"The Hit" is an odd and often frustrating crime flick.
It's a British crime film, but anyone expecting "Get Carter" or "The Long Good Friday" will be disappointed.
It's more like a crime version of "Two-Lane Blacktop".
It's impressionistic, existentialist, and above all, not what you think or expect.
It seems to keep undercutting itself. For example, it's a British crime flick... but it's set in Spain. The constant presence of flamenco legend Paco de Lucia on the soundtrack does nothing for it. There are questions you expect the characters to ask each other. They don't. There are things you expect them to say, if not to each other, then out loud. They don't. You expect them to at least feel a certain way, and they don't seem to.
Take, for example, the protagonist, played by Terence Stamp. He's being taken to his execution for "grassing" on his criminal pals. He doesn't seem to mind, in fact often his escorts seem more like friends.
They encounter an Australian guy played by legendary actor Bill Hunter. He talks, talks, talks. "Why don't you shut up?" asks the junior crim (Tim Roth). "I can't!" screams the Aussie. Why? Is it because he's nervous? What was he doing there, anyway? Why do they take his girlfriend?
Another undercut: The Stamp character doesn't mind at all that he's about to die, until he does mind. Why? You can only speculate.
"The Hit" is a typical example of the kind of movie which studiously avoids cliches to the point of becoming annoying. It'd be a favourite film of anyone who is in the mood for something "different", I guess. I guess I just wasn't.
It's a British crime film, but anyone expecting "Get Carter" or "The Long Good Friday" will be disappointed.
It's more like a crime version of "Two-Lane Blacktop".
It's impressionistic, existentialist, and above all, not what you think or expect.
It seems to keep undercutting itself. For example, it's a British crime flick... but it's set in Spain. The constant presence of flamenco legend Paco de Lucia on the soundtrack does nothing for it. There are questions you expect the characters to ask each other. They don't. There are things you expect them to say, if not to each other, then out loud. They don't. You expect them to at least feel a certain way, and they don't seem to.
Take, for example, the protagonist, played by Terence Stamp. He's being taken to his execution for "grassing" on his criminal pals. He doesn't seem to mind, in fact often his escorts seem more like friends.
They encounter an Australian guy played by legendary actor Bill Hunter. He talks, talks, talks. "Why don't you shut up?" asks the junior crim (Tim Roth). "I can't!" screams the Aussie. Why? Is it because he's nervous? What was he doing there, anyway? Why do they take his girlfriend?
Another undercut: The Stamp character doesn't mind at all that he's about to die, until he does mind. Why? You can only speculate.
"The Hit" is a typical example of the kind of movie which studiously avoids cliches to the point of becoming annoying. It'd be a favourite film of anyone who is in the mood for something "different", I guess. I guess I just wasn't.