Oh boy oh boy, when I first saw the preview of The Hitman’s Bodyguard, I immediately said to my wife, “That look’s like this year’s newest comedy.” I mean come on, you have Ryan Reynolds AND Samuel L. Jackson starring alongside one another. It’s, may I daresay, almost a comedy dream team. Well, I went with the wife this past weekend to see the film and I can honestly say that my expectations were high. But they weren’t wholeheartedly met.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard follows Michael Bryce (Reynolds), a once AAA-rated executive protection agent hired to protect important dignitaries down to world renown arms dealers, who has fallen into disgrace after losing a high value client. He is contacted by an old friend in Interpol to help protect and escort notorious hitman Darius Kincaid (Jackson), who has critical and damning evidence on brutal warlord and tyrant leader of Belarus, President Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman), who is on trial at the International Court of Justice for crimes against humanity.
Reynolds and Jackson have extremely good chemistry throughout the film. One could go so far as to say that the duo can be a comedy powerhouse in film’s such as this one. You have non-stop action, excellent fight choreography scenes and a well rounded, yet somewhat lacking, story. However, like with any film, the trailer’s that were released to promote the film over hyped it. Yes, we all like action, fighting and gunplay in a movie, however you also need a good story and plot to compliment such extravagant scenes in a film, with the latter sort of missing or at least lacking thereof.
The plot doesn’t seem too original; the only thing that is the saving grace for this is Reynolds and Jackson’s chemistry and the twist that Jackson’s character, a brutal and deadly hitman, has the power to possibly put away a ruthless tyrant (Oldman’s character), and thus all of Interpol is relying on this character to do the right thing (which they are betting on as it will help secure Kincaid’s wife, played by Salma Hayek, get released from jail). Along with a weak plot cliché’ banter and dialogue bog the film down throughout it’s entirety. Now, it’s worth saying that some of this is coming from Reynolds and Jackson, who do make such dialogue funny and witty, however one can almost expect the characters to say such things before it happens; in short, it’s predictable dialogue and such things just don’t compliment a film very well, especially with titular actors such as Reynolds and Jackson.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard doesn’t live up to the hype and ‘visual promises’ that the trailers delivered before it’s release, however nearly 70% of film’s suffer from this regardless; if it’s comedy and non-stop action that you’re looking for, then you might very well enjoy this film. Both Reynolds and Jackson are the film’s only saving grace and clearly stand out amongst the rest of the negatives in this film.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard is in theaters now.
