Interview with a Hitman

This is the film analysis for the film Interview with a Hitman (2012).

PLOT SUMMARY

Interview With a Hitman (2012) explores Viktor’s (Luke Goss, Blade II, Hellboy II, Death Race 2, One Night With the King) narratives as a professional Romanian hitman who is interviewed by a disgraced film director eager to regain some semblance of his career and respectability. Viktor begins the interview with how he became an assassin, who he worked for, the betrayal from his mentor, and how he met Bethesda.

Viktor thrives as a hitman until he is forced to make decisions that are counter to his initial goal of becoming a mob enforcer, later desiring to get out of the business, fall in love, and raise his own child. He makes a series of decisions that reveal a change of heart. However, he is prevented from accomplishing his desire, coming full circle to the root of his first kill. Viktor’s narrative leads to discovery of his mortality.

By the end of Interview With a Hitman, Viktor involuntarily leaves a legacy for his unborn son.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

General Learning Objectives

By the end of this discussion, you will be able to do the following:

Summarize the plot.

Outline Viktor’s roles as child, mob enforcer, lover, and father.

Create character descriptions of the main character and one or more supporting characters.

Define attachment theory.

Apply one or more attachment examples to Viktor.

Apply the theme of setback to one or more frame analyses.

Applied Learning Objectives

By the end of this discussion, you will be able to apply the Seven Stages of Setback, as explored in Overcoming Setback: Five Keys for Entering & Exiting Correction (Favors, 2021).

Missed Opportunity

Punishment

Pain

Correction

Recovery

Restoration

Advance

NARRATIVE PLOTS

There are three main plots:

Viktor’s decision to become a mob enforcer

Viktor’s decision to attack the system that raised him

Viktor’s decision to trust Bethesda

Possible main plot:

Bethesda’s decision to set up Viktor, the interviewer, the interviewer’s brother, and any and all related mob members responsible for the death of her family is a plot in which the whole movie hangs.

PURPOSE & GOALS

The purpose of this film analysis is the following:

Explore a character’s narrative history.

Explain how the writer and/or director uses the character’s narrative history to frame plot setbacks.

Apply the concept of setback as a theme.

The goal of the film analysis is the following:

Interpret writer/director plot decisions based on the attitudes, belief system, and actions of the central character.

Discuss attachment theory.

Apply attachment theory to the film.

APPLICATION

Analyzing Interview with a Hitman: Using Setback as a Theme

Introduction to Film Analysis

This audio lecture introduces the film analysis of Interview with a Hitman (2012), focusing on the learning objectives, plot summary, and the suggestion of three narrative plots. These are select frames of the original full film analysis, which is available on the YouTube Channel Favors Film Analysis.

Introduction to Viktor

This audio lecture introduces an adult Viktor tasked with an assassination assignment. He reveals his main cover as a pizza delivery man to gain access to his target. He surveils the interviewer and subsequently meets him. He begins his discussion about how he got into the business of becoming a hitman. The frames also introduce secondary characters. These are select frames of the original full film analysis, which is available on the YouTube Channel Favors Film Analysis.

Viktor’s Background

This audio lecture introduces Viktor’s background and lead up to becoming a child assassin. He grows up in a toxic family dynamic with an abusive father and abused mother. After his father is unable to repay a debt to the mob, Viktor decides to become an assassin but not to save his family. Instead, he becomes a mob assassin to save himself. These are select frames of the original full film analysis, which is available on the YouTube Channel Favors Film Analysis.

Viktor’s Training

This audio lecture introduces Viktor’s training from a child assassin to adult. His first “hit” is a family of four. He is sent to collect money owed to his mob boss from a man who is rude to Viktor. The man refuses to pay the money and Viktor shoots him and his wife. When he attempts to shoot the children too, the mob boss and his associates take Viktor out of the house and send him out of town. Viktor’s mentor, Sergei, continues to train him in the way of mob assassination. These are select frames of the original full film analysis, which is available on the YouTube Channel Favors Film Analysis.

