Genre: Action
Director: Francis Lawrence
Writer: Dwight Gallo
Based on the video game series
Cast: Ed Skrein, Charlotte Riley, Christian Berkel, Iain Armitage, Greg Byrk, Ulrich Thomsen, Gabriel Bateman and Simon McBurney
Plot: 47 (Ed Skrein) wakes up strapped onto a bed in a padded cell in the basement of a sanatorium. A voice orders him to wake up, electronically releasing the shackles strapping him down. 47 gets up and leaves the room he was being kept in, finding a black suit laid out for him. 47 dons the suit and starts making his way down a long corridor. 47 sneaks up behind an orderly and bashes his face into a wall. 47 steals the orderly's uniform. 47 then heads into a stairwell and heads up to the roof of the building. Dr. Ort-Myer (Christian Berkel) laughs as he watches 47's escape on the security monitors.
FLASHBACK: Young 47 (Iain Armitage) sits in his padded cell staring at the walls when a small mouse crawls in from under the door. 47 gives the mouse some food and makes it a bed in his cell.
The morning after 47's escape, Dr. Ort-Meyer is visited by Arthur Edwards (Greg Bryk), from the secret Providence organization, who tells him he can resume operations to make them more clones. Ort-Meyer heads back to his labs and begins work to produce Subject 48.
47 is in Paris. He receives a message to make sure that the death of Bricolage Technology founder Franklin Marchand (Simon McBurney) look like an accident during a rare public appearance at Place de la Concorde, the largest public square in Paris. The unseen client adds that if Marchand dies any other way, he'll be remembered as a martyr and that would be unacceptable to him and his associates. Meanwhile, four agents with the International Contract Agency have also been hired to kill Marchand, but have the instructions to make sure it looks like a planned assassination. 47 spots the ICA team taking their positions. 47 goes around, one by one, killing each of them - silently and quickly. Once the ICA is dealt with, 47 gets into a taxi cab. As Marchand begins crossing a street to go to a stage to give a speech, 47 holds a gun to the neck of the cab driver and orders him to run down Marchand with his car. 47 shoots the driver and takes his wallet to make it all look to be the cause of a robbery gone wrong. 47 then slips into the crowd undetected.
Dr. Ort-Meyer discovers that Young 47 has been keeping the mouse in his room and demands 47 show him the pet. Ort-Meyer tells 47 that affection is weakness and orders 47 to kill his pet mouse. 47 begs Ort-Meyer not to make him do it, but Ort-Meyer insists, telling 47 that the quickest and most painless method would be to snap the mouse's neck. 47 begins to cry, but does as he is told and kills the mouse. Ort-Meyer tells 47 he did a good job.
47 sits in a Parisian bar having a drink. He is the approached by Diana Burnwood (Charlotte Riley). She tells him she is with the ICA and they would very much like to meet him about coming to work for them. 47 tells her he works alone, but she urges him to consider the offer. 47 finishes his drink and leaves the bar.
Young 47 meets another young clone, 6 (Gabriel Bateman), for the first time. They eat together in the cafeteria of the sanatorium where they have been raised. They bond over their desired escape from their living situation.
47 steps off a helicopter in Greenland. He is directed into a secret cliff side entrance to the International Contract Agency's recruitment base. He enters a doorway where he is greeted by Diana, who leads him to his quarters. She tells him that he will start his training with the Agency the next day.
The next morning, 47 is taken into a large hangar where he is given the task of completing a simulated mission. He is given a fake gun and told that he will have to infiltrate a yacht they have set up, "kill" his main target, and exfiltrate from the vessel all without being noticed. 47 completes the training exercise with machine-like precision, impressing ICA director Erich Soders (Ulrich Thomsen).
Soders tells Diana that he is unsure about recruiting 47 due to how little they know about him, telling her there he might as well be a ghost. Diana believes that 47 could be an invaluable asset to ICA. Soder is displeased that there is nothing in 47's past that the ICA can use as leverage against him. Diana tells Soders that if he recruits 47, that she will personally act as his handler. Soders tells her that he has one more test for 47, and that if he passes it, then he will be recruited into the Agency. Soders, however, doesn't tell Diana that he plans to make the test impossible.
The next day, Soders has the ICA Training Facility made up to look like a Cuban military facility. He tells 47 that he will have to "assassinate" an American defector that is trying to escape to the USSR - a recreation of one of Soders own missions as an agent. Diana notices that Soders has added more guards than usual and has not given 47 any training weapons. Diana helps lead 47 through the facility via earpiece. When 47 enters the room with the target, he scans the room for a weapon to use to finish the test. The room however is pretty bare bones and made to look like an office. 47 grabs a curtain rod and sneaks up behind the target and begins strangling the target with the rod. The lights turn on and the test is stopped. 47 drops the curtain rod. Diana talks to 47 after the test. She tells him head home and lay low until the Agency contact him. Before he leaves Diana asks him his name, he responds by simply saying "47".
Shows centered around a mysterious figure like 47 need a pretty good introduction to get the audience involved and Ed Skrein makes a killer as the titular character (pun very much intended).
I'm not really a fan of Francis Lawrence, but he seems like the right choice for this series. You are partly intrigued and thrilled by 47's action and after this striking introduction, I can't wait to see what he's going to do next.
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