ON SCREEN: As ‘Furiosa’ floundered, ‘Hit Man’ became the talk of the town (2024)

What happened? That simple two-word question was on every studio executive’s lips, not only in the ethereal fantasy realm known as Hollywood, but also around the world, especially in Australia.

They were all asking why the long-planned, epic “summer” blockbuster movie “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” figuratively bombed at the box office. Yes, you could blame it on the simplistic, albeit cumbersome title, but, of course, films with worse titles have succeeded.

Produced for $168 million, the Australian-made, post-apocalyptic action movie is directed, co-written (with Nico Lathouris), and produced by George Miller, who is the guiding light behind the popular Mad Max features. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” was the tarnished star of the worst Memorial Day weekend at the box office in three decades. Since 1995 to be precise. It scored only $32,000,000. That, dear readers, is chump change. The film needs to take in an additional 40% over its pricey budget in ticket sales just to break-even due to marketing, publicity and promotion costs.

So, what happened? Why did hardly anybody go see the movie? I think they felt as if they had seen it before. I know I did while watching it.

“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” is a prequel to the superb 2015 mega-hit “Max Max: Fury Road.” which is unquestionably a great action film. The latter also has two talented stars, one female and one male – Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy – headlining the astonishing action sequences. Theron plays Imperator Furiosa and Hardy is Max Max, himself. More than a hundred living and breathing stunt people worked on the film. Director Miller tossed CGI aside. The live-action stunts are spectacular.

In the new entry, you have weak substitutes for Theron and Hardy. Basically, Anya Taylor-Joy as the young Furiosa and Chris Hemsworth as the key villain in “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” are neither as talented nor as interesting on the screen as Theron and Hardy. It isn’t even a fair fight.

Speaking of fights, how many shiny, tricked-up oil tankers can you watch roar through the desert for 148-minutes? How many gun-laden crazies on motorcycles can you appreciate before you feel exhausted and bored? How many armored vehicles can hold your interest until you realize you’re watching an utterly shallow and completely emotionless story, which seems to be unreeling on a repetitive loop? Positive word-of-mouth for the poorly-acted picture was practically nonexistent. I sat through it so you don’t have to.

To add insult to injury for “Furiosa…,” its weekend box office was virtually equalled by yet another movie about Garfield the cat. Meow, indeed. The lasagna-loving comic strip critter took in $31,000,000.

So, what film was being talked about over the Memorial Day weekend? The new full-length movie that had people genuinely excited is “Hit Man.” Additionally, a lot of folks around the country are still enamored of “Challengers” (in theaters locally). And many fans are still buzzing about Netflix’s two series knockouts, “Baby Reindeer” and “Ripley.”

Unfortunately, “Hit Man, which stars Glen Powell, is in very limited release around North America. I kid you not, but the closest place to see it in metro Buffalo-Niagara is at the CanView Skyway Drive-In in Fonthill, Ontario, which is located in the Town of Pelham about 15-miles west of Niagara Falls. The good news is that it’s practically a straight shot along Highway 20 from the Rainbow Bridge. It’s also playing indoors in Hamilton, Ontario for a couple of weeks at The Playhouse Cinema.

In “Hit Man,” Powell, who earned positive attention for the action drama “Top Gun: Maverick” and the romantic comedy “Anyone But You,” plays Gary, a mild-mannered college professor and computer expert, who works part-time helping the New Orleans, Louisiana police department.

After a series of believable circ*mstances and bureaucratic decisions, Gary ends up posing undercover for the New Orleans police as a viable hit man. Those who try to hire him will be arrested. With a delightful new-found sense of humor, the shy Gary quickly takes to his new undercover gigs and begins reworking his suddenly effusive personality and clever disguises to fit each specific encounter. He’s having fun and everything goes well for the cops. His theatricality makes him much more confidant and infinitely more assertive.

Never a lady’s man, Gary is eager to date women, who have always seemed to be a risky radioactive zone for him. An attractive and uniquely appealing woman does enter his life, but he only meets Maddy because she wants to murder her abusive husband. He advises her to save her money and get professional help. They do enter into a relationship, but that’s where I have to let you discover the very smart third act of the movie on your own. Think of all the femme fatales you’ve seen in films. What we are watching matches the best of them.

“Hit Man” is terrific. The comic situations are bright, the romance is intriguing, and the police work is nicely planned out. Powell, who co-wrote the tight screenplay and co-produced the picture with its director Richard Linklater, delivers a nifty round of star power. As Maddy, Adria Arjona is gloriously conniving.

What especially stands out about his movie is how director Linklater is careful about being certain that his characters are realistic and remain realistic throughout the film. Both Gary and Maddy have interesting nuances. As noted, Gary is quirky. As for Maddy, well, Maddy was willing to have someone commit murder for her.

“Hit Man” is a nice surprise. It had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, both in September 2023. Netflix bought the international distribution rights to the independent movie for $20,000,000 at Toronto. I wish the streamer was giving it a wider release in the United States, but the new realities of moviegoing and movie-watching have shaken up the industry and things are still in flux.

For me, it’s always wonderful to watch films in theaters. However, what’s most important is that the creative people who make movies have their work seen in some reasonable way. If you want to see “Hit Man” in the U.S., it’ll be at The Little Theatre in Rochester starting June 7, which is the same day it begins streaming on Netflix. Put “Hit Man” on your calendar. It’s one of the best films so far this year.

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