordinarily good at it. He researches each client, tailors a persona to their expectations, and becomes a kind of protean character actor who can be anyone the situation requires.
This is where the film's central idea clicks into gear. Gary reads Sartre and lectures on identity as a fluid construct. The hitman job becomes a practical demonstration of his philosophy - there is no fixed self, only the role you choose to play. It's smarter than the premise suggests, and Linklater handles the philosophical underpinning with a light touch.
The complication arrives when Gary meets Madison Masters (Adria Arjona), a woman trying to hire a hitman to escape her abusive husband. Gary refuses the job but offers to help her restart her life instead. They fall into a relationship. Then her husband turns up dead. Then it becomes apparent she shot him.
The film's handling of this development is where conservative viewers will have the most to wrestle with. Gary, who is supposed to be working for law enforcement, helps Madison avoid prosecution. He puts on a wire and performs a fake interrogation designed not to elicit a confession but to prove her innocence to the listening cops. It works. The corrupt detective Jasper turns out to be the real villain - he's been running his own extortion scheme and is the more immediate threat. Gary and Madison kill Jasper together and live happily ever after.
Is this woke? Not exactly. Noir has always featured protagonists who bend or break the law for the right woman. Double Indemnity, Body Heat, Out of Time - the tradition is long. What separates Hit Man from explicit ideology is that it never moralizes. It doesn't lecture you about domestic violence. It doesn't have Gary deliver a speech about flawed systems. It just tells the story and trusts you to decide what you think.
Powell is excellent throughout. He's a star-making turn in the most literal sense - this is the film that demonstrates he can anchor a movie on charisma alone. Arjona matches him. The chemistry is real. Linklater keeps everything moving at a pace that doesn't allow the moral questions to accumulate. By the time you're thinking about them, the credits are rolling.
For conservative viewers, the film offers genuine pleasures: an original story, practical filmmaking, real star charisma, and a thriller plot that earns its resolutions. The concerns are real but not dominant. Hit Man is entertainment first, and the entertainment is very good.
Woke Tropes & Content Analysis
Formula: Weighted Score = Severity × Authenticity Multiplier × Centrality Multiplier
🔴 Woke Tropes
| Trope | Severity | Authenticity | Centrality | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Institutional Corruption (Individual, Not Systemic) | 3 | Moderate. The corrupt cop trope is genre convention rather than ideological statement here. Jasper is portrayed as an individual bad actor, not evidence of systemic failure. The other police officers are presented as competent and good-faith. | Medium | |
| Helping a Killer Escape Justice | 3 | Central to the plot. The film presents this as romantic and justified given Ray's abusiveness. The moral framework around this decision is thin - Gary simply does it and it works out. | Medium | |
| Fluid Identity / No Fixed Self | 3 | Organic to the premise. Linklater is genuinely interested in these philosophical questions. The treatment is not heavy-handed. | Medium | |
| TOTAL WOKE | 0.0 | |||
🟢 Traditional Tropes
| Trope | Severity | Authenticity | Centrality | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Romantic Devotion | 3 | Authentic. The film earns its romance. The Powell-Arjona chemistry is the engine of the film. | Medium | |
| Industry and Perseverance | 3 | Authentic. The film takes Gary's preparation seriously. He's not a natural - he becomes one through deliberate effort. | Medium | |
| Genuine Star Charisma | 3 | Authentic. Powell's star quality is real and traditional. The film allows him to be a competent, confident, likable male lead. | Medium | |
| TOTAL TRADITIONAL | 0.0 | |||
Score Margin: 0 NEUTRAL
Director: Richard Linklater
MILDLY PROGRESSIVETexas filmmaker with a long, diverse filmography. Dazed and Confused, Boyhood, the Before trilogy, School of Rock, Bad News Bears. Linklater is politically liberal but his films are almost never vehicles for political messaging. He makes humanist stories about people's inner lives. His only explicitly political film (Fast Food Nation) was a commercial failure he has not repeated. Ideological tendency: Mildly progressive, but consistently makes audience-friendly films without lectures.
