Netflix’s Hit Man (2024), the new Richard Linklater movie, gets to a totally unexpected ending after setting up that wild premise. Glen Powell stars as Gary Johnson, a pretend hitman who gets tangled and head-over-heels in love with a potential client played by Adria Arjona. Things take a turn for the worse, and Linklater churns the premise’s role-playing sexiness to bring home a strangely messed up idea of identity and second chances onto the table. If you, like me, were completely engrossed in the movie, especially with Glen Powell’s powerful turn playing multiple larger-than-life characters within the movie’s world, then you would be interested in this article that will take an in-depth look at the movie.
Please be aware that the post contains spoilers for Hit Man (2024). Proceed with caution.
Hit Man (2024) ‘Netflix’ Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Loosely adapted from the life of a real undercover investigator named Gary Johnson, played by Glen Powell in the movie, the film introduces us to the boring, single protagonist’s life. He teaches pyschology and philosophy at a college and lives a mostly timid life without much in the name of social interaction with his two cats – Id and Ego.
On the side, he also works as the tech guy for the NOPD (New Orleans Police Department), managing all the cameras and wires that the department uses to trap people who want to or wish to hire a hitman in order to get someone killed.
When Jasper (Austin Amelio), the usual stand-in cop who plays the hitman for the entrapment, is suspended for beating up some teenagers, Gary has to step in. Within seconds, we see the geeky, timid Gary turn into a faux hitman, and his act is a huge hit, not only among his peers but also the one that he brings in for hiring him. He is an absolute natural, and as time passes, he starts enjoying this job, which allows him to have different personalities based on the clients that he is about to hire.
Gary spends his time researching the client and dons a character that would fit into the entire act. When we meet his ex-wife Alicia (Molly Bernard), who also happens to be his best friend even after the divorce, we see that Gary is not just scared of change, but he thinks that it isn’t possible. I think his little interaction with Alicia prompts him to apply it to be suave and cool in real life, and the many characters he plays as the hitman slowly start to seep into his real personality.
Initially, Linklater uses this story of a Hitman to play in a narrative about change and identity. Can we really be the same person throughout our lives? Is it possible to change and yet be the same person within?
Gary (Ron) meets Madison, and sparks fly:
The real shape-shifting happens when Gary is supposed to meet Madison (Adria Arjona). He goes through her social profiles and comes up with a character named Ron – the hitman who she would essentially hire to get her husband killed. When the two of them meet, you can see that there are just too many sparks there to dismiss this as a one-off interaction. The viewers know it, Gary knows it, even Ron and Madison know it. So, instead of tricking her, he tells her not to do it and instead leave him for a new life on her own. The department, and more importantly, Jasper, is not happy with Gary suddenly growing a conscience and giving life-coach-like ideas to potential offenders, but they let it slip as a one-off.
However, Gary is not able to let it slip just yet. When Madison texts him out of nowhere, he decides to be Ron one more time for the sake of taking the leap of changing as his ex-wife had suggested. Being Ron, who is a cooler version of who Gary is, makes him feel alive. Madison, on the other hand, is just enamored by how a hitman with a strict professional ethic could love dogs and children alike. Additionally, their chemistry is off the charts as they engage in sexy role-play that is almost irresistible, even for someone like me watching it from a distance.
The kink here is both of them agree not to disclose their personal lives beyond the apartment that Madison now rents. So, inside that apartment, both of them are different creatures altogether. Much like Gary’s lectures, the experiment of making slight changes to one’s personality inadvertently starts to look into his real one as well. It’s reminiscent of his lectures on Id and Supego – Freudian theories that seemed like mere theories to the professor until he got the chance to act on them. The transition between his personalities is believable because Glen Powell is so good, and Gary, as a nerd who knows who he is – has been written with a flair of understanding.
Now, the real conflict here lies in Jasper’s jealousy. The man, who had been suspended, wants his job back, so on the surface, he acts like he doesn’t care, but he is carefully tracking both Gary and Madison. He happens to track them together on the night when Gary and Madison are out dancing, and Madison’s husband, Ray (Evan Holtzman), tries to interfere with what she is doing. Gary (who is Ron for now) pulls out his gun on Ray, which further pisses him off.
Why does Madison kill Ray?
This only results in Ray deciding to hire a hitman himself. The hitman he wants to hire happens to be Gary.
When the unit sets up shop outside the diner where Gary is supposed to have a meet with Ray and catch him red-handed, Gary cleverly intimidates him. However, he also gets worried that Ray might actually kill Madison. With that in mind, he rushes to tell her about it, wishing for her to leave the place. However, Madison convinces him that Ray won’t be able to find her because she will make sure she takes care of it. While he is still getting to know her, he doesn’t really know the heights she would go to get rid of him.
So, Madison kills Ray, and now, the NOPD wants Gary to get a confession out of her by setting up another meeting with his infamous Ron. They think that Madison did the killing because of a big insurance policy Ray had bought in Madison’s name. However, by this time, Gary has completely transitioned into a new personality that loves Madison head over heels. He also knows that she feels the same way about him. So, as bad as the whole thing sounds morally, he is clever to use their role-playing technique to fool the police, who send him into her house with a wire.
Hit Man (2024) ‘Netflix’ Movie Ending, Explained:
Do Madison and Gary get away with Murder?
Even though he knows Madison has killed Ray, Gary is able to save her from being convicted for it. However, not everything goes according to plan. Jasper, who has been doubting all of this from the very start, shows up on Madison’s doorstep, and when Gary comes back to the apartment tip-toeing, he catches the two of them being the culprits red-handed. He proposes that the two of them either confess and get to jail, which will help him get his job back, or give him the money from Madison’s insurance policy claim. Both Madison and Gary seem to be in a fix, but I guess Jasper took what Madison is capable of quite lightly.
The ending of Hit Man (2024) shows us that Madison drugs Jasper’s beer, which makes him unconscious. Now, since the two have become more than lovers, killers, and accomplices, Gary decides to finally get his hands dirty. He puts a plastic back on Jasper’s face, essentially cutting off his oxygen intake and killing him.
The film’s conclusion finds Gary completely transitioning into a better version of himself, giving a lecture to his students before their final exams. The experiment worked because he showed dedication, and the result is a beautiful life he now has with Madison and his two kids—a boy and a girl.
Read More: Everything Coming to Netflix in June 2024
Hit Man (2024) ‘Netflix’ Movie Trailer
