The Hitman

The Hit-man (the annoying IMDb spell-check automatically corrects the correct spelling without the '-' to Hit-man) starts as Officer Cliff Garrett (Chuck Norris) & his partner Ronald 'Del' Delany (Michael Parks) are about to bust some drug smugglers when Del turns on Cliff & shoots him. Miracuously Cliff survives against all the odds, jump forward 3 Years Later in Seattle, Washington & after having recovered Cliff is angry. Having changed his name to Danny Grogan he manages to infiltrate the biggest drug dealer in Washington's gang as his hit-man, the guy this drug dealer named Marco Luganni (Al Waxman) turns to if he wants someone out of the way. Recently Andre Lacombe (Marcel Sabourin) the main drug dealer from Vancouver has started to move into Luganni's territory so he sends Grogan to deal with him, as the bullets fly & people start to get killed a gang of Iranian's lead by Grogan's ex-partner Del also joins the fun & Grogon senses his opportunity to bring down lots of bad guy's all at the same time... This American Canadian co-production was directed by Chuck's brother Aaron Norris & is quite frankly pretty poor stuff from start to finish. Although bearing the infamous Cannon Group logo The Hit-man was only distributed by them & had nothing to do with Golan or Globus despite the two Israeli producers often using Chuck Norris in their own films. The script by Galen Thompson is a really lifeless & dull affair about an undercover cop using two warring drug cartels against each other & then discovers the person who shot him is involved as well which leads to some personal revenge type motives. The Hit-man really is a very pedestrian & bland film, virtually nothing happens, there are a grand total of two fights (one in an Iranian bar & one at the very end), some utterly forgettable shoot outs where a few people are shot, one car gets blown up & another is crushed & that is it. There's far too much drama, personal angst & awful dialogue for The Hit-man to be enjoyable. There seems like huge sequences where literally next to nothing happens, seriously this is one of the most least action packed films I've seen recently. Then there's the embarrassing scenes with Chuck Norris trying to be kind & caring towards a young black kid (all the kid needs now is a bushy moustache), the scenes where he teaches the little kid karate are hilariously bad. I mean yeah, that's a great example to the kid isn't it? Fight violence with violence! The Hit-man is bad, very bad & it's not unintentionally funny enough to be entertaining either. Director Norris does alright & The Hit-man is competently made but it's so lifeless, bland & forgettable it's untrue. There is not one single memorable sequence in The Hit-man as far as I was concerned, I was throughly bored sitting there watching it. It's utterly predictable, there's not enough decent action & some of the sentimental drama stuff is really embarrassing as Chuck Norris actually tries to act (noooooooooooooooo!). We first Chuck in The Hit-man with a really bushy moustache but after he comes back from the dead he has a full beard & really long hair which just looks awful & very late 80's. He doesn't even get to beat many people up which is disappointing all by itself. The violence is tame although some scumbag drug dealing Iranian has both his legs blown off with by Chuck's shotgun. Nice, 'ave it! Technically the film is OK but functional at best, it's certainly not exciting & is so slow going it becomes a real chore to sit through. The acting is terrible, Norris can't & since there's not enough action for him to get stuck into it becomes very noticeable. The Hit-man is a really, really bland, dull & lifeless Chuck Norris action film with hardly any action in it. The film also seems to have a sentimental side as well which is just horrible & not fun to sit through. One of Chuck's worst & that's saying something, isn't it?

Chuck was losing it when he made this one. Flimed in Canada, and on a low budget with out a story, I ended up disliking this one. I like action films and found it hard to sit through this one. It had Al Waxman from CBCs King of what ever, and Bruno form the Beach Comers. Any over the age of 30 from Canada know this to be a bad cast. All they needed was Mollys reach. Sorta Spoiler! At least Bruno gets kill, but that does not save this film.

this is the story of a cop who has been undercover for 2 years,posing as a hit-man.Chuck Norris plays CliffGarret/Danny Grogan in the title role. Garret is his really name,while Grogan is his undercover identity.this movie is much darker than most Norris films.Chuck gets to focus more on his dramatic acting ability than martial arts(though there is a bit of that)and handles himself quite nicely.he is very credible in his portrayal of the icy killer.the score for the film is very appropriate and adds to the atmosphere.there are great performances all around,including Al Waxman as the head of one of the criminal factions and Grogan's boss,Bruno Gerusi as one of his underlings,and Michael Parks who plays Ronald "Del" Delany,a bitter enemy of Norris's character.Ken Pogue plays Detective chambers,Garret's Boss.the production values are very decent for this film.Most of the dialogue is well written.there is of course lots of violence in this one,as in most of Chuck's films.overall a very well made,entertaining film.a strong 7/10

Too bad Braddock didn't stay missing in action, otherwise we might have been spared this boring and slow movie. Assumed to be one of his better flicks (only because of the box) I've seen more emotion on the "Total Gym" infomercial. Apparently his mullet isn't the only bad thing following this honorary Texas ranger around town. Taking time out of his day killing people Norris teaches a bullied child how to stand up for himself. Too bad He didn't teach him how to withstand a brick of plastique explosive via Norris's foes. Sure he slaps a bigot around but isn't that sort cancelled out by his "you eat this sh**?" remark about Middle Eastern food. *Note to self* Help elderly woman across street, then head to nearest Italian restaurant, pour tomato sauce over patron's head and proceed to ask him if the same sauce flows through his veins? Keep that thumb flexed and ready 'cause you'll be hitting FF more than once. Norris walking from point A to point B is boring, especially when it lasts 10 minutes. Going to watch 'Hitman'? Keep the phone line free 'cause after hitting the 'time remaining' button for 11th time you'll wish you had placed a hit on yourself

Chuck's character in this go-round is an undercover cop who was supposed to have been killed by his corrupt ex-partner (Michael Parks). But, his cover (a hitter for the Italian mob in Seattle) is so deep he actively is whacking French-Canadian thugs and a new Iranian threat while trying to put away the people he works for. The twist is that Chuck's near-death experience gives his character an odd perspective on death. He's actually become less serious, more sensitive than his life as a cop. The few funny moments may not make up for it not being a great film but they're there. Example - Chuck arrives in Vancouver to discuss a potential truce. After having his handgun taken from him, Chuck knocks a thug on his ass and the guy is looking down a double-barrel, over-and-under shotgun. Chuck quips, "You missed one."

Chuck Norris stars as a police officer who goes undercover to take out mobsters who are warring over the drug market. They include Middle Eastern mobsters, typical Itallian mobsters and Candian(!) mobsters who all declare war on each other, which then of course causes Norris to wipe out all three of the families and settle a score with Michael Parks(The best thing about this movie.) If anything else The Hit-man is a one man show, with Norris trumping anyone who really gets in his way. Back in 1991 I remember catching this in a triple-bill with Showdown In Little Tokyo and Out For Justice, to which in comparison to each movie The Hit-man lacked the edge of Out For Justice and the inspired action of Showdown In Little Tokyo. Also Lundgren, Seagal and Lee seemed far more agile and charismatic than Norris ever did in this film. Indeed had Seagal done this movie instead of Norris and I mean back in his heyday, Seagal would have provided enough edge to really get into this clichéd nonsense. Because we know Norris is always righter than right, we never feel as if he's facing a grave danger and is falling under the spell of evil. Norris is as always Norris and although the action sequences are okay, they are uneventful and the real plus comes only from watching Michael Parks overact. In fact his scenery chewing performance somehow makes the movie come to life which is not often enough unfortunately. *1/2 out of 4-(Poor)

Chuck Norris has made some good films (invasion USA)and some bad films (force of one)most of his films are good on action and The Hit-man is no exception.chuck plays cliff garret a cop who goes undercover as a hit-man for the mafia and takes on the Persian mob.whilst undercover cliff becomes friends with a young black kid who is getting bullied by a gang of kids so cliff takes him under his wing and teaches him self defence.what The Hit-man lacks in story it makes up in action. the only sidekick chuck has in this film is his unique sawn off shotgun and an incredible martial arts skill.Hit-man is quite a rare film so when i saw it was on telly i quickly recorded it on video and i am glad i did. chuck does an okay performance probably the best we can get from him and the actor and actress in the film are okay to. to end the review i will just say the Hit-man is not the best film ever but it is certainly fun to watch 7 out of 10.

This is a damn good Chuck Norris movie. Of course that doesn't make it a movie you could recommend to just anyone as "good," but if you look at it as part of its own sub-genre--say the Chuck Norris/Jean Claude Van Damme/Stephen Segal sub-genre--then it is pretty damn good in comparison. And I had never heard of it before today! The story leaves much to be desired, but this is the kind of low-budget action movie they just don't make any more: slick and goofy, crass and sentimental, moral and ultraviolent, "funny bad" and just plain funny--all at the same time. But the standout feature is definitely the great Michael Parks. Just as he did in the similarly obscure Charles Bronson flick "Death Wish V: The Face of Death," and in his "From Dusk Until Dawn" cameo, Parks takes charge of every scene he's in and simply walks away with the movie. Why hasn't this brilliant actor been given leading roles? He has been so fascinating to watch in everything I've seen him, especially in his later years.

Trailer—The Hitman