There's somehow a precedent for movies to sneak by us, even though they are known, successful, and moderately were around when we were. The Hit snuck by me.
Stephen Frears directs this moody slow-burn character piece with an all star cast. I mean really, we have Terence Stamp, John Hurt and Tim Roth. Can it get any better than that?
In the beginning of this film, Terence Stamp is in a courtroom, turning in some fellow criminals for a crime he helped commit. The men he turned on all stand at the end of the trial, quite literally singing out to him, "We'll meet again!" as a threat. We cut to 10 years later, and John Hurt and Tim Roth are the hit men that as sent to collect on the old score. John Hurt is a moody, seasoned vet while Roth is the young whippersnapper sent with him. Soon enough, an innocent girl is dragged into the scene as the simple hit takes escalation after escalation.
The problem with plot synopsis is that they don't capture the small moments. They don't capture the moment Terence Stamp escapes from the two gangsters, only to stand in awe of a waterfall, enamored with life's beauty. The synopsis doesn't capture the budding friendships between the three men, despite the situation, the way the hitmen respect Stamp and the way he manipulates them. And they don't capture brutality of other scenes, like when John Hurt casually murders a gas station attendant.
This movie reminded me a lot of Badlands, which I recently rewatched. A sympathy letter to "bad men" both of these or a noir-ish feeling look into the humanity of those who might not normally think of. This movie also reminded me of Meantime, the British character piece I watched like last year or the year before. I think these super well written character-piece style dramas as vastly vastly fucking underrated.
I give this one a 4.5.
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