I have a feeling most of these rave reviews came from men. I'm not a man.Despite my absolute adoration for the gorgeous Terrence Stamp (who looks fabulous in this film), my respect for the wonderful John Hurt as an actor, and my admiration for Stephen Frears as a director, "The Hit" was not a hit with me.I found this gangster road trip slow and not very interesting. The best scenes for me were in the beginning when Stamp testifies against his cronies and they sing "Someday we'll Meet Again." After that, for this viewer, it was downhill.It felt much longer than one hour and 38 minutes.Lest anyone call me an idiot, I think that everyone is entitled to an opinion, and if you got something out of this film and saw things to enjoy, I think that's great. I wish I had. But everything isn't for everybody, and "The Hit" just wasn't for me.

*************************WARNING WARNING CONTAINS SPOILERS**************************This film got talked about a lot when it was first released. Upfront it would be wise to mention the main actors, Terence Stamp (Willie Parker), John Hurt (Mr Braddock), and Tim Roth (Myron), simply because the three of them are exemplary and allowed to stretch in a character driven story which has been obviously well thought out and conceived. The characters are ostensibly criminals but 'The Hit' is more than just a 'crime film.'The opening scenes explain how the criminal Stamp has 'grassed' on his mates, and receives in return a villa in Spain for the term of his natural life. Zip! It's ten years later and Stamp is kidnapped by Hurt, an older and more experienced type and Roth, a young hot-head on his first assignment. Forced to face the ire of his enemies in the syndicate. Stamp is aware what his kidnappers are capable of, and what they will do to him sooner or later, as the 'sooner' extends from the beginning of the film and we eventually are transported to the 'later'. This kind of set-up would be almost a cliché in any other action film but 'The Hit' defies the rules of its genre by taking the viewer on a cerebral journey that has little to do with body counts, botched robberies or crashing cars. 'The Hit' takes the audience by surprise by easing up on the blood letting and instead engaging in a lot of dialogue which reveals the kidnappee's desire not to be eliminated and how he goes about prolonging what little time he may have left on the earth. This allows for a lot of philosophical discussion on the part of the kidnapped man, primarily concerning the meaning of life and death, in order to buy time for himself, and also to allow the audience to ruminate about the meaning of life along with him.Stamp, as the kidnapped criminal, reaches a calm acceptance of his fate, much to the chagrin of his assailants, who believe that if they were in his position, they would certainly consider their predicament differently. A Spanish woman (Laura del Sol) gets dragged along for the ride as the three men play a game of cat and mouse in which the audience is left in the dark as to why the assailants are not doing what they have actually been ordered to do. Terence Stamp gives an excellent performance as the criminal in a tight spot, and is a good foil for John Hurt and Tim Roth as the kidnappers who are the Hawkesian 'professionals' merely carrying out orders with no questions asked. They know what they are expected to do but are somewhat reluctant to do it and I believe this gives rise to the possibility of an existential interpretation of the film.. The characters exist in a state of perpetual hesitation: the kidnapped man has been living the last ten years as if his life has been on hold with perpetual protection, no job, and an empty apartment; the kidnappers become involved with the man they are holding and begin to see him as a human being and hence find it difficult to carry out their orders; the Australian and his girlfriend are attempting to have a life but this can never come to pass because of their past associations.. All the characters exist in a fatalistic universe that seems to have no time for them. Ironically, the only character comfortable in his own skin is Stamp, who, instead of using blazing guns to solve his dilemma, attempts to verbally connect with his assailants by showing in a number of effecting scenes, how much he wants to carry on living . This is very interesting and involving stuff for an audience desiring something more substantial from their entertainment. It's a good existential take on the usual modus operandi of these films which normally consist of little more than meaningless action and violence to get the punters to pay for admission. For that 'The Hit' deserves to stand out from the crowd, for all the best reasons, which thankfully, it does.

Although this film starts out well, it did have an empty feeling at the end. The premise is an English gangster who squealed on his mates and gets asylum in Spain. Eventually these gangsters get others to track him down. These others kidnap him and want to take him to Paris where the original gangsters will even the score with him. So it turns into a road movie as they trek across Spain. They also abduct a beautiful senorita on the way (I was never quite clear why they did this – but it was good eye candy).So the plot is reasonably clear and there is some character interaction. But somehow it's all a little artificial and none of the characters are very likable. There is very little humour in this movie. I felt like I had an empty deck of cards at the films' conclusion. Plus why were the victims driven across Spain to be killed – why wasn't it just done right away – and whatever happened to going to Paris?

John Hurt's strongest feature is his voice, full of shading and subtlety yet splendidly articulate with an attractive timbre. So why in HELL would he be cast as a professional killer with maybe twenty-five lines of dialog in the whole picture? What a waste!A very young Tim Roth with a blond dye job looks underfed and downright weird, though he does try for the eager apprentice thing and in places gets it right. The distinguished Spanish actor Fernando Rey has a tiny part, not appearing until the movie is three-quarters over.Ms. del Sol looks attractive though her character--unlike her bosom-- is hardly developed. Terrence Stamp looks better than ever but has little to do in the picture, which lurches from crime drama to travelogue (some nice shots of the countryside of northern Spain) to philosophical exposition, unable to decide what it wants to be. The script writer apparently didn't know how to end the story. By then he must have been told that the movie already was too long. The ending he chose seems tacked on, with heavy borrowing from the Ambrose Bierce short story "Parker Adderson, Philosopher". What's good apart from the beauty of the Basque country are the action sequences near the start and at the very beginning the English courtroom scene.