Writer: Richard Linklater and Glen Powell
Co-writers who developed the project together. Powell co-wrote the script as a star vehicle for himself, based on a 2001 Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth about a real college professor who worked as a fake hitman for Houston police. The writing partnership produced a brisk, dialogue-driven script that plays to both men's strengths: Linklater's ear for naturalistic conversation and Powell's romantic charisma.
Producers
- Richard Linklater (Detour Filmproduction) - Producer on his own films. See director profile. As producer, he controls the final product but his instincts run toward entertainment and character study, not political messaging.
- Glen Powell (Barnstorm Productions) - Actor-producer who co-developed this project as his star vehicle post-Top Gun: Maverick. Powell is publicly centrist and has been thoughtful about star power and commercial appeal. No consistent ideological signal as a producer.
- Jason Bateman (Aggregate Films) - Actor-producer (Ozark, Arrested Development). Occasional progressive cause supporter but his production output is driven by commercial and creative quality, not politics.
- Michael Costigan (Aggregate Films) - Producing partner. No strong independent ideological signal.
Full Cast
Fidelity Casting Analysis MINOR DEVIATION
Based loosely on a true story about a real Gary Johnson who worked for Houston police. The real Gary Johnson was a heavyset white man in his 40s. Glen Powell is a conventionally handsome 35-year-old. The film acknowledges this departure in the framing - it's understood to be a fictionalized retelling, not a biopic. The real Gary Johnson died in 2022 and the film is dedicated to him. No fidelity concerns around race or gender; the liberties taken are purely around physical type and narrative invention.
The real Gary Johnson worked for Houston Police Department in the late 1980s and early 1990s, not New Orleans. He was also not a philosophy professor. The film relocates to New Orleans and adds the college professor background for comedic contrast. These are clearly labeled as fictional departures. Adria Arjona plays Madison, a composite fictional character - Madison does not exist in the real Gary Johnson story. Austin Amelio's corrupt detective Jasper is also fictional. Overall: the film uses the real case as a springboard for a fictional romantic plot. No ideological casting concerns. The relocation to New Orleans (with its diverse population) naturally produces a diverse supporting cast that fits the setting organically.
Content Breakdown
Adult Viewer Insight
Hit Man is not a political film. Richard Linklater makes movies about people, not platforms. The film's most progressive element - Gary helping Madison escape consequences for killing her abusive husband - is handled as genre convention rather than ideological statement. Noir protagonists have always bent justice for women they love. Linklater is working in a tradition, not making a manifesto. Conservative viewers can enjoy Hit Man if they accept its genre framework. The moral flexibility is built into the premise. The film does not endorse vigilante justice as a social policy. It tells a specific story about specific people in a specific circumstance, and it does so with unusual wit and charm. What makes the film interesting from a values perspective is its central philosophical theme. Gary's lectures on identity - that there is no fixed self, only the roles we construct - are presented as liberating. That's a genuinely contested philosophical claim with real implications for how we think about character, responsibility, and moral accountability. The film never wrestles with the dark side of that philosophy. But it plants the question for viewers willing to think about it.
Parental Guidance
Rated R. Sexual Content: Moderate. Gary and Madison's relationship involves sexual content. Nothing explicit but clear. Casual approach to sexual relationships. Violence: Moderate. Two killings - Ray shot off screen, Jasper killed in a confrontation. Neither is graphically depicted. Sting operation tension throughout. Language: Moderate. Casual profanity. Substance Use: Minimal. Ideological Content: Moral relativism is central to the plot. A woman who kills her husband is presented sympathetically. Law enforcement character (Jasper) is the real villain. The institutional framework is bent to serve personal justice. Age Recommendations: Not appropriate for under-15. Strong R rating for mature themes. Family Discussion: (1) Gary helps Madison avoid prosecution even though she killed her husband. Is that justified? Where's the line between justice and vigilantism? (2) The film suggests identity is fluid - you can choose who you are. Is that a liberating or dangerous idea? (3) The film is based on a real person. How much does fiction owe accuracy to real lives?
Is Hit Man Safe for Kids?
R for language throughout, sexual content, and some violence. Linklater's romantic crime comedy. Language strong. Sexual content non-explicit. Recommended for ages 17+. Glen Powell's star-making performance. Surprisingly charming.
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