The Hitman’s Bodyguard

The kind of action-comedy that does exactly what it says on the tin, The Hitman’s Bodyguard isn’t going to win any awards for plot originality or its action set-pieces, but the leads have good chemistry and the banter comes thick and fast.

Premise:  Disgraced bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) is brought in to protect star witness, hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson), after Interpol is compromised.  Bryce has to transport Kincaid from Coventry to court in The Hague where he’s due to testify against a ruthless former dictator (Gary Oldman) – but first that have to battle an army of mercenaries along the way.

Review:

This film is a straight-down-the-middle, old school, action-buddy-comedy, where a mismatched pair of bad-asses spend the entire film bickering between themselves while fighting their way across country.  Think Planes, Trains & Automobiles with a lot more swearing and a lot more guns, and you won’t be far off.  Approached on those terms, The Hitman’s Bodyguard is a lot of fun for what it is, as a throwback to those classic action-buddy-comedies of the 80s and 90s.

That’s not to say it’ll change your life, and sadly, the film doesn’t (and arguably couldn’t) quite live up to the hilarity of the first trailer which was set to the sound of “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston, or the original teaser poster which had Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson recreating the famous poster for Kevin Costner’s The Bodyguard (along with the same tag line).  That gag worked well for a poster and a three minute trailer, but you could never really stretch it over a two hour film.

“…both characters are a lot of fun separately, but even more entertaining as a double act...”

So rather than trying to stretch that joke too thinly, The Hitman’s Bodyguard opts for the tried and tested mismatched odd couple formula, forcing the anally-retentive, by-the-book disgraced bodyguard Michael Bryce to team up with reckless, make-it-up-as-he-goes-along incarcerated hitman Darius Kincaid.  Both characters are a lot of fun separately, but even more entertaining as a double act.

The film isn’t trying to be realistic or gritty at all, and is a comedy first and foremost – so although Kincaid is a hitman, it’s made clear that he only really kills “bad” people, and his decision to testify against Gary Oldman’s dictator is motivated by his love for his wife Sonia (played with scene-stealing panache by Salma Hayek, who gets some of the film’s funniest moments).  To balance against Kincaid, it’s also made clear that although Bryce is a top bodyguard, he’s more than willing to turn a blind eye to the activities of his clients, meaning that morally speaking he’s in as grey an area as Kincaid is.

“…the perfect kind of Friday night popcorn movie…”

Plot wise, after being brought together by honest Interpol agent Amelia Roussel (played by up-and-coming actress Élodie Yung from Netflix’s Daredevil), Kincaid and Bryce have to fight their way through a series of action set-pieces on their way to court … and that’s basically it.  There’s a B-story about the mole in Interpol (but not only is it fairly obvious from the start who the mole is, it’s actually revealed to the audience fairly early on), and there’s some backstory about Gary Oldman’s dictator (just to make it clear to the viewers how evil he is), but that’s about it.  I’m not even sure the main plot makes any sense (as I doubt the International Court of Justice would set a specific, to-the-second, deadline for the production of a star witness), but that’s not really what the film is about – what it’s about is seeing Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson, two of Hollywood’s masters of combining action with cool putdowns, do what they do best for a couple of hours.

Perhaps this isn't the kind of film to move heaven and earth to see as soon as possible, it is nevertheless the perfect kind of Friday night popcorn movie for when that’s all that you’re really looking for.