Staring out at another gray winter’s morn, and musing that there will inevitably come another January that needs filling with boilerplate action movies, Fox has ordered a redo on its 2007 video game adaptation Hitman. Paul Walker will replace Timothy Olyphant as the genetically engineered, follicularly bereft assassin in this new version, titled Agent 47, a regime change that will no doubt upset devotees of the original, should those exist. Nevertheless, pressing restart could give Fox the opportunity to correct the first adaptation’s transforming of a moody, methodical game into an over-stylized shoot-'em-up, were it not once again using a script from Skip Woods.
Still, the role is unquestionably a real breakthrough for Fast And Furious star Walker, who will branch out from films in which he occasionally uses a gun while having a very short haircut, to films in which he frequently uses a gun while having an even shorter haircut. Should it prove a success relative to everyone’s lowered expectations, perhaps eventually Walker could star in films about a guy with an exposed brainpan who never stops shooting things. They could call it Skull Cap.