Great entertainment!

Rating: 7/10 (30 November 2008)

I think the IMDb comment on "Hitman" is perfect for this KIND, genre of movie (007's stylized violence): "You want to go to the movies and have a discussion afterwards? Go watch "Lions for Lambs." You want to go have a fun time at the movies with your friends? Check out "Hitman.".
Let's start by one of the main attractions of all Bond movies... Bond women :). Olga Kurylenko rocks! I'm glad she grew up in poverty and became an actress an successful model. Now a "Cindirella" story that's true to life! The soviet touches (extended family on a flat, raised by a single mother, bent on art) are certainly "humbling", I just hope she doesn't forget. She's got a certain fragility that just makes all the difference. Nice "bodies", specially now, in this age of aesthetic surgeries, are almost trite on the media. But a nice smile is hard to manufacture yet. So thanks to IMDb we know she learnt French easily, plays the piano and took early ballet lessons. Well, I'm glad it shows! She walks very well. I've just learned she also acts at "Hitman". And now at "Max Payne"! Well, sometimes reality gives us a small break :). For instance, the babe there, "Mila Kunis", is nice, but lacks that touch.
As for the film :)... I this it's as good as "Casino Royal". By the way if you'd watched it before, you'd understand a couple of scenes better. Seriously :). The dialogues are wooden, you get to see the same old characters doing basically the same (it's a popular film!) but I think this production succeeds at giving the 007 franchise a "turn". Nothing compares to Sean Connery's 007. I liked Mathieu Amalric as the villain, he looks a bit estranged all the time, but at least that has more character than ice cold "Le chiffre" (Casino R's). M is finally present at this movie, all the best for us fans. She's got some character development, doubts and choices to boot! Gemma Arterton, who's her :)? I liked her posh Brit accent, would have liked her to be more than 2' on the film so we could get to know why she was there :(. As a surprise good Bond film, my favourite is "Die another day". The baddie, action, settings and even some dialogues, like "Western hypocrisy" are still on my mind. The fencing scene, race on ice palace, there's simply no "lasting in memory" scene here but for, maybe the exploding hotel in the desert. The pre-credit sequence is no big deal, I agree with other reviewers.
On a personal note, I thought the portrait of "Bolivia" was true to fact, and I live in a similar country! The policemen with sunglasses at night were so familiar somebody at the cinema shouted "It's the bonaerense!" (our suburban police, notorious for everything). Giancarlo Gianinni shines through and enlightens every move he sets foot on. I liked the "double agents", and the best phrase was probably Mr. White's: The first thing you should know about us is that we have people everywhere.
The film being short is important, had it been 10 minutes longer it'd lost the "punch". Overall, a great film to spend time on!