At a time of controversy over the summer box office slump, Netflix is pushing its recent Richard Linklater hit Hit Man Afdah through an embarrassingly small release window. In a fast-paced market that includes a slow revival of the apes franchise in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, George Miller's tumultuous return to Mad Max with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and Ryan Gosling's irresistible magnetism don't doubt it in The Fall Guy, a movie like A Hit Man might not have a place to breathe. But despite all the praise it received from Venice Toronto last September, the film won’t have a chance to prove its worth.
This isn’t necessarily priced by box office success, but this is the kind of film that grown couples use as a date night highlight, an old-school caper that today’s cinema landscape desperately needs. Instead, it will be released on Netflix on June 7th. Hit Man will be available for those with Netflix subscriptions, but will ultimately be relegated to an audience unaware of its existence, or its quality.
In a script co-written by Linklater and Glenn Powell, Hitman calls back to the screwball antics of Howard Hawks and the romantic twists of Billy Wilder, with Powell's role echoing the innocent role played by the likes of Cary Grant in Swinging between the precious and the exotic Swinging passion. None of these guys could have done this " based on a true story” project without Adria Arzona's spunky love interest, Madison.
Arjona is no newbie, though her acting is a few highlights, but she has blossomed into a full-fledged star here. If Powell started getting more roles after appearing in Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some , then Arjona seems to be on the same path. Backed by the talents of his co-leads, Linklater returns for his best emotions with a whip-smart, romantic script with a few tricks up its sleeve It deserves a proper release backed by a good studio , but great movies don't always get what they deserve at home It becomes a movie-night hit.
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