vostf I am quite surprised people tend to overrate The Hit and say it is truly a great little-known movie. Among little known movies it certainly has great qualities, but on the whole it is pretty average.I guess it depends whether you are touched deeper by what is great and then blissfully skip the lesser stuff. This is a fantastic cast indeed. Terence Stamp, Tim Roth and John Hurt do make the show. And the Spanish girl helps too. As usual you may say there are no good actors without a good director. Well no, very good actors can shine in a very average movie and that is exactly the point here. Not that Stephen Frears is a mediocre director - which he proved later - but his work here is hardly adequate.Basically this is a noir film: Past catching up on a guy who did Wrong. There is a fine contrast with shining Spain, the wonderful locations and cinematography, but the script is really not tense. The story runs more like a not too serious fable about Life and Death. The main character appears to have a very philosophical stance on life, while the Spanish gang and Roth's character are on the dumb and clumsy side.I am never too impressed by stone-faced characters. They simply are not interesting, visually and in terms of action. I really think they are the brainchildren of over-indulging authors. John Hurt is great, but frankly his cold-blooded hit-man character is not really convincing. He is not so cold-blooded after all? He has some kind of a slow Epiphany? He just forgets to be the uptight professional he used to? The ending is really not satisfactory. The Hit spent like 1h20 making us appreciate every single character as a human being and then it tips the house of cards. Actually every one is discarded, except the Spanish actors (the girl and Fernando Rey doing little more than multiple cameos) who played the least developed characters.

eyesour Mr Corrigan would have done better to hire a no-nonsense cleaner, someone like Leon, or Lee Marvin. Although, maybe not. There would hardly have been a story if the job had been efficiently executed. There's no doubt, however, that this is a reflection on The Killers, 1964. Hell, there's even a shot of Stamp's reading matter, which includes a tome by Hemingway, although I couldn't quite make out if it was "Men Without Women", which would have clinched the allusion. Or was it "Death in the Afternoon" ?The real point is that both tales are about the man who does not fear death, because he is already dead. We know why Johnny North is already dead. But why is Terence? Is it because he has chosen to live a comfortable, but unproductive and solitary, apparently celibate life, with only a tyro minder looking after him? He spends his time reading books: anyone who does that to excess gets to thinking about life's meaning, and pondering on death, and what it is like to die. Shooting through, Blue, as the stockman put it.Terence reckons he has solved the riddle. Others have felt the same way. John Donne, for instance. That, Terence, is truly the right way to recite a poem. I salute you. JC noted that it was strange that men should fear, seeing that "death, a necessary end, will come when it will come". Bill put those words in his mouth, at any rate.The message gets to Hurt. He seems rather troubled, worn and weary. Stamp's attitude seems to be bothering him. What is the point of killing people ? They're going to die anyway. What exactly is gained by whacking Terence? In the end Hurt accepts, and that wink is a winner.There's another resemblance to The Killers, 64, and that's the highly dumb, and definitely annoying, trainee. Pain in the neck. He exits the scenery as simple collateral damage.What a terrific film this is ! Beautifully written, shot and acted ! I really liked that shot down the staircase, as the kidnappers break into Stamp's hideaway. The film is full of those lovely bits and pieces. Especially the pulchritudinous senorita, who is definitely not ready to go. I wasn't sure if she was inside or outside her first dress.I've also been looking at IMDb's top 250 list, and just don't get it. Only about 30% of those titles are any good at all. Brilliant work like this isn't on it. 7/10 is an intellectual disgrace. 10/10, and more, from me.

