Up to this late date in the 2007 movie season, there has been one great pleasant surprise, and that was this summer's Transformers. What on the surface appeared to be one gigantic revisionist toy ad from the 1990's turned out to be far more enjoyable than its over-stuffed and over-hyped summer brethren, namely Shrek III, Spiderman 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Live Free or Die Hard.

I must now add a second film to this "good grief, where did this come from list", namely Hitman. This adrenalin filled film is the equivalent of fusing Casino Royale with the Bourne Identity 3 while doing ecstasy.

It is unapologetically amoral and totally nihilistic. When you add into the mix a dynamic, pulsating soundtrack with the animalistic sexual magnetism of Olga Kurylenko, a woman who comes close to making Angelina Jolie's Beowulf monster look like a girl scout with a long tail, you end up with a movie that is one, extraordinary guilty pleasure.

In addition, Timothy Olyphant is proving to be a wonderful villain/hero. While Bruce Willis's Live Free or Die Hard gradually lost momentum with progressively absurd special effects (i.e. anyone want to jump on the wing of a crashing jet and survive?), Olyphant's villain was the one stabilizing element of that movie that kept it dramatically interesting.

His performance as the trained killer in Hitman is even more compelling. Along with his satanic stare he brings a rye sense of humor to his job as a hired assassin.

In addition, Olyphant's interaction with Ms. Kurylenko makes for a fascinating piece of theater. While Olyphant stays at arms length, their romantic tap dance brings an eroticism to the screen not equaled in any film released this year.

While I loved the series Deadwood on HBO, particularly Ian McShane's performance as Al Swearengen, I always felt that Olyphant went tragically misused as that story progressed. Initially, he was the moral force who was part honest lawman and part vigilante. Tragically, his character became a type of emotional eunuch the more he started to moon over Alma Garret as played by Molly Parker. It will be interesting to see where Olyphant's career goes from here.

Finally, a critical part of Hitman's authenticity lies in the use of subtitles. While the likely demographic of this film is 16 to 30 year old males, ("Z" my 16 year old exchange student "loved it."), I admired the fact that director Xavier Gens had the artistic integrity to risk alienating that group by allowing different nationalities to speak in their own language. Despite being based on a video game, this movie has a style, not too mention dramatic depth, that makes great entertainment.

Let me put it this way. When the first Pirates of the Caribbean was released (Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl-2003), the advanced word was mixed at best. Most movie fans legitimately wondered how good a movie could be that was based on a Disney theme ride. Well, and granted that it had Captain Jack Sparrow, it turned out to be one hell of a good time.

I urge you to set aside your skepticism, as I think you'll find that Hitman is also.