The most recent action movie I watched was called Hit Man. The 2023 Netflix original was a comedic action-packed film. I’m not typically someone who watches action movies, but I will say I thoroughly enjoyed this film.
In my attached photo you see the two main characters in Hit Man: Gary, played by Glen Powell, and Madison, played by Adria Arjona. Gary in the movie is an undercover cop who is given the role of becoming a ‘known’ killer in the city of New Orleans. Although Gary was only presented as a hitman while in real life working for the cops and being a full-time university professor, he later becomes romantically entangled with Madison while being undercover. The central theme of Hit Man is derived from Gary falling in love with Maddison while posing under his hitman persona. It’s after meeting Madison that Gary’s personality begins changing and his true identity becomes almost unrecognizable.
In the scene captured above, we see Gary with Madison as he points a gun at her abusive ex-husband. Madison knows Gary as a hitman; therefore, she believes that he is a true threat to her ex-husband. However, little does she know, the real Gary would never actually dare to point a gun at someone, let alone shoot them.
In this scene, we see that Gary and Madison are in a dark alleyway after they run into her ex in a bar. The dimly lit environment outside of restaurants and bars is very common in action and murder movies.
It’s through these scenes that a lot of fear today has been retrieved. It’s most often in suspenseful action movies where we see back alleyways being places where bad things happen. Before we even encounter her ex-husband in the alleyway the audience is already in suspense as Madison and Gary are walking at night in silence. The lighting contributes heavily to the suspense that the audience feels. Gary and Madison’s emotional tone also contributes to the suspense presented in the scene. Before the audience even sees her ex-husband and his friend approach them, we suspect something bad coming as the scene goes quiet and Madison gets fearful. After the camera pans off Madison, the audience encounters Gary’s concern from the emotion on his face almost immediately thereafter. The audience also suspects something bad is going to happen as the camera begins with a wide shot where her ex and his friend are walking behind Gary and Madison while they don’t realize.
The violence in this scene isn’t necessarily followed through but it’s the threat and the tone of the characters where violence is construed. Not only does the scene begin with Gary and Madison being aggressively approached by Madison’s ex with yelling and verbal threats, but the violence is also heightened when Gary pulls out a gun. The three men to one woman ratio could also be played into the dangerous atmosphere. Although Madison believes she’s safe, the audience knows that Gary isn’t a truly violent person he’s just under that persona. Gary internally knows that he’s being approached by two violent men, and that he stands alone (luckily, he does not break character). I believe race in this scene is also particularly interesting as Madison’s abusive ex-husband is Italian and Gary is American. I find the representation of race particularly interesting because in film we often see violent protagonists as Italian or Hispanic men.
Within the one-minute-long scene from the shot that is attached above, there are 13 identifiable edits. However, because the scene is so intriguing, the edits seem quite seamless. The audience’s POV changes from: seeing the entire alley, to getting a close-up on the people approaching Madison and Gary, to Madison and Gary’s response, to eventually seeing Gary step in front of Madison and threaten her ex. The point of view changes several times amongst the four characters present, however, never pans out of the alleyway.
As mentioned before, due to all the action and movement in the scene, the edits seemed to be seamless. The audience is so engaged in the moment that it makes it very difficult to become aware that the camera is changing its focus and angles. The editors of this movie in this scene I believe did a very great job. I also want to recognize the script writers and producers of this movie because the content is so engaging, they made it hard for the audience to want to look away. The edits are done so well to contribute to the interest in the scene too, simple but engaging. The small details of it being wet and dark outside to removing all noise from the scene set up for the highest suspense I believe they could .
Based on the performance rates on Box Office Mojo, it seems that Hit Man did generally well. Although there isn’t review on how the movie did in America specifically, internationally Hitman made nearly 5.5 million dollars in profit.
A study published by the National Library of Medicine informs viewers of the undeniable consequences of watching violent and melodramatic. It’s particularly in children and adolescents where violent movies really affect one’s behaviour. Melodramatic movies lead people to reflect more and use emotional intelligence before making decisions while violent movies encourage violent and hazardous decision-making. Being a viewer of Hit Man myself, I absolutely loved it. Watching the movie also gave me insight on understanding what aspects violent movies can negatively affect adolescence or just any regular viewer. In the movie we get to experience a regular person take on a violence persona. The movie leads audiences to believe that having almost a reckless authority is fun and dominating. Another study goes to show how violent movies also play a unique rule depending on your demographic. There is gender-specific threats to violent movies, for example the protagonist often being a male . While they’re also lying moral ambiguity in other violent movies, we see filmmakers display violence as being okay and normalized. All in all, violent and action film is a complex genre. In one hand it is greatly entertaining while on another it can really affect society’s culture and ideology when being faced with dark plots and screenplay .
References
Appelbaum, Robert. 2017. The Aesthetics of Violence : Art, Fiction, Drama and Film / Robert Appelbaum.
Rowman & Littlefield International. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=24444be1-0ed8-39d3-a1ad-079e3a564102.
Ghandali, Roya, Peyman Hassani-Abharian, Vahid Sadeghi-Firoozabadi, and Roghieh Nooripour. “The Effect
of Violent and Melodrama Movies on Risky Decision-making and Behavioral Inhibition in Adolescents.” Basic and Clinical Neuroscience 13, no. 6 (2022): 765. Accessed November 26, 2024. https://doi.org/10.32598/bcn.2021.194.4.
“Hit Man.” Box Office Mojo. Accessed November 24, 2024.
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt20215968/?ref_=bo_se_r_1.
Kendrick, James. 2009. Film Violence : History, Ideology, Genre / James Kendrick. Wallflower.
https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=c8d1f2fa-9031-3c15-9eb1-80b50209e33e.
Silva Santos, Isabella Leandra, and Carlos Eduardo Pimentel. 2024. “Superhero Films’ Impacts on Prosocial
Behavior: The Mediating Role of State-Empathy and Violence Justification.” The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, July. doi:10.1080/00223980.2024.2387039.
Susanne M. Cadera, and Anita Pavić Pintarić. 2014. The Voices of Suspense and Their Translation in Thrillers.
Vol. 00039. Amsterdam: Brill. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=d769f875-c0e3-3064-a9b2-577ceef2fe77.
Oreoluwa Alakaba
Hi Berea,
Firstly, I think your image is an accurate illustration of your description. Your paper provides an engaging overview of Hit Man and properly captures the suspenseful tone of the movie’s central scene. Your use of descriptive language effectively conveys the tension in the dark alleyway scene. I also like your reference to how lighting and setting impact the element of suspense.
However, your paper is quite lengthy and could be better if there was more clarity and focus. The discussion about race feels a bit underdeveloped and somewhat disconnected from the scene’s analysis. Additionally, the commentary on violence and its societal impacts feels overly generalized. More specific connections between the movie’s themes and the cited studies would strengthen this argument.
Generally, your review succeeds in capturing the essence of the movie and its standout moments but could benefit from tighter structure,and a deeper exploration of its broader points.