nomorefog *************************WARNING WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS**************************This film got talked about a lot when it was first released. Upfront it would be wise to mention the main actors, Terence Stamp (Willie Parker), John Hurt (Mr Braddock), and Tim Roth (Myron), simply because the three of them are exemplary and allowed to stretch in a character driven story which has been obviously well thought out and conceived. The characters are ostensibly criminals but 'The Hit' is more than just a 'crime film.'The opening scenes explain how the criminal Stamp has 'grassed' on his mates, and receives in return a villa in Spain for the term of his natural life. Zip! It's ten years later and Stamp is kidnapped by Hurt, an older and more experienced type and Roth, a young hot-head on his first assignment. Forced to face the ire of his enemies in the syndicate. Stamp is aware what his kidnappers are capable of, and what they will do to him sooner or later, as the 'sooner' extends from the beginning of the film and we eventually are transported to the 'later'. This kind of set-up would be almost a cliché in any other action film but 'The Hit' defies the rules of its genre by taking the viewer on a cerebral journey that has little to do with body counts, botched robberies or crashing cars. 'The Hit' takes the audience by surprise by easing up on the blood letting and instead engaging in a lot of dialogue which reveals the kidnappee's desire not to be eliminated and how he goes about prolonging what little time he may have left on the earth. This allows for a lot of philosophical discussion on the part of the kidnapped man, primarily concerning the meaning of life and death, in order to buy time for himself, and also to allow the audience to ruminate about the meaning of life along with him.Stamp, as the kidnapped criminal, reaches a calm acceptance of his fate, much to the chagrin of his assailants, who believe that if they were in his position, they would certainly consider their predicament differently. A Spanish woman (Laura del Sol) gets dragged along for the ride as the three men play a game of cat and mouse in which the audience is left in the dark as to why the assailants are not doing what they have actually been ordered to do. Terence Stamp gives an excellent performance as the criminal in a tight spot, and is a good foil for John Hurt and Tim Roth as the kidnappers who are the Hawkesian 'professionals' merely carrying out orders with no questions asked. They know what they are expected to do but are somewhat reluctant to do it and I believe this gives rise to the possibility of an existential interpretation of the film.. The characters exist in a state of perpetual hesitation: the kidnapped man has been living the last ten years as if his life has been on hold with perpetual protection, no job, and an empty apartment; the kidnappers become involved with the man they are holding and begin to see him as a human being and hence find it difficult to carry out their orders; the Australian and his girlfriend are attempting to have a life but this can never come to pass because of their past associations.. All the characters exist in a fatalistic universe that seems to have no time for them. Ironically, the only character comfortable in his own skin is Stamp, who, instead of using blazing guns to solve his dilemma, attempts to verbally connect with his assailants by showing in a number of effecting scenes, how much he wants to carry on living . This is very interesting and involving stuff for an audience desiring something more substantial from their entertainment. It's a good existential take on the usual modus operandi of these films which normally consist of little more than meaningless action and violence to get the punters to pay for admission. For that 'The Hit' deserves to stand out from the crowd, for all the best reasons, which thankfully, it does.

johnnyboyz I can't believe that this film had gone for so long without me knowing it was around. I'm a big fan of the crime/drama genre so when I stumbled across the fact it was going to be on some free to air digital channel at about one in the morning a couple of months ago, I thought I'd give it ago. In fact, I'd never heard of it before nor have I since. No one seems to know of it and it's a damn shame as this is a VERY underrated film, especially surprising given the fact John Hurt, Terrance Stamp and Tim Roth are in it.The film deals with human interaction between a 'grass' from ten years back, a rookie gangster and an old-time gangster in almost superior form to many other films. The fact it takes a 'road movie' approach gives us more time to develop with the characters, as well as the characters themselves to do a bit of bonding. What follows is some fascinating dialogue between the three (and between a young Spanish girl on a lesser extent) and some very interesting relations building up. The stone cold presence from Hurt, the silent but 'you know he's up to something' Stamp and the, almost, 'comic relief' character in the form of Tim Roth all combine in a truly mesmerising mixture of events. I was glued to the screen.The narrative also takes on a mysterious, almost multi-layered approach when talking about the police hot on their tail. The fact we never hear the detectives talk or any of the police communicate leaves us with a sense that we know what's going on but we're not actually there, almost as if the three male characters in the car are dreaming up the scenes themselves as to what MIGHT be happening at their last point of call if the police had yet arrived.The action and dialogue is well spaced, even though the script is great anyway, and you truly struggle to work out what might happen next. The disturbing way in which Stamp seems to say nothing at all yet communicates with Roth like he's known him for years twinned with the fact panic hits him like a train later on in the film and he suddenly becomes a chatter box is an amazing juxtaposition which really adds to the experience.Another attractive aspect of the film is the setting. This also acts as a juxtaposition as the beauty and heat that oozes from the screen really counterbalances the disturbing reality that Hurt and Roth's characters are there to 'get' Stamp and make him pay for his previous actions as well as the sadistic interior that makes up Hurt's character. You can't get too caught up in the setting which you only really see when the journey is being killed off, and you know that with every second that rushes by on the road; Stamp is apparently closer to his death - clever stuff.The film is simple. The narrative is easy, there aren't too many characters to deal with, there aren't too many on screen distractions (unless you count the girl) meaning you have more reasons to focus on EXACTLY what's going on and although the film looks a little aged, I can guarantee it's thoroughly enjoyable.