The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017)

Review

118min

Genre:       Action, Comedy, Crime

Director:    Patrick Hughes

Cast:         Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman…and more

Writer:      Tom O’Connor

-Synopsis-

When an elite bodyguard gets an unwanted new assignment—protecting a former rival and veteran hitman who will testify against a brutal dictator in The Hague—he must put aside resentments and personality clashes to get him to trial alive, in this outrageous action/comedy featuring an all-star cast.

Ever since the days of ’48 Hrs.’, the buddy cop (or buddy criminal) action/comedy has been a filmmaking staple, even becoming stale and predictable until John Michael McDonagh brilliantly refashioned the sub-genre with 2011’s ‘The Guard‘ and Shane Black re-injected some Hollywood magic with last year’s ‘The Nice Guys’. Now action director Patrick Hughes (Red Hill, The Expendables 3) secures the charms of Ryan Reynolds and the considerably experienced cool of Samuel L. Jackson, plus some other familiar faces, for this unlikely European road trip buddy movie with no filter.

Reynolds stars as skilled former ‘AAA rated’ personal protection expert for the rich and powerful ‘Michael Bryce’, fallen on hard times and working as a mid-level bodyguard only to be given a chance at redemption when his Interpol agent ex-girlfriend ‘Amelia’ (Elodie Yung) co-opts him into delivering a star witness to The Hague, for the trial of brutal former Belarusian ruler ‘Dukhovich’ (Gary Oldman) and his crimes against humanity. But when the witness turns out to be self-styled master assassin and rival ‘Darius Kincaid’ (Samuel L. Jackson), their covert pan-European road trip takes an awkward turn—as they embark on a kicking, punching and shooting race against time (and Belarusian assassins) to get to the trial . . . with violent and hilarious consequences.

Given his action credentials and undoubted comedy chops, Ryan Reynolds’ sheer presence in the film might suggest that ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ is an irreverent action-packed romp with laughs-a-plenty, and to some extent it is. Yet by making him the by-the-book ‘straight man’ of this comedy duo, and Jackson the wildcard in this adversarial buddy road movie, director Hughes effectively shackles his more comedically inclined star while giving his other lead a heavy load to carry—in a film which struggles to stand out in a packed crowd of modern action comedies.

Make no mistake though there are plenty of laughs to go around, if a little inconsistently, with both the leads lending their talents to all the mayhem, clever retorts and one-liners, plus plenty of unapologetic profanity and more than a ‘motherf**ker’ or two thrown into the mix, as you might expect from a Sam Jakckson film. The action builds and is visceral while soaked in reckless abandon and blood, featuring chases (both foot and vehicle) through interesting European locales, as well as plenty of fisticuffs and shootouts—but Hughes ensures that everything has a comedic slant and serves his two stars.

Yet for all the flash and bang, ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ is a textbook case of been there, done that, reworking themes and narratives established over decades and taking plenty from classics of the sub-genre like ’48 Hrs.’, ‘Midnight Run’ and many more, while covering them in an edgy, R-rated 21st century sheen. But without a fresh or nostalgic element to give it another dimension, like the 70s period element in ‘The Nice Guys’, the action isn’t impressive enough and the comedy is not consistent or sufficiently side-splitting to separate this film from the crowd of similar action/comedy romps that have piled up behind it.

With an underwritten and almost incidental story, it’s left to the central relationship and the two leads to make it all work, but they’re not given enough to make the script and the mayhem into movie magic. Reynolds in profane action/comedy mode will now always be compared to ‘Deadpool’, but he’s too curtailed here to compare favourably, and despite his experience Jackson doesn’t have enough to make up for it—meanwhile the novelty of seeing Salma Hayek in a new light is entertaining to a point, while the great Gary Oldman is criminally underused as the clichéd villain, dusting off his generic ‘Eastern European’ accents from ‘Air Force One’ and ‘Call of Duty’.

Ultimately aside from some questionable moral pondering, plus the corny message about love conquering madness and life making minced meat of best-laid plans, ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ delivers pretty much what you might expect—and if those expectations are not too high, you can look forward to an often funny and largely entertaining two hours (although 90 minutes would have sufficed) of unapologetic escapist entertainment . . . just don’t expect anything particularly memorable.

The Bottom Line…

A rather traditional buddy road movie cloaked in an orgy of irreverent comedy and violence, ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ is too underwritten and familiar to stand out from the slew of similar action/comedies in recent years. But thanks to the talents of, and chemistry between its two leads—plus plenty of madcap action and clever quips—this rather unusual European road trip has just about enough to make it a fun, if forgettable ride.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

The Nice Guys (2016)

In late 1970s Los Angeles; a sleazy private investigator and a gruff enforcer team up on a mysterious missing persons case, only to get caught up in a dangerous criminal conspiracy which links the underworld to the corridors of power in this off-beat comedy crime story from writer/director Shane Black.

Directed by Shane Black and starring Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe and Angourie Rice among others.

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