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In a summer where most of the blockbusters thus far have underperformed, Netflix secretly redeemed the season last week with one of the year’s best. The perpetually underappreciated Richard Linklater’s newest film,Hit Man, just hit the streaming service, and it’s simply one of the most wildly entertaining films in months. The movie is looselyinspired by the real-life escapadesof Gary Johnson, a college professor who secretly worked with law enforcement, posing as a hit man to elicit confessions from possible killers.
WithHit Man, Linklater pulls off a masterful tonal balance, delivering a laugh-out-loud-funny romantic comedy with a delightfully dark undercurrent, and helping is a bravura performance from Glen Powell, reminding everyonewhy his star keeps rising. In a sea of increasingly predictable blockbusters, part of what makes this a breath of fresh air is its unpredictability. At any one moment, you’re never quite sure where it’s going, and this is especially true for the shocking climax. Today, we’re taking a deep dive into the ending ofHit Manand its moral implications.
How Does Netflix’s Hit Man End?
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Gary Johnson’s fake hitman job starts getting complicated when he falls for his latest client, Madison (Adria Arjona, also fantastic), who wants to haveher abusive husband, Ray, killed. Wanting to keep her on the right track, Gary (under the persona “Ron”) urges her to restart her life. He then starts a relationship with her, but Ray quickly learns of their connection and starts planning to have Madison killed, accidentally exposing his plan to Gary after unknowingly contacting him as a hitman.
Gary warns Madison, who then kills Ray and makes it look like a drug deal gone wrong, and a panicked Gary accidentallyreveals his true identity to her upon discovering this. Meanwhile, fellow officer Jasper (Austin Amelio), the police department’s original “fake hitman” who was suspended from the job, starts to suspect Madison as the murderer, and out of suspicion of Gary’s connection with her, he forces him to use his “Ron” persona to trick a confession from her.
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While pretending to interrogate Madison, Gary secretly gives her acting cues from his phone so she can fool the cops into believing she’s innocent. It works for most of Gary’s team, but an undeterred Jasper stops by her house later that evening and learns the truth. Wanting his old job back, he tries to blackmail them in exchange for his silence. However, Madison secretly drugs his drink, causing him to pass out.
Realizing Madison will go to jail if caught drugging a cop, Gary fully commits to keeping his new love out of danger and, in an actstraight from a classic noir,suffocates an unconscious Jasperwith a plastic bag. Jasper has been a nuisance to the police department for years, he figures, and considering his reputation, no one will have any reason to suspect his death wasn’t a suicide.Their plan works, and the final scenes jump ahead several years, with a now happily married Gary and Madison telling their young kids the story about how they first met.
Gary’s Transformation in Hit Man
At first, Gary’s transformation into a murder accomplice seems abrupt, but upon reflecting on the rest of the film,it actually tracks perfectly. In the movie’s first sting operation, which sees Gary flawlessly channel a hitman persona with no prior preparation, his fellow officers are amazed at how much of a natural he is. This already hints that Gary might not be quite as mild-mannered as we first thought, and this is only further emphasized in a conversation with his ex-wife, which reveals that they separated because he struggled to have a normal relationship.
More importantly, the shocking ending (showcasing Linklater’s official"answer" to the state of modern cinema) perfectly demonstrates the themes withinHit Man, specifically the idea of personal transformation. When we first meet Gary, he clearly feels stuck in his boring life, which revolves around teaching classes and staying home alone with his cats. His new job as a fake hitman gives him a daily respite into a more exciting life and the chance to briefly try on different identities. Since his “customers” already have a preconceived notion of a hitman, he takes time to research their personal interests in advance and build each of his personas around their expectations.
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For better and worse,Madison proves to be the catalyst for the final stages of Gary’s personal transformation. His newfound love for her and frequent time spent in his “Ron” persona encourage him to start acting more confidently in his own life and to start standing up for himself. In fact, when “Ron” pulls a gun on Ray in an alleyway around the midpoint of the film, it’s arguably Gary acting in self-defense as much as “Ron.” Only helping matters is how Madison also sees Gary as a way to change her life for the better, as she doesn’t want to be defined by her abusive relationship with Ray.
This is fully illustrated in Gary’s speech to his students before their final exams. In his speech, he details how he used to think life was fixed and that people couldn’t change their fundamental nature. Now, he urges his students toembrace change and transformationand to take the identity they want for themselves. Does this mean that Gary and Madison’s marriage is smooth sailing from here on out? Of course not; a small beat in one of the final scenes shows Madison seemingly feeling guilty over how they’ve gotten off scot-free for their crimes. But it is what it is; for now, their personal transformations are complete. It’s a hugedeparture from the real-life story, but it fits Linklater’s film perfectly.
Hit Man Has a Brilliantly Dark Ending
For a film as constantly unpredictable asHit Man, its climax feels both shocking and inevitable. Gary and Madison are two fundamentally dark, messed-up people who happen to be perfect for one another, and their happy ending with a bitter aftertaste feels reminiscent of classic film noirs likeDouble Indemnity, which had similarly morally gray protagonists. Crafting an ending with this degree of tonal dexterity isn’t easy, but Linklater pulls it off near-flawlessly, and it helps makeHit Manone of the year’s best so far andmaybe Glen Powell’s best work to date.Hit Manis now available to stream onNetflix.
