Hit Man: All the Famous Killer Easter Eggs in New Glen Powell Movie

This article contains spoilers for Hit Man. “People are disappointed when they learn that hit men don’t really exist,” explains Gary Johnson. That might be a surprising statement given that it occurs early on in a movie called Hit Man. Throughout the film, Gary (Glen Powell) dons different disguises to meet with people who want […]

The post Hit Man: All the Famous Killer Easter Eggs in New Glen Powell Movie appeared first on Den of Geek.

This article contains spoilers for Hit Man.

“People are disappointed when they learn that hit men don’t really exist,” explains Gary Johnson. That might be a surprising statement given that it occurs early on in a movie called Hit Man. Throughout the film, Gary (Glen Powell) dons different disguises to meet with people who want to pay him money (or video games or boats) to kill people. But then again, it’s all a ruse, a police sting operation that mild-mannered teacher Gary does as a side gig.

As Gary explains, his job is to become the type of hitman that potential criminals imagine exists, so that he can embody that look and lure them into a state of safety. As smart as Gary certainly is, he doesn’t create these identities out of nothing. Rather he’s riffing on hired killers from pop culture history, which gives Powell a chance to have fun playing different characters and gives director Richard Linklater the opportunity to riff on other genres.

Craig

Gary gets thrown into the job when the usual decoy Jasper (Austin Amelio) gets pulled off duty, so he doesn’t have a lot of time to prepare Billy, the “killer” who meets with Craig (Mike Markoff). Thus Billy doesn’t have an elaborate costume or accent. Instead he just has attitude and professionalism. Billy is the standard issue, generic hit man, the type of guy that’s been a pop culture staple from Alain Delon steely-eyed loner in Le Samouraï (1967) to John Wick. He’s professional, he’s to the point, and he has no concern for emotion. It might feel a bit obvious, but Billy did enough to fool Craig.

Walt Feels Taken

We don’t see much of Gary’s interaction with Walt (Bryant Carroll), the typical “Back the Blue” supporter who wants to break the law, nor do we get a name for that killer. However, as Gary scrolls through his well-populated Facebook page, we hear Walt’s message. Walt gives Gary the signal phrase to let him know he wants an assassin: “Sounds like you got a particular set of skills or whatnot.” “A particular set of skills” comes from Liam Neeson‘s CIA agent in Taken from 2008. He delivers the line after scary foreigners kidnap his daughter (not the greatest politics on this one), who pick up the cell phone that she dropped. Gary doesn’t adopt Neeson’s lingering brogue, nor does he even remove his glasses for the part. But the dark coat he dons while meeting Walt does at least suggest Neeson’s elder killer.

Isaac and a Tarantino Wannabe

Hoping to build some buzz for his upcoming album, the rapper Isaac (Martin Bradford) engages a hit man to kill his rival Rob49. To meet Isaac’s expectations, Gary stains his teeth and cops a Boston accent. There’s no one clear source to Gary’s get-up for Isaac. Rather he’s the descendent of the edgy crime movies that flooded theaters and video stores after Pulp Fiction in 1994. There’s a little bit of Gary Oldman‘s Drexl from True Romance there (which is pre-Pulp Fiction, but still), a lot of central d