Hitman: Agent 47 review – an idiotic mess with gory flair

The story is baffling, the characters disappointing and the twists anticlimactic, but this video game adaptation has violent energy

There's probably a more effective way of killing people, but extending both arms perpendicular to your chest as you spin and shoot handguns is certainly a photogenic method. With any luck, your long coat will billow, adding the right touch of panache. The emotionless assassin played by Rupert Friend at the heart of Aleksander Bach's Hitman: Agent 47 uses this move a number of times, like a dancer proudly pirouetting or a jazz drummer returning to a specific fill he's perfected.

This vaguely science-fiction action picture based on a video game (and not a sequel to 2007's Hitman) is an idiotic mess with a bafflingly dense prologue, an endless final battle, lifeless performances and anticlimactic twists, but it does have a degree of visual flair. When the characters finally shut up and get to shooting, one must give credit to the creativity of the kills. Heads pop like ripe grapes, bodies flail as they are sucked into jet engines and arteries spray all over white staircases. While there's zero to recommend about this film regarding its story or dialogue, it's worth appreciating that it all seems very well rehearsed.