Hitman

This may only be my quirky way of thinking, but if you wanted to move through the world as an invisible hitman responsible for more than 100 killings on six continents, would you shave your head to reveal the bar code tattooed on the back of your skull? Yeah, not me, either. But Agent 47 has great success with this disguise in “Hitman,” which is a better movie than I thought it might be.



Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant) has no name because he was raised as an orphan from birth by a shadowy organization named The Agency, which is “known to all governments” and performs assassinations for hire. He was been trained in all the killing skills and none of the human ones, which is why the young woman Nika (Olga Kurylenko) is such a challenge for him. A prostitute held in slavery by the drug-dealing brother of the Russian premier, she follows him, obeys him, offers herself to him, and although he remains distant, he cannot remain indifferent.

Agent 47 is in Russia on a job: assassinate Belicoff (Ulrich Thomsen), the premier. This he thinks he does. Yet Belicoff appears in public almost immediately after the hit, alive and speaking. How did this happen? An Interpol agent named Mike (Dougray Scott) is just as puzzled: “My man doesn’t miss.”



How it happens is not my business to tell you, but I will say that Agent 47 is betrayed by The Agency and finds himself being pursued by both Interpol and the Russian secret police. As he and Nika move from St. Petersburg to Moscow, there is one shoot-out after another, close escapes, daring leaps into the void, high-tech booby traps and so on.



What I found intriguing about the movie was the lonely self-sufficiency of Agent 47, his life without a boyhood, his lack of a proper name, his single-purpose training. When Nika comes into his life he is trained to guard against her, but he cannot because she is helpless, needy, depends on him, and is a victim like himself. So he takes her along with him (which only increases her danger) while not making love.



To the degree the movie explores their relationship, it is absorbing. There is also intrigue at the highest levels of Russian politics, as the moderate Belicoff is apparently targeted for death. All of that is well done. Other scenes involve 47 striding down corridors, an automatic weapon in each hand, shooting down opponents who come dressed as Jedi troopers in black. These scenes are no doubt from the video game.  Three stars – Roger Ebert

Enchanted

Amy Adams, Oscar-nominated for “Junebug,” is effortlessly charming as Giselle, a young girl from a fairy-tale world who is transported to modern New York City by a jealous queen (Susan Sarandon). The film starts as animation, then becomes live action, but still plays by fantasy rules in a winning musical romance also starring Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden and Timothy Spall. Rated PG for some scary images and mild innuendo. Three stars – RE

The Mist

A mist envelops a Maine town, concealing monstrous insects that eat people. A group of townspeople huddle inside a supermarket, divided between a reasonable leader (Thomas Jane) and a messianic nut (Marcia Gay Harden), while slimy tentacles slither under doors on the loading dock. It is based on a Stephen King story and written and directed by Frank Darabont, who made “The Shawshank Redemption,” but I’ve seen “The Shawshank Redemption,” and this is no “Shawshank Redemption.” Rated R for violence, terror and gore, and language. Two stars – RE

This Christmas

The large and rambunctious Whitfield family gathers at Christmas for the first time in four years, and in a couple of days of tightly packed comic timing, they all discover each other’s secrets and confront each other’s problems. With Loretta Devine as the matriarch and a strong cast including Delroy Lindo, singer Chris Brown, Columbus Short, Sharon Leal, Lauren London, Regina King and Idris Elba. A screwball comedy with a heart. Rated PG-13 for comic sexual content and some violence. Three stars – RE