Viktor’s Betrayal

This audio lecture outlines Viktor’s betrayal because of a deal gone bad due to Franco’s mental instability. Under Trafficant’s demand, Viktor’s mentor, Sergei, is forced to assassinate him. Instead, Viktor kills his mentor and saves himself, which may be a sub-theme of the film, i.e., characters saving themselves. These are select frames of the original full film analysis, which is available on the YouTube Channel Favors Film Analysis.

Viktor’s Escape

This audio lecture explores Viktor’s escape to another mob territory. Viktor uses the same tools of the trade by surveilling and gathering evidence and information about the many issues plaguing the current mob boss, one of those issues being a cop who wouldn’t play ball. Viktor ingratiates himself with a new mob boss to get in where he can and serve him without question. But jealousy affects Viktor’s “stay” with the mob boss, and he is forced to leave but not without fulfilling one more assassination. These are select frames of the original full film analysis, which is available on the YouTube Channel Favors Film Analysis.

Viktor’s Decisions

This audio lecture introduces Viktor’s decisions after leaving the second mob moss. Viktor runs into a woman “unexpectedly” in a restaurant, rescues her against men who are assaulting her, and begins to date her. They fall in love and expect a child. Viktor bases his decision to help the woman out of a desire to save his mother, symbolically, but he is unaware of who the woman is and the impact she will have on him later in the film. Viktor’s decision as an assassin finds him not fulfilling the last task the second mob boss ordered. Viktor, instead, returns home to the woman and begins to embrace a life with her. These are select frames of the original full film analysis, which is available on the YouTube Channel Favors Film Analysis.

Viktor’s Vengeance

This audio lecture follows Viktor’s vengeance with the associates of the original mob boss, Trafficant. The assassins were sent to kill Viktor who has been discovered as alive. Viktor engages in conversation with his childhood friend just before he kills him. Viktor doesn’t know how he has been discovered, but he settles his accounts with the mob boss who put a hit on him years ago. These are select frames of the original full film analysis, which is available on the YouTube Channel Favors Film Analysis.

Bethesda’s Revenge

This audio lecture explores Bethesda’s revenge against the men who hurt her years ago. Bethesda gets her revenge on not only the interviewer, but also Viktor who is revealed in flashbacks to be the one who held a gun to her head before the assassination attempt was thwarted. Bethesda tells Viktor that he will never get a chance to be a father right before she kills him. Bethesda’s revenge arguably initiates and shapes the whole film narrative. These are select frames of the original full film analysis, which is available on the YouTube Channel Favors Film Analysis.

Summary of Viktor’s Setbacks

This audio lecture summarizes Viktor’s setbacks, outlining narrative timelines, Viktor’s “assignments,” Viktor’s setbacks with his mentor and the mob boss, narrative histories of secondary characters, and the ultimate decision that leads to his death. These are select frames of the original full film analysis, which is available on the YouTube Channel Favors Film Analysis.

Applying the Seven Stages of Setback

This audio lecture introduces and applies the seven stages of setback to the film, beginning with missed opportunity and following up with the six remaining stages: punishment, pain, correction, recovery, restoration, and advance. The lecture applies the stages to Viktor, Bethesda, and the writer/director. These are select frames of the original full film analysis, which is available on the YouTube Channel Favors Film Analysis.

FULL FILM ANALYSIS

Interview with a Hitman (2012) Full

This is the full film analysis of Interview with a Hitman (2012).

TOPIC HIGHLIGHT

Attachment Theory & Application to Film

This audio lecture applies attachment theory to the film, taking “instruction” from Sergei, Viktor’s mentor. It is Sergei who uses the term “attachment” to apply to Viktor’s lack of emotional capacity towards his kills. The lecture ends with a conclusion, learning from the setbacks of the film’s main characters. These are select frames of the original full film analysis, which is available on the YouTube Channel Favors Film Analysis.

REFERENCES