UPA was the with-it cartoon studio of the 1950s; the Best Animated Short Oscar this cartoon received was bestowed in recognition of the studio's hipness, and seems to have been given to one of that year's crop of UPA cartoons at random. But at least this one is as good as any other. The half-blind Mr. Magoo (voiced by Backus, who was the millionaire on �Gilligan's Island� � does that reference no longer mean anything to anyone? God, I hope so) is slick-talked into buying a junkheap of a car, which he proceeds to drive into the sea � all without noticing.

Davey decides his home life looks pretty grim, what with his single dad still moping about his departed mother. So he's leaving. But when he discovers he has the power to jump anywhere on earth instantly, the CIA moves in, and it becomes clear Davey isn't the only one with this power, and some of the other jumpers are distinctly evil�Doug Liman's had an interesting career � after the indie success of Swingers and Go, he hit blockbuster status with The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith � both of which managed to survive rumours of a troubled production to become major box-office successes. And even if Mr. & Mrs. Smith may have been mind-numbingly shallow, it was at least the fun type of mind-numbingly shallow.

All this is a longwinded way of saying, no, I haven't seen the film (it won't come out until well after the reviews are due). But based on the premise, the cast list and, particularly, Liman, I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. A fast-paced globetrotting adventure, with Samuel L. Jackson showing up? Count me in.

A mysterious, powerful organisation (known only as "The Organisation") has created a series of genetically engineered super-assassins. Trained from birth, they are killing machines who complete the contracts the organisation takes from outside. The best agent, known only as 47 (Olyphant), is working on a contract to publicly kill the Russian president. But following the assassination attempt the president is still alive; a witness (Kurylenko) must be dealt with; Interpol (Scott) is trying to hunt him down; and his own organisation is now trying to silence him.

Hitman is based on a moderately successful series of computer games, which does not, from the history of such adaptations, bode particularly well for the movie. Fortunately the film is largely able to climb up above the somewhat ridiculous plots of the original game, but in trying for Bourne-style political intrigue first-time director Gans somewhat exceeds his reach. The plot is pretty silly, with plot holes galore and plenty of suspension of disbelief required. But the action scenes are frenetic and exciting, and the director shows a good (if somewhat unsteady) eye for a pretty scene. It just goes to show that the first rule of film adaptations still holds: good source, bad film; bad source, good film. And in this case: middling computer game translates into a middling film.