About 19 minutes into watching it, something seemed strangely familiar Catchthe latest horror thriller from director M. Night Shyamalan. The film stars Josh Hartnett as Cooper, a seemingly normal father who happens to be living a secret life as a notorious serial killer and discovers that the Pop Idol concert he is attending with his daughter is actually an elaborate… er , trap designed by FBI is to arrest him. After being alerted to the conspiracy by an overly zealous concert salesman, Cooper looks for every possible way to escape the venue without arousing his daughter's suspicions.

“Huh, that sounds kind of familiar,” I thought to myself as I watched Cooper push a woman down a flight of stairs to distract two police officers guarding a door. As Cooper's escape attempts became more erratic and ridiculous, the realization finally dawned on me: I wasn't just watching an M. Night Shyamalan movie, but the cinematic equivalent of a Master Assassin series with constant death Hitman: World of Assassination.

If you're unfamiliar with the games' premise, here's the gist: In Hitman, you play as Agent 47, a bald, suave assassin who travels the world carrying out assassinations on high-profile targets on behalf of a functioning secret organization for the highest bidder. Almost every mission in almost every game in the Hitman series plays out the same way: you infiltrate a location, track down your target, execute them in whatever way you see fit, and then promptly disappear without being seen. being captured or killed is the process.

Of course, anyone who has played a Hitman game will tell you that there is more to the game than just killing. Hitman: World of Assassination is a stealth game, yes, but it's also a silly puzzle game. The premise of each mission is the same, but the variability of locations and the nature of each individual objective requires something else from the player in addition to ruthless execution: situational awareness, an ability to improvise and, above all, a flair full of creativity, which contributes to the series' dark humor fits.

Don't be fooled by 47's stylish three-piece suits, the game's operatic music, or the exotic and picturesque locations teeming with brooding fashionistas and grumpy villains. Every mission in Hitman is populated with a dozen or more Rube Goldberg-esque death traps waiting to be dropped on an unfortunate target, not to mention the many unique (read: ridiculous) disguises you discover and don during a playthrough could.

Cooper is not a hit man; He is a high-functioning sociopath and serial killer. Even if the differences are small, the two are not the same. While Cooper and Agent 47 may differ in their respective professions, they have a surprising amount in common in the way they work, as can be seen throughout much of the running time of Catch. Like 47, Cooper has an almost supernatural ability to recognize landmarks; Cameras, locked doors, armed security guards, everything that could trip you up in a video game, Cooper has it covered.

Once he senses he is in danger, Cooper's entire outward demeanor shifts from his idiot father facade to a murderous focus, searching for any possible opportunity that might allow him to escape and pursuing it with dogged determination. Whether it's stealing a kitchen uniform, taking a key card from an unsuspecting merchandise seller, slipping past a group of heavily armed SWAT members and stealing one of their radios to listen in, or staging a gruesome explosion to act as a distraction Crowds of onlookers passing by, Cooper displays the kind of cunning, cunning, and yes, creativity that fans of the Hitman franchise would recognize from her time as Agent 47.

There have been two film adaptations of the Hitman series so far: 2007 Hitmanstarring Timothy Olyphant and the 2015 reboot Hitman: Agent 47with Rupert Friend. While each had unique takes on the game's aforementioned master assassin, neither quite hits the mark when it comes to capitalizing on one of the more understated but essential components of the series' overall tone: its dark sense of humor.

Where Hitman's previous cinematic adaptations leave much to be desired in this regard, Catch is simply characterized by Shyamalan's talent for twisted absurdity. Catch is an exciting film, yes, but it is also a very funny. A serial killer who unwittingly becomes involved in a sting operation is an interesting premise, but the fact that the same killer is also a painfully bumbling and constantly teased father of a teenage girl heightens the situation into the comical. Combine that with his uncanny ability to ingratiate himself into the good graces of almost everyone he meets and his barely suppressed desperation and anger at having fallen into the clutches of the feds, and Shyamalan's film deftly threads the needle between humor and horror one to get a… An experience that is both entertaining and surprising to watch.

Every action Cooper took as he tried to escape Lady Raven's concert felt like I was rewatching my own panicked improvisations as I failed one of Hitman's many “mission stories,” looming prompts to which Agent 47 encounters contextual encounters over the course of a mission, giving him the opportunity to execute his objective more quickly (and often more ridiculously).

Despite Cooper's frequent missteps, there is another trait he and Agent 47 share: persistence. No matter what happens, no matter how spectacular the shit hits the fan, Agent 47 never gives up until the job is done – a fact that often produces some of Hitman's funniest and most memorable moments. From chandeliers crashing onto fashion show walkways to rogue surgical robots disemboweling their potential patients, 47's determination to eliminate his targets increasingly manifests itself in ways that push the plausibility of their execution to its limits. With that in mind, a serial killer's attempt to escape a Pop Idol concert without being caught by the police sounds exactly like the scenario that would play out in a Hitman mission.

When the odds are against him, he may not be as cool and collected as his video game counterpart, but somehow Cooper always finds a way to emerge victorious. He really missed his calling as a contract assassin traveling the world. Well, yes; Maybe he's thinking about a career change if Trap 2 ever happens.

Catch is now available to stream on Max.