THE HIT LIST
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Year: 2011
Rated: R
Film Length: 1 hour, 31 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1080p High Definition Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French(Parisian) DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish, French
Release Date: May 10, 2011
The Movie
The Hit List has an interesting premise: imagine if you had a hit list of 5 people who you wanted dead and a hit man standing ready to act on the list. Allan Campbell (Cole Hauser) is a nebbish accustomed to being walked all over by friends, family, and work colleagues. Allan goes to a bar to drown his sorrows and meets Jonas (Cuba Gooding, Jr.). After they pound back more than a few drinks together, Jonas confides to Allan that he is a professional hitman. Allan is not inebriated enough to believe this claim so Jonas tells Allan to make a list of 5 people whom he wishes were dead. Allan plays along and writes out his "hit list." After he awakens with a hangover, Allan discovers that people on his hit list are being murdered by the hit man, and Allan is the prime suspect.
The only way this setup makes any sense is if Jonas is mentally unstable, since professional killers normally have a profit motive before they give away freebies. Thankfully, there is a twisted logic at work for the hit man to act as he does, although suspension of disbelief is still necessary to enjoy this film. The Hit List meets the criteria of a decent popcorn film: plenty of gunplay and explosions and a plot that makes more sense if you think less about it rather than dwelling on the screenplay’s implausibilities. Hauser and Gooding play their respective roles well, and Jonathan LaPaglia (The District) stands out as the homicide investigator trying to find the truth.
Does Allan have a moral obligation to stop the hit man after he inadvertently set him up for his kills? Does Allan have a legal obligation to stop the hit man? Exploration of these questions in the screenplay might have added some small element of substance to The Hit Man and made the audience more likely to forgive some of the logical incongruities of the film. Unfortunately, the opportunity to explore this question is ignored and what we are left with is a series of action set pieces as Jonas hunts down the victims one by one while Allan tries his best to stop the hit man.
Video
The movie is in 1080p high definition in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Aside from very minimal compression artifacts, this is an average Blu-ray transfer. Minor grain is present with excellent blacks and fine shadow detail. DNR is evident on this transfer but has not been applied excessively.
Audio
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks are adequately employed for immersive effect. Dialogue originates almost exclusively in the front channels with rear speakers primarily for gunshots, explosions, and ambient sounds. This may not be reference quality audio but neither does it suffer from any perceptible flaws.
Special Features
The special features are limited to trailers and BD Live accessible features.
Trailers appear by default after the disc is loaded and prior to the main menu. These trailers are also accessible in the Special Features menu:
Sony Blu-ray (1:19)
Sniper Reloaded (1:47)
The Mechanic (0:58)
Quarantine 2: Terminal(1:37)
SWAT Firefight(1:55)
Justified(2:04)
Conclusion
The Hit List is an average action film that squanders its interesting premise. Video quality is not exceptional and the audio is in the average range as well. Special features are limited to trailers for other films. The Hit List is a decent popcorn flick that will not disappoint you so long as you do not expect too much from it.
