Comparison · 3 shared techniques

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion vs Hit Man

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) and Hit Man (2024) share 3 techniques. Here is how each film uses them.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) poster

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

Woody Allen · 2001

Hit Man (2024) poster

Hit Man

Richard Linklater · 2024

Shared

Same technique, two films

Psychological Manipulation

Showing one character steering another through suggestion, reading, triggers or false trust. The manipulation works because the target wants to believe or cannot resist.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

The magician Voltan hypnotizes C.W. Briggs and Betty Ann Fitzgerald with a swinging jade scorpion. The words Constantinople and Madagascar switch off their will. They steal for him and have no memory of it.

Hit Man

Gary researches each person before the sting and invents a different hitman persona to suit them. He wins their trust by giving each suspect exactly the criminal they want to see. The trick works because they want to believe it.

Genre Collage

Mixing several genres in 1 film, such as crime, romance, horror and absurd comedy. The clash between them keeps you from settling into a single way of watching.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

A workplace romance battle between a man and a woman sits inside a crime story with a magician, stolen jewels and a chase in Chinatown. The film moves between the genres in the same scenes.

Hit Man

The film plays as a romantic comedy, a crime caper and a murder mystery at once. A sweet love story sits on top of real danger. You never settle into one way of watching it.

Dramatic Irony

Letting the audience know something a character doesn't. You watch them act without that knowledge, which creates suspense, dread or dark comedy.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

You know the thefts come from the hypnosis. C.W. does not. Even the detective is framed and arrested for them. You watch him try to solve a case he is at the center of.

Hit Man

You know Ron is really Gary, a college professor, but Madison does not. Every kiss and every gun lesson plays on that gap. You watch her trust a man who does not exist.

Different

Where they split

Only in The Curse of the Jade Scorpion