The real hit man? Richard Linklater. - The Boston Globe (2024)

For starters, it starred Jack Black, whom I couldn’t stand at the time. It costarred and was written by Mike White, whose film “Chuck & Buck” was on my 10-worst list in 2000. And the plot synopsis said something about a substitute teacher’s desire to turn his snobby private elementary school class into a rock band.

Hard pass, I thought — until I saw that “School of Rock” was directed by Richard Linklater.

The Texas native had a good track record with me. I liked 1993′s “Dazed and Confused,” loved 1995′s “Before Sunrise,” and thought “Waking Life” (2001) and “Slacker” (1990) were interesting. He was a versatile filmmaker who hadn’t yet made anything I really disliked.

Plus, the screening was free! What’s the worst that could happen?

I went to see “School of Rock” with a huge chip on my shoulder. Two hours later, I walked out with an even bigger smile on my face. I absolutely loved it. The movie ended up at number three on my 2003 10-best list.

With the release of his Netflix comic neo-noir, “Hit Man,” I thought I’d take a look at Linklater’s career, the themes he repeatedly explores, and his ease with actors and non-actors alike. He has made several films with Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Matthew McConaughey, and Glen Powell, all members of his unofficial stock company.

Even Jack Black, whom I’ve come to enjoy over the years, got another Linklater project with 2011′s “Bernie,” the movie that has the biggest tie to “Hit Man.” They both share source material by journalist Skip Hollandsworth, jump between several genres, and interrogate ideas about murder and deception. The film features one of McConaughey’s best performances and a career best by Black.

The high school comedy “Dazed and Confused” is probably where many viewers first became aware of McConaughey and Linklater. The film is one of the earliest examples of the writer-director’s penchant for encouraging improvisation among his actors — as he did later with the “Before” trilogy and the Oscar-winning “Boyhood.”

“Dazed” highlights one of the most repeated themes in a Linklater film; that is, how people represent or see themselves within their environment. Gary, the professor-protagonist of “Hit Man” played by Powell, offers up a perfect encapsulation of this idea: “What if self is a construction?” he asks his students. “A role you’ve been playing every day since you can remember.”

The central couple in the “Before” trilogy are shown adapting and evolving throughout the three films, surprising themselves along the way as they discover who they have become. There’s a consistency to the films, as they’re all collaborations between Linklater and the film’s stars, Hawke, who plays Jessie, and Delpy, who plays Celine.

“Before Sunrise” documents their first meeting; “Before Sunset” (2004) reunites the two after nine years; and “Before Midnight” (2013) finds them navigating commitment, parenthood, and middle age. All three films are dialogue-heavy, semi-improvised works that reward viewers with a deeply real relationship and all the emotions — regret, jealousy, dissatisfaction — that couples experience.

All three films are worth seeing, but “Sunset” is my favorite of the trilogy, a film that has one of the most perfect endings I can remember. In fact, as the final scene between Jessie and Celine began, I sat in the theater thinking how great it would be if the movie ended at that moment. I even sent out a prayer to the movie gods — please, fade out to the credits now!

If you’ve seen the film, you know my prayer was answered.

Following characters across a long period of real time is likewise the raison d’être of 2014′s “Boyhood,” which stars Hawke and was shot between May 2002 to August 2013 to allow its main character, Mason (Ellar Coltrane) to grow up onscreen. This experiment isn’t new in documentaries — Michael Apted’s “Up” series follows its subjects from age 7 to 63 — but Linklater made a successful fiction film exploring a similar theme that became his most honored movie.

Though “Boyhood” was nominated for six Oscars, including best picture, and won supporting actress for the excellent work by Patricia Arquette, who plays Mason’s mother, I’m rather lukewarm about that movie. While many critics had it on their yearly best lists, I only gave the film three out of four stars. That’s still a positive review, but I thought the work put into this film and the end results didn’t match up.

It wasn’t the last time I was in the critical minority with a Linklater film. If I had a chip on my shoulder over “School of Rock,” I had a boulder on it for 2017′s “Last Flag Flying.” Readers know of my love for “The Last Detail.” This film was a semi-sequel (from a novel by “Detail” author Darryl Ponicsan, who co-wrote the script with Linklater) with Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne, and Steve Carell replacing the original film’s stars, Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, and Randy Quaid. How dare they!

And yet, I was one of the few critics who championed it, putting it at number five on my 2017 top 10. I wrote: “The brilliant howls of anger in Hal Ashby’s masterpiece have been replaced by a more simmering, jaded exhaustion. … The result adds a layer of begrudged wisdom that only comes with the passage of time.”

Again, the passage of time plays a role in a Linklater film.

I want to return to Glen Powell for one last movie. The actor has worked with Linklater since his teens, and though “Hit Man” firmly cements his stardom, he’s a lot of fun as part of the ensemble of 2016′s “Everybody Wants Some!!”

Essentially a companion piece to “Dazed and Confused,” this comedy set in 1980 follows players on a college baseball team. They’re goofballs at times to be sure, but they have qualities you don’t often see onscreen in men. They’re vain and concerned about their appearance. They’re catty and get more costume changes than Bette Davis. In other words, they’re fun! And like the best camp, the film’s gloriously delicious (and sexy) hom*oeroticism seems purely by accident and completely without shame.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: This film made my top-10 list.

Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.