What do you get when two people from opposite sides have to work together? Well you get a buddy comedy of course. When notorious hitman, Darius Kincaid agrees to testify at the Hague against Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman) - a former dictator charged with crimes against humanity - it's up to his bodyguard, Michael Bryce to get him there. What follows is a mad-cap, explosive road trip across England and Holland as these two natural enemies have to work together in order to survive.
The Hitman's Bodyguard may not be revolutionary, but it will have you laughing from start to finish. The reason for this is the chemistry between its two leads. Reynolds' clean cut protection agent and Jackson's rough and ready assassin play off each other beautifully. It's even more amusing when you realise you're essentially watching Nick Fury argue with Deadpool.
Patrick Hughes - director of The Expendables III - has managed to find the right balance between story, humour and action. It's light and funny enough to keep you laughing but not so ridiculous that you start to get pissed off with it. Granted, Hughes doesn't do anything new with the genre, but does he really need to? The buddy comedy has been around for decades, they're fun and not too challenging, which makes them easy chill out watching. This describes The Hitman's Bodyguard perfectly, it's a movie that's just good fun.
My only real issue with the movie is that it suffers from a typical Hollywood problem; the female cast was given very little to do. Salma Hayek arguably has some of the funniest scenes in the movie as Kincaid's incarcerated wife, Sonia. She's just as tough and foul mouthed as her husband, and Hayek's performance is hilarious, but we just don't see enough of her. Elodie Yung gets a few moments of action before her role is reduced to phoning Bryce to find out where he and Kincaid are, a real shame given we've seen what she's capable of in Netflix shows Daredevil and The Defenders. It just seems a waste to cast these talented actors only to give them nothing to do!
Overall, The Hitman's Bodyguard does exactly what it says on the tin. It's a fun-filled, action packed buddy comedy that'll keep you laughing throughout. If you enjoy movies like 48 hrs and 2 Guns, this is definitely one for you!
8/10
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I could easily have written this review, these are my thoughts as well. Maybe the score is a little high but otherwise simpatico.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that THE HITMAN'S BODYGUARD is a bad movie. It's just that it's way too obvious that it wants so badly to be "Midnight Run" to the point where it even briefly swipes that movie's theme song. And Salma Hayek steals the movie every chance she gets. You think she's sexy? Well a Salma Hayek swearing like a Kansas City pimp is twice as sexy.
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