Eight years ago, 20th Century Fox tried to launch a franchise based on the Hitman video game series from IO Interactive. The movie, simply titled Hitman, starred Timothy Olyphant in the title role on a forgettable adventure that did decent business but got poor reviews.
This year, Fox is trying again with a reboot called Hitman: Agent 47. Homeland's soft-spoken Rupert Friend stars as the nameless assassin this time, who's given superhuman upgrades in strength, speed and intelligence. Or so the trailers keep telling us. The movie finds him teaming up with a fellow Agent to hunt down those responsible for what was done to them.
A new trailer has been released, containing much of the same footage shown before, but what's been added qualifies as a major spoiler. It involves Zachary Quinto's villain character, the anonymously named John Smith. That's all we're going to say; if you want to see for yourself, it's embedded at the bottom of this article. Don't say we didn't warn you.
Other recent trailers have given away far too many of the film's plot twists. The Terminator: Genisys trailer comes to mind, the one that revealed the movie's secret twist that all-important series hero John Connor had been turned into the villain. It could be argued that that spoilery trailer was partially responsible for the movie's poor box office returns.
In any event, Hitman: Agent 47 looks to be full of stylish action setpieces that should satisfy fans of the game. It remains to be seen if it's got enough mainstream appeal to kick-start a franchise. The plot looks interesting and Friend's steady, unflustered approach might just be the film's most entertaining aspect.
Hitman: Agent 47 will be in theaters on August 21, 2015.
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