Hitman vs. Transporter

The Onam season is over and the Malayalam movies have finished the battle with each other. As it seems, the battle has been clearly won by Kunjiramayanam. There is no doubt to that except for the fan-boys and fan-girls who might disagree, but for the common audience, that should never really matter because the truth has already been spoken by the normal people in such a way that the fans’ say won’t be of that much significance. Loham and Jamna Pyari has also managed to do pretty good in the end.

So, this week has no Malayalam releases, and it seems that the battle will go back to Hollywood with the exception of Welcome Back which has managed to find a good number of theatres around here. There will be two big action movies, both being action thriller movies which has already had movies with same title, one being there in 2007, and the other one having a whole trilogy. Both movies have protagonists skilled and ready for dangerous situations, having almost no hair on the head, and wearing the suit which has a colour change on the tie.

You would have easily guessed the titles right now, as Hitman: Agent 47 goes face to face against The Transporter: Refueled here, even though the former had already released and the latter is going to release tomorrow in the United States. These movies collide here, even though the reception has been very low outside India – but that shouldn’t stop people from watching it; Terminator: Genisys did do very well here, if you remember. While at IMDb, Hitman: Agent 47 has 5.9/10 and The Transporter: Refueled has 4.2/10, Rotten Tomatoes has them at 8% and 13% respectively.

Hitman: Agent 47 is a movie which needs no real introduction, as long you are a gamer, or have known a gamer well enough. The genetically-engineered super-assassin was a big hit at a time when we were into a lot of gaming. Hitman: Codename 47 was the game to look out for, and the stealth-mode killing became a trend in the gaming world. It was also one of the first games which I finished, and the second part Hitman 2: Silent Assassin was also a big hit among us. I have played until Hitman: Contracts and Hitman: Blood Money – I would guess that more of them were released, but these games are enough to bring anyone to this movie!

The 2007 Hitman movie was also not that well-received with 14% at the Rotten Tomatoes and 6.3 at IMDb. Even though I didn’t think that Timothy Olyphant looked that much of the Hitman as I wanted from the game, but he did manage the role quite well. Olga Kurylenko was a wonderful addition to that movie too, and it surely could have used a sequel. There is a certain amount of bloody beauty when you think about Hitman and its sequels, and I have felt with the game and its sequels. But there will be no sequel as what we got was a reboot in return.

This was going to have Paul Walker as Agent 47, but sadly that wasn’t the case due to his sudden demise. It would have been a dream thing, as he was always my choice for this role along with Jason Statham. Rupert Friend still looks like an interesting Hitman, and Hannah Ware seems like a smart choice for an action lead here. If you have watched the trailer, you will know that there will be less stealth and more action in store. Some fans of the game might have wanted to see more of a stealthy hero, but some who just wishes to see him back will be happy with this stylish action.

The Transporter: Refueled also needs no introduction because of the three big movies which made a nice impact among the audience. It was all Jason Statham earlier, but the protagonist has now been replaced with Ed Skrein. This one also offers a lot as the trailer suggests, but people still seems to look for Jason Statham as the one true Transporter. Lets hope that this will work well as long as The Transporter: Refueled proves to be action-packed adventure that the franchise deserves. I loved The Transporter and Transporter 3 and felt that what came between was more of a “Driver”. The third is the highest grossing movie of the franchise, and this should do better!

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Pages of these movies.

TeNy