With wire glasses on and hair tucked behind his ears, Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) opens Netflix’s newly released “Hit Man” as a cat-loving, dorky professor. But true to the typical romance trope, as soon as the glasses come off, Gary finds love and his life becomes much more exciting — and in this case, illegal.
Released June 7, “Hit Man” holds deep Texas roots with its Houston-born director and writer Richard Linklater (writer of “Dazed and Confused”) and star actor, co-writer and UT alum Glen Powell (featured in “Anyone But You”). The “Hit Man” story was inspired by a 2001 Texas Monthly article about former Harris County hit man impersonator and staff investigator Gary Johnson. Similar to Powell’s character, Johnson, a cat-lover who taught psychology at a community college, part-timed in various disguises to arrest people seeking a hit man. From there, the movie’s drama is fiction.
Initially seen as soft and boring, Gary subs in for a hit man impersonator and comically ends up being a natural at the job. Gary finds amusement in observing the psychology of the people he arrests and guessing what kind of fantasy hit man he should act as for them to believe him.
Aside from Gary being the protagonist, at its heart, “Hit Man” is a femme fatale story with Adria Arjona (featured in “Star Wars: Andor”) playing Madison, an attractive and vulnerable woman who enables Gary’s dark alter ego. Gary and Madison meet when she seeks a hit man to kill her emotionally abusive husband. Pitying her, Gary encourages Madison to leave her marriage and offers his number in case she needs help in the future, instead of trying to get her arrested. Eventually, Madison reaches out to Gary — who she still thinks is a hit man — and they begin a steamy, secret fling.
Yet, the couple proved a difficult pairing as their connection did not go deeper than an inconvenient sexual attraction. Powell and Arjona’s great chemistry couldn’t distract from the unclear reasons why the characters cared for one another.
After pretending to be a darker version of himself for so long, Gary becomes permanently like his alter ego over the course of the movie. This psychological aspect of the film proved captivating, presented by his changing wardrobe and progressing criminal behavior.
While these aspects gave the crime romance more depth, the film became less realistic and more disturbing as it went on, which detracted from the previously solid storyline. For example, at the film’s climax, Madison and Gary establish their love for one another by killing one of Gary’s coworkers from the police station.
Despite this, the couple’s happily-ever-after made the story a much more unique femme fatale tale, as the two enjoyed pie and family time following their crimes. The ridiculousness of the story makes for an entertaining and memorable watch.
3 ½ of Gary’s famous pies out of 5
