Hitman script to die for?

Source: Latino Review, a script-snooping site known for sneaking early peeks at some pretty big films. (WARNING: Review contains strong language and minor spoilers, some of which are repeated below.)

The official story: Attempts to contact 20th Century Fox representatives were unsuccessful as of press time.

What we heard: After posting reviews of scripts for Halo, Splinter Cell, and Spy Hunter, LatinoReview is back with a write-up of Hitman, as reimagined for the big screen by Skip Woods (Swordfish, Thursday). The write-up is light on spoilers or plot details but heavy on praise.

"Even though most video games movies have been downright corny, that is absolutely not the case here," writes LatinoReview's El Mayimbe, who also handled the site's other recent game-based script reviews. "Hitman stands on its own merits as a testosterone laced action-packed thriller, while being faithful to its video game origins. You don't even have to be a fan of the games to dig this."

Overall, El Mayimbe gave the script an A, calling it "overwhelmingly clever and intelligent." While LatinoReview was similarly taken with previous gaming scripts (and indeed, tends to stay near the top of the A to F rating scale), the site will pan turkeys from time to time. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was called boring and "a painful read," which translated into a C rating.

As for the actual plot of Hitman (here's where the spoilers come in), it seems Agent 47 botched a job in Russia, leaving a witness alive. But, when he goes back to finish the job, a dedicated Interpol agent named Michael Whittier gets on his trail and a cat-and-mouse game throughout Europe ensues.

Given the rewrites Hollywood scripts are often subjected to, there's no way to tell if the script LatinoReview saw will be in any way representative of what winds up on the big screen. For instance, the glowingly reviewed Halo script from 28 Days Later screenwriter Alex Garland is now in the hands of new scribe DB Weiss, according to a recent Game Set Watch interview with Weiss.

However, LatinoReview has a track record with enough hits on it (check out the Batman Begins script review) that it's a safe bet El Mayimbe's assessment is based on a legit draft. Whether or not it's any good is a matter of taste, and whether or not it's a draft that will resemble the end product in any way is equally up in the air.

Bogus or not bogus?: That LatinoReview saw a Hitman script and liked it? Not bogus.