Wonderful Movie

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Admirable film.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I didn't like the movie much, especially because I didn't buy the moral and religious evolution of one of the protagonists. (Excuse me for being vague, but I'm trying to avoid at least the most blatant of spoilers.) One of the protagonists starts out an egregiously violent, cruel, rage-filled man, and then works his way to the light, sustained by a belief in God and God's forgiveness. Such radical transformations happen : for instance, there are hagiographies telling of pimps, robber barons or assassins turning into truly good men and dying as saints. However, such radical transformations tend to be very, very rare (which is the reason why they fire the imagination and turn into hagiographies). Moreover, one would hope that the people who do go through a genuine conversion a) would know and recognize the full horror of their misdeeds and b) would try to make amends, especially to the innocents they hurt the most. In this movie, however, there is very little to indicate that the man who bettered his life tried to repair the awful wreckage he left behind - which is a problem, since the movie insists that he does indeed have a full grasp of his obligations before God and man. He has become good, he has achieved wisdom and he realizes he has to help a certain someone, but he doesn't do so, because... ? Because ? If there is a "because" I certainly didn't get it. So this isn't a very good film, although it contains a sprinkling of valid observations, here and there, on sin, human fallibility and redemption. Sutherland and Hurt give insightful and compelling performances, but even they can't iron out the flaws in the story. For people interested in Roman-Catholic teachings or in the Roman- Catholic sacrament of confession : leave the movie be and go talk with a Roman-Catholic neighbor or colleague. Or look up a Roman-Catholic priest. Your discussion would be interactive, you might make a friend AND there is a sporting chance of getting offered a nice pint of beer.

Why was this film overlooked? I had thought everyone in Hollywood was asleep until I learnt that the film had originally been released as a webisode series and then went straight to DVD. What a shame! This is one of the most powerful films I've watched in decades. It provokes, it challenges, it stirs the emotions -- and 95% of the film is held together with dialogue by two men sitting in a confessional. I watched it twice in one day. The script - the acting - the way the plot is developed - they are flawless, in my opinion, and worthy of any award. Kiefer Sutherland is perfectly cast as the assassin - reaching out for answers. And it's hard not to empathise with him, once you learn of his background and his obvious pain. John Hurt is brilliantly cast as the embattled priest. He has that weather-beaten face that tells a thousand stories.Another thing that puzzles me is why the two lead stars of this movie are not given top billing credit - which went to 3 bit- part roles? Something's crook in Tobruk, as they say in my country!! Much credit to all the actors - this is a film I cannot fault, and writer-director Brad Mirman is one name I'll be following with interest in future.

Five stars just for the good plot twist. Oh, and for Sean Callery soul, I mean: sound.But to put both shooting fiction and religious fiction together is a problem, because for shooting actors need not to handle guns upside down to make the shooting obviously fictitious, but they need to do it with religious behavior to make it fictitious.And even some catholics will not grasp it, because the church is real, the confession spot is real, the vestment is real, and all the secondary doctrinal stuff are real. JUST what is really central, the real core of Christianism it put upside down, if not just OUT.So, watched the film and still need to know what? Ask ANY father, because not ONE of them would miss it is and behave like that, even if such kind of plot was real - because it not rarely IS.

Its a great thing, Hit-man and a Priest is a great combination of contemporary English literature, Robert Ludlum used this kind of theme in Bourne Series novels. Then Dan Brown also attempted something and there must be many more that I didn't get my hands on. Anyhow, this kind of series is a dream series for people of my generation, and it is very well written and well acted. Kiefer Sutherland is as perfectly cold as an assassin is supposed to be, he is amazing, it is just very cruel of the producers that they are making it so short, if they make it to proper length this series can beat the hell out of all the great shows, in fact after Dexter this is the first time that I really want to see something and wish it not to end.Hats off to Kiefer Sutherland.