A man is trained from childhood to be a contract killer. Timothy Olyphant plays the lead character with only a number for a name. He is number 47. He has been raised since childhood to be a deadly killer working for a secret global organization. A police office from Interpol named Inspector Whittier (played by Dougray Scott) has tracked him for years. Whittier comes home to find 47 is in his home. When he turns on the light, 47 makes him sit with a gun drawn on him. 47 asks Whittier, "How does a good man decide when it is OK to kill?"
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Flashback to three months earlier. 47 is in Africa. He has forced a man to swallow explosives. When the man is taken to the warlord boss, 47 explodes the man remotely, killing the warlord. Whittier tells the local police this man is the “ghost” he has been tracking for three years and has killed over a hundred men they know of. 47 gets another job. This time to kill the Russian President publicly. A woman tries to pick 47 up in the bar. He ignores her and goes back to his room. He bobby-traps to door to his hotel room. He shoots the Russian President with a sniper rifle, then explodes the evidence. After the killing he is informed by computer there was a witness to the shooting, Nika Boronina (played by Olga Kurylenko). He finds her in the street, but she does not recognize him. At this same moment, another sniper tries to shoot 47, but misses. 47 realizes he has become expendable.
The Russian President is still alive. The news claims President Belicoff (played by Ulrich Thomsen) survived the shooting. Whittier is told they have the suspect for the shooting trapped in a hotel. Whittier arrives at the hotel. He is told by Yuri Marklov, Chief of the FSB Russian secret police (played by Robert Knepper) the Russians will handle the operation. Whittier tells them to stop, but they refuse. 47 is informed by computer the hit was ordered by the Russian President himself, and the location of 47 is comprised. 47 runs to the balcony. When the Russian police attempt to enter the hotel room, the booby-trap explodes. 47 jumps off the balcony using a rope he put there for the purpose of escaping. 47 kills many Russian police as he escapes the hotel. Whittier almost catches 47, but 47 jumps from another room's balcony into the river to escape. Whittier finds a case of equipment used by 47, which he left behind.
47 goes to look for Nika. He kidnaps her. Nika tells 47 President Belicoff uses doubles. 47 says he shot the real President, not a double. 47 goes after the brother of the President, Udre Belicoff (played by Henry Ian Cusick). He takes Nika with him. 47 is being hunted by other killers from the Organization. Whittier, with his assistant Jenkins (played by Michael Offie), Marklov, and the killers all convene on the train station chasing down 47. 47 fights with the killers from the Organization sent to kill him and defeats all of them. He fights three at once in a sword fight. Nika finds 47. 47 and Nika are about to escape when Jenkins finds them. 47 knocks Jenkins out and is preparing to kill Whittier when Nika begs him to stop. At her request, 47 does not shoot Whittier. Jenkins survives as well.
47 and Nika escape. Marklov tells Whittier he needs to get out of Russia. Whittier tells him to let him alone, shoving him out of the way. 47 and Nika argue. She tells him she is the property of President Belicoff and she has no reason why he should not kill her. Whittier plants a bug on Marklov. They listen to Marklov talk with Belicoff. The FSB men take Whittier and Jenkins to the airport to throw them out of the country. 47 sets up a meeting with CIA Agent Jamison (played by James Faulkner) using Nika as the intermediary. Jamison tells 47 the Organization has replaced the real Belicoff with a double and only Nika and 47 know this. 47 forces the Agent into helping him with a small favor using a file of information he has. 47 tells Jamison he will take out the brother of Belicoff in exchange for the favor.
47 and Nika make it to Italy. Jenkins shows Whittier, Belicoff has a double. 47 and Nika go to a restaurant. 47 attacks the contact who is an arms buyer planning to meet with Udre so he can take his place at takes the money the man has for an arm's deal. At the hotel, Nika tries to seduce 47. He refuses her and knocks her unconscious with a drug. Then he goes to meet Udre Belicoff. They realize 47 is an imposter. At the meeting 47 attacks them all, shooting all of Udre's men and at the end of the battle, shooting Udre himself. The next day, 47 and Nika go back to Russia by driving through Turkey. They have a tender moment and Nika tells him her dreams was to have a vineyard like her father. 47 tells Nika he must go, because Belicoff must die or they will never stop looking for her.
At the Interpol office Whittier finds a special key in 47's suitcase of equipment which 47 left behind. It is large, brass, and has an inscription in Latin written on it. In the office of the FSB, the double for Belicoff and Marklov have an argument. Belicoff tells Marklov the best killers from the Organization are going after 47 to finish what he could not do. 47 captures Marklov. He ties him in a bathtub with barbed wire and chains. 47 tells Marklov he will order the assassination of Belicoff at the funeral by his FSB men. If Marklov does not order the shooting he will be electrocuted and his family will be killed. Whittier shows up at the funeral warning the FSB about 47 coming. Marklov orders the shooting of Belicoff by his FSB shooter at the funeral. The sniper shoots but does not hit Belicoff who is protected behind bullet proof glass. 47, dressed as special guard for Belicoff, kills all the other men protecting Belicoff. He drags Belicoff to the tower. Whittier has the brass key for the tower door. 47 fights another killer sent to get him. 47 defeats him. 47 shoots Belicoff in the head. A helicopter gunship attacks the room but is not able to kill 47. 47 waits for Whittier to come to the door with the key to arrest 47. Whittier arrests 47. They take 47 away. The convoy of Whitier is attacked by the CIA. They block the car allowing time for 47 to escape. This is the favor 47 demanded of the CIA.
We return to the scene of Whittier's house form the beginning of the movie. Whittier says the only reason to kill anyone is if his family is threatened. 47 shows Whittier a dead body of another killer who looks like 47. He tells Whittier this is the man he is looking for and Whittier is the one who shot him dead. 47 used Whittier's weapon and set up the scene in great detail. This is how 47 will disappear, by faking his own death.
Later, Nika is opening her mail while walking down the street. There is a letter with information showing she now has the vineyard of her childhood dreams. She knows this is a gift from 47 and looks around for him. We see 47 on a nearby rooftop where he has killed an sniper sent to shoot Nika.
Best part of story, including ending:
I like the non-stop action in this film and how 47 seems to be one step ahead of all the police and those out to get him.
Best scene in story:
A great scene is when 47 escapes from the hotel while being chased by the Russian police by jumping off the balcony.
Opinion about the main character:
47 seems to have no feelings of any kind for anyone, even Nika, in the beginning of the movie, but by the end of the movie he has become the protector of Nika and both of them survive which is a great ending.
