– Lionsgates Films



I was lucky enough this week to get more advanced screening tickets courtesy of AMC Stubs. Thanks again AMC Stubs for making me feel like a real critic. Without further ado here is my review:

Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) is on the wrong side of the law. He is on trial and if Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson) doesn’t testify he’ll be free to be the evil dictator of Belarus. Interpol has Nick Fury in custody, unfortunately for them there is a mole on the inside and things go south. Interpol is compromised so Elektra (Elodie Yung) calls in a favor from her ex, Deadpool. Deadpool is to escort Nick Fury to court and save the day.

The Hitman’s Bodyguard was directed by Patrick Hughes and written by Tom O’Connor. Over the top action is no stranger to Hughes who had previously directed The Expendables 3. This is O’Connor second script turned to film.

I enjoyed this movie, I really did. I just didn’t really enjoy how the action scenes were directed. This film was an action comedy, heavy on the comedy but just as heavy on the action. There were numerous car chases, shoot outs and exploding cars. Many of the action set pieces looked like what a 10 year old would do if you gave him the controller while you were playing Grand Theft Auto. Hell, this movie even had quite a few scenes where cars or motorcycles went off jumps. I could just imagine “Stunt Jump 1 of 30” popping up on the bottom of the screen. Now I actually enjoyed all the GTA action, it’s perfect just watching that and shoving your face with popcorn. Unfortunately the more close up action scenes lost me. During fight scenes and the like, it looked like Hughes got Usian Bolt to man the camera. The camera moved way too damn fast. When the camera wasn’t in hyperspeed Hughes had more cuts during fight scenes than my face did when I first started shaving. When there wasn’t action the directing was solid. The film was watchable just sometimes the camera movements and cuts were a bit distracting.

The plot of The Hitman’s Bodyguard is something we’ve seen time and time again. A bad guy is on trial, only one guy can put him away, our hero needs to keep him alive to testify. I literally just described a bunch of movies. But that doesn’t matter. The characters that occupy the story make up for the generic plot. There is lots of laughs to be had.

Ryan Reynolds and Sam Jackson have great on screen chemistry, when they were together I couldn’t stop laughing. Those two have a bromance everyone should strive for. What this film lacks in action it gains in Reynolds and Jackson. They bicker like children at a playground arguing over whose dad could beat up who. Their dialogue seems so natural that I wouldn’t be surprised if they improvised most of their lines. I would watch two hours of Samuel L. Jackson calling Ryan Reynolds a motherf*cker any day. The Hitman’s Bodyguard is just that. The word motherf*cker is used so many times that I lost count after I took my shoes off. The actors are what made this movie enjoyable, everyone was good but Reynolds and Jackson overshadowed everyone with their on-screen dynamic.

The Hitman’s Bodyguard is an homage to 80’s and 90’s buddy cop movies and I couldn’t have had more fun watching it.

I give The Hitman’