Is Hitman Getting the Die Hard Treatment?

Die Hard is probably my favorite movie franchise, and this summer John McClane was back on the screen in Live Free Die Hard, although it wasn’t really McClane, it was the bastardized version of him – the PG-13 McClane. Around the time of its release was when we first got a glimpse at Hitman, and back then it didn’t look like much but it did resemble a movie that would be rated R. He an assassin who’s been bread to do one thing – kill. Why wouldn’t that be rated R? Then again it’s being released by the same studio that took one of the most iconic lines in action and covered it with a gun shot.

Indeed it does seem that Hitman is getting the re-edit for a PG-13. Twitch is reporting that director Xavier Gens has been removed from the editing of the latest video game adaptation. This comes after Gens apparently turned in his cut of the movie to the studio, which included multiple head-shots and gory moments – the kind of cut that would get an R rating. I’m not sure what FOX was expecting, this is a movie based on a very violent video game, but they’ve decided to take Gens out of the equation and bring in Nicolas De Toth, the man that was behind the bastardization of John McClane.

I’m not really that excited about Hitman, but if FOX wants to have a PG-13 movie then set out to make one from the start. Don’t come in after and re-cut it for the teen-friendly rating. It also sucks for Xavier Gens, who apparently was looking to films like The Killer and A Bittersweet Life for inspiration, to have creative control taken away.