I recently posted about the Hitman movie adaptation and how it's friggin' awesome. To get a little more insight on this story as it relates to the video game I asked Mr Musacha a few questions:
Q - What is the basic storyline of Hitman and do you think the plot of the movie captured it well?
A - The Hitman games star Agent 47, a highly skilled assassin with a perfect record in the field. He was trained since childhood by a company called "The Agency", who have no specific national or political affiliations. Agent 47 doesn't make specific contact with The Agency itself (nobody knows where it's located), but rather gets his missions through a handler named Diana who talks to him via a network connection on his briefcase/laptop. The games usually follow a series of his missions, and there's often some overarching plot that he has to solve as well. For example, in Hitman: Blood Money, the Agency is under attack by a rival company called "The Franchise". Everyone in the Agency is wiped out except for 47 and Diana, so he has to determine who is controlling this new company and eliminate their top assassin.
I think they did a pretty good job of capturing the Hitman plot. The big difference is that 47 was genetically engineered from the DNA of five great killers in the games, and he was ultimately betrayed by the scientist that created him. In the movie, they were orphans and he was betrayed by his company. The change didn't bother me, since it would have taken a lot of dialogue to explain the soft-science in the game.
Q - What did you think of the casting?
A - Loved it...I thought that might have been one of the strongest parts of the movie. That Olyphant dude looks EXACTLY like 47, and they got the costumes right as well.
Q - Did Agent 47 behave in ways you would expect based on the game?
A- For the most part, yes. Agent 47 doesn't talk much in the games, but I concede that wouldn't work in the movie. They still managed to keep his dialogue minimal. The deadpan humor from the games is definitely present, and a big part of the games is stealing uniforms to infiltrate restricted access areas, which he does in the film.
Q - I felt his gadgets were underused in the movie. You got to look at them a lot but not actually see 47 using them. What type of gadgety mischief are you able to get up to in the game?
A - Gadgets (and guns) are a big part of the games. Though they didn't emphasize his gadgets in the movie, if you played the games and kept a sharp eye out during the movie you'd see a lot of familiar equipment. He uses the fiber wire to choke a guy out and the movie starts with him using a remote mine. He also uses some kind of knockout injection on Nika...you get knockout and poison syringes in the game. Most of the gadgets are used for either silently eliminating guards or for making assassinations look like an accident.
Q - Does a character like Nika exist in the game? If so, did she translate to the screen well?
A - Actually yes. In Hitman: Contracts, Agent 47 rescues a woman named Mei-Ling from a crime lord's brothel so he can get information about his target. He later ends up saving her from another brothel and she kisses him. But Nika was a much bigger part of the movie than Mei-Ling was in the game, and I thought it was a good change. If for no other reason, they needed a character that would be more naturally inclined to TALK!
Diana is also accurately portrayed in the movie as the woman who talks to him on the computer. And there's an obscure character named Agent Smith, a CIA agent who assists the Agency, who was also in the movie. [Mr M provided more info on Smith but it's spoilerish, highlight if you're still interested: He was the guy who does a "favor" for 47 by helping him escape at the end].
Additional comments?
Only that I really enjoyed both the movie and the game, so I'm pretty excited to get a crack at Hitman 5 when it comes to the Xbox 360.
Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions!
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