Saying that you enjoy watching the film "Hitman" is like admitting to an affinity for consuming spicy chicken wings while chain smoking. Or dating acne-ridden criminals on parole. To say that "Hitman" is bad is way off the mark; it's worthier of adjectives like "god-awful" and "puke-provoking." The truth is that "Hitman" is so disgusting it's good. You just don't want to admit it.
When a movie's this crammed with gratuitous violence, nudity, and slop-pails of profanity, when it's actually a remake of a famed video game (same title), it's best to keep such preferences to yourself, dinner invitations-wise.
Before this fiendish vehicle, director Xavier Gens' last foray was an unpalatable porn-torture picture called "Frontiere(s)." With "Hitman," Gens appears to be comfortably ensconced in his groove. Between him and screenwriter Skip Woods, they have a glorious time flushing things like consistency, coherency and other humdrum cinematic considerations straight down the toilet. What remains is a lot of blood and gore in the foreground; gray, mildewy Russian cityscapes in the background; and nothing much connecting anything in between. But then again, this is based on a video game, a media that scorns narrative concerns, so let's not get too fussy.