The Scorecard Review news
News: Fast & Furious 6 star Paul Walker is set to replace Timothy Olyphant in the upcoming reboot of Hitman. Source: Deadline
Thoughts by TSR: Well, this sure is a significant downgrade. It isn’t even that Timothy Olyphant’s Hitman was good. It’s just that Paul Walker lacks the presence of Olyphant. To be honest, it doesn’t really matter. Despite the “Hitman” franchise being one series of video games I’ve actually spent a good deal of time playing, I have no reason to be excited about this. There are very few people I could picture playing the genetically engineered assassin with a barcode on the back of his head – Jason Statham has seemed like the obvious name since day one – and Paul Walker certainly isn’t on the list. (Fun fact: at one point, Vin Diesel was going to play Agent 47 in 2007’s Hitman. That would have been something to behold.)
As Deadline tells us, Agent 47 will be directed by commercials director Aleksander Bach. This will be his first feature, and he’ll be dealing with a script from Skip Woods (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, A Good Day to Die Hard) and Michael Finch. Woods also wrote the screenplay for Hitman, so none of these names have me optimistic. The thing will shoot in Berlin and Singapore once Walker shaves his head and finishes the press tour for Fast & Furious 6. I don’t hate the actor, but this seems like a misguided idea all around. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go have nightmares about Paul Walker playing Raylan Givens on FX’s “Justified.”