Cool 'Hitman' Trailer, Not So Cool Hitman

Olyphant just doesn't seem mean

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Wednesday, June 27th 2007 at 11:13 AM

So, I just got home from Live Free or Die Hard, and while I whole-heartedly recommend you all go see it I will say that Timothy Olyphant just does not cut it as a villain. He isn't intimidating and he comes off weak and for those that have seen the new teaser trailer (featured below) for the feature film adaptation of the popular PlayStation 2 videogame Hitman Olyphant doesn't look menacing, scary or anything like a hitman. Basically it looks like the trend is continuing, but with Hitman it's Olyphant's gig and John McClane won't be around to save the film.

Now I have never seen HBO's "Deadwood," but based on all the commercials I have seen lately pumping the third season DVD he appears to play a bit of a bad ass, but with that big ol' cowboy hat and mustache hiding his boyish face, combined with the dirt and grime of the Wild West it isn't as hard to make a baby face look like a bad boy. Hitman is a different story as you can tell from the pic above… This guy is bald and only has his eyebrows to hide that pretty little face and it just doesn't look like it is going to play. I mean come on, does that mug to the right look all that scary? Yeah, it wasn't menacing in Live Free or Die Hard either.

Before Olyphant was announced as the man who would play Agent 47 in January of this year it was Vin Diesel that originally held the title, a choice that I think would have worked much better. Or how about Jason Statham? A name that is sure to come up over and over again until this movie hits theaters on October 12. Just check out the comparison pic I found online below.

I don't like to judge a film too harshly this early, but as cool as this trailer is in its tone and originality I just can't buy Olyphant as a hitman and the trailer didn't help.

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