Verdict
Summary
The Hitman’s Bodyguard is harmless fun with our two leads bouncing one-liners off each other at regular intervals and a scene stealing villain from the always watchable Gary Oldman.
Plot: The world’s top protection agent is called upon to guard the life of his mortal enemy, one of the world’s most notorious hit men. The relentless bodyguard and manipulative assassin have been on the opposite end of the bullet for years and are thrown together for a wildly outrageous 24 hours. During their journey from England to the Hague, they encounter high-speed car chases, outlandish boat escapades and a merciless Eastern European dictator who is out for blood.
Review: The marketing for The Hitman’s Bodyguard has been hugely entertaining with the posters paying homage to the likes of Dirty Harry, The Bodyguard and many more. You could tell from the trailers that it was very much going to be Sam Jackson and Ryan Reynolds playing themselves but when they are so good at it then why the hell not?
I was expecting this to be a laugh a minute buddy/action comedy and although there are plenty of laughs the story was a little more serious than initially expected. The majority of the jokes you have seen in the trailers but there were still a few moments that made me laugh.
Gary Oldman hasn’t played a villain for a while and this is like a throwback to the 90’s with him playing a sadistic former dictator on trial for war crimes. You can never go wrong with him as a bad guy and he just chews the scenery to perfection. Sam Jackson’s hitman Darius Kincaid is a key witness to the trial and it’s up to bodyguard Michael Bryce (Reynolds) to ensure he stays alive.
It’s one of Jackson’s most badass characters to date and as always he says “motherfucker” every couple of seconds. His relationship with his wife (Salma Hayek) who is currently locked up in prison is one of the comedic highlights, although I found the script could have maybe been sharper.
It’s also hard not to see that they are definitely cashing in on the success of Deadpool with a few moments using 80’s music that feel rather familiar. Reynolds is also the same as he is in most other movies but I really liked his character Michael Bryce who still blames his ex-girlfriend (Elodie Yung) for a job that went awry a few years back. He’s not very good with relationships so it’s up to Kincaid to teach him a thing or two which provides a lot of the humour.
For the most part you’d think this was a generic buddy movie and I suppose it is but the action scenes are genuinely impressive with some great stuntwork, especially during the boat chase in Amsterdam.
The climax was probably my favourite part of the whole movie as the action really kicked up a notch and went in an unexpected direction. Be under no mistake that this is an R rated actioner too; so if you were worried that this is from the director of The Expendables 3 you can rest easy as it has a huge bodycount with some decent fight scenes and never skimps on violence.
Overall, The Hitman’s Bodyguard is harmless fun with our two leads bouncing one-liners off each other at regular intervals and a scene stealing villain from the always watchable Gary Oldman. The script could have been a little sharper and it won’t win any prizes for originality but as a throwback to old-school buddy movies it has its moments with some impressive action throughout.