Simply Perfect

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

A Masterpiece!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Cliff Garret (Norris) is a no-nonsense cop. When his former partner, Delaney (Parks) tries to kill him because Delaney is actually evil, he thinks he can go on with his criminal life. But what Delaney didn't count on is that Garret is too tough to die, and he survives. Three years after the incident, Garret is now known by the name Grogan and is working undercover in the mob. Sure, his mullet is a little longer and he wears a bolo tie now, but he's still the same guy - the type of guy that hates criminal scum. So he cleverly sets the Italian, French and Iranian gangs against each other. In the midst of all this violence, he takes a young boy under his wing. At first he helps Timmy (Grant) build model airplanes, but at the slightest mention, Garret starts teaching him Martial Arts so he can take on the local bully. So he has a sensitive side, but when Delaney comes calling once again, he'll be put to the ultimate test. Will he survive? The Hit-man is one of the better Chucks we've seen to date. It's not boring and stodgy like a lot of his other work. It has a nice pace, some classic early-90's political incorrectness, good action scenes, and Chuck has plenty of winning one-liners. Michael Parks is also great as the baddie. He makes a perfect foil for Chuck, just as he did for Charles Bronson in Death Wish V: The Face of Death (1994). There are some great "hero shots" of Chuck as he triumphantly appears, looming large on your TV. His long red hair may make you think he looks like a male version of Wendy (from Wendy's), but you'll be rooting for Chuck all the way here.A fun thing to do while watching a Chuck movie is, during a dialogue scene while the person who is not Chuck Norris is speaking, keep your eyes trained on Chuck when he's not talking. His "listening" or "reacting" facial expressions are priceless. That aside, both he and Parks go line-for-line in the dialogue department, and you know Chuck is serious when he wears his bolo-less bolo tie. Yes, he somehow invented a way to wear a bolo tie with no actual bolo. Now that's innovation. But you know he's a sensitive guy at heart because he builds model airplanes and goes to the aquarium and gives facts about dolphins (although he should know better than to tap the glass...even when he's trying to be sensitive he can't help being a little bit aggressive).Another thing we liked about the movie was the jazzy, downbeat musical score. That and the dark cinematography seem to indicate that this a serious, adult Chuck movie for the 90's, not any kid stuff. We certainly appreciated that, and the violence (including the time-honored Final Factory Fight) would underline that even more. It would appear to contradict the new "PG-13 Crusader" that Chuck has become in recent years. Anyway...Marco Luganni (Waxman) is the head of the Italian mobsters, and he commands what we dubbed the "Beard Patrol" because it seems all his consiglieri are beardos. Is that a requirement for being in the Luganni gang? Also we noted the movie was ahead of its time, as two of its principal concerns are bullying and Iranians, two things heavily in the news today. Just call him Norristradamus.The Hit-man is an entertaining and audience-pleasing movie, completely in keeping with the action product of the early 90's. In other words, it's totally worth seeing.

This movie doesn't stand out all that much. The only reason I watched it was because I thought that it might be interesting, and though the action was good, there was nothing to make it stand out above and beyond other movies.Basically Chuck Norris is a cop who is betrayed by his friend and shot. He manages to survive but his commander makes him an undercover agent, says that he is still dead, and sends Chuck off. Chuck gets a job as a thug for a mafia boss who is having trouble with the French up north and Iranians moving in onto his territory. After numerous battles, Chuck discovers that his old partner is the boss of the Iranians, and blows him up.As I said, nothing outstanding. In fact it becomes somewhat lame when the thug Chuck takes a small boy into his care whose mother is working three jobs to look after him. He teaches the boy to fight and beats up the bullies' dad, and then gives the boy and his mother a lot of money.All in all, this is a typical dry American action movies where the good guy is too good and the bad guys simply fade away into nothingness.

Just out of Soviet fear and the Cold War we were in 1992. Modern American cowboy films had to invent another enemy. Simple recipe: Italian mafia, French mafia, and Iranian mafia, all three together. And there you are. The only place possible is Seattle and Vancouver. The Italians are in Seattle. The French (Canadians) are in Vancouver. And the Iranians are invading with the help of a rotten ex-cop turned drug-lordlet. All that is by far too much and too many. So many will have to be eliminated. What's more there is the ghost of an officially dead cop playing the double agent, and he was officially killed by the rotten ex-cop turned drug-lordlet. And the ghost will finally meet face to face with this drug-lordlet and the latter will be turned into mid-air minced meat, after the three other gangs had mutually been eliminated one after the other by one of the others. The ghost only came for the last harvest of cadavers. It is strange how these modern time cowboy films are little creative. It is all defined within the limits of a shooting posture and a noisy exchange of bullets.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

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