Hitman: Agent 47 appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The Blu-ray replicated the source well.
Sharpness seemed strong. Only minor instances of softness materialized, as the movie usually seemed concise and accurate. Shimmering and jagged edges remained absent, and I witnessed no edge haloes. Print flaws failed to appear, so this was a clean presentation.
Orange and teal dominated the palette, but not to an oppressive degree. The colors were fine within their stylistic restraints. Blacks looked deep and taut, and shadows showed good clarity; low-light shots could be a bit dense but they were more than acceptable. This turned into a pleasing transfer.
No complaints accompanied the good DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtrack of Hitman. With plenty of action, the soundscape often opened up in a dynamic manner and used all the channels to positive advantage. Various vehicles zoomed around the room and guns peppered the soundscape to solid effect. The soundfield added to the experience.
No real issues with audio quality emerged. A couple of louder lines showed mild edginess, but the vast majority of the speech remained natural and distinctive. Music was bold and dynamic, and effects killed. Those elements were expressive and impactful, as they showed fine definition and power. While not one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard, this was a very good mix.
A running feature, the Hit Counter comes alongside the movie. It displays Agent 47’s “hits” as well as storyboards, concept art, pre-vis footage and facts/trivia related to the video games. Some decent information emerges, but the elements fill so much of the screen that it becomes tough to activate the “Hit Counter” and watch the film at the same time.
Three Deleted Scenes fill a total of four minutes, three seconds. We find “Fabian Hanging” (1:52), “Warehouse” (1:15) and “Construction Fight” (0:56). These don’t add much, though the last two give us a little more action.
A few featurettes follow. Reimagining Hitman lasts six minutes, two seconds and offers info from producer Adrian Askarieh, director Aleksander Bach, and actors Rupert Friend, Hannah Ware, Zachary Quinto and Ciaran Hinds. “Reimagining” looks at the video games and their adaptation to the big screen, cast and performances, and story/character areas. A few minor insights emerge, but the show usually remains superficial.
During the six-minute, 54-second Ultimate Action: Staging the Fights, we hear from
Friend, Ware, Bach, Quinto, Askarieh, stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio, and fight coordinator Jon Valera. We learn about stunts and action. Again, a smattering of useful details pop up here, but the overall impact seems fluffy.
Five Promotional Featurettes take up a total of six minutes, 28 seconds. We get “Around the World” (1:36), “Ultimate Hitman” (1:06), “Who Is John Smith” (1:26), “Creating Katia Van Dees” (1:07) and “Iconic” (1:13). Across these, we get comments from Bach, Askarieh, Friend, Ware, Quinto, Valera, and producer Alex Young. These look at locations, story and characters, cast and performances. As stated by the title, these remain promotional pieces with little substance.
Next we find a Comic Book. This comes as a still frame format and shows a prologue to the film’s story, which makes it useful.
Making of the Comic Book lasts a mere one minute, 49 seconds. It features Askarieh, Boom! Studios’ Stephen Christy, and comic writer FJ DeSanto. This offers a smattering of thoughts about the Blu-ray’s comic but it’s too short to tell us much.
Two Galleries appear. A “Stills Gallery” delivers 12 photos from the film, while a “Poster Gallery” offers 12 ad ideas for the film. The former is a snoozer, but the latter shows some interesting concepts.
The disc opens with ads for The Revenant, The Martian and SPECTRE. Sneak Peek adds promos for The Strain Season 2, Homeland Season 4, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and The Transporter: Refueled. We also get trailers for Hitman.
The package also contains a printed comic book. This duplicates the comic found on the Blu-ray itself.
With many elements borrowed from other films, Hitman: Agent 47 never creates its own identity. It also fails to deliver excitement, as it presents a generic, lackluster action tale. The Blu-ray brings us very good picture and audio as well as a mostly superficial collection of supplements. Maybe a third Hitman movie will succeed, but Agent 47 fails to stand out from the crowd.