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As summer winds down and the kids start heading back to school, the excitement of Summer Blockbuster Season begins to fade, too. Where, just weeks ago, we had big budget action and effects, we now have the fun cast and mindless action of The Hitman’s Bodyguard.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard stars Ryan Reynolds as Michael Bryce, a protection agent who lost his prized “AAA Elite” status after losing a high-profile client. When his former girlfriend, INTERPOL Agent Amelia Roussel (Elodie Yung), calls him for help with a critical mission, he can’t really turn her down—but he’s tempted to walk out after he discovers that his client is Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson), a notorious assassin who’s scheduled to testify against a vicious world leader in international court. But with time running out, they have to set aside years of professional differences to get Kincaid to court on time.
Of course, you’ve probably seen this movie before. For the most part, it’s just the story of a couple of guys with clashing personalities who are forced to team up to defeat the bad guys. The rest of the details don’t really matter. Fortunately, though, Jackson and Reynolds are just plain fun to watch. Jackson sometimes goes a little too over-the-top, but his character is what you’d expect: loud and cocky and wildly impulsive, shouting out obscenities whether he’s shooting at bad guys or conversing with his beloved wife. Reynolds, meanwhile, may flounder a bit in his role as the straight-laced, by-the-book half of the duo, but his wise-cracking and his constant willingness to be totally silly make his character lovably entertaining.
The most tragic thing about this movie, then, is that it could have been so much better. Even though the stars don’t give their strongest, most memorable performances, they’re still entertaining in their typical personas. But, unfortunately, they’re not given much to work with—other than a couple of outrageous action sequences (which come complete with CGI that’s often distractingly bad). The story is brainless and predictable from beginning to end, and the writing is awkward—and it isn’t always as funny as it thinks it is. Though there are a few times when it momentarily offers up an interesting idea, it generally fails to take its characters in anything but the most obvious direction.
If you’re still clinging to the action and adventure of summer, The Hitman’s Bodyguard does, at least, provide plenty of chases and violence—and some laughs, too. But it’s more of a ho-hum January thriller than a summer blockbuster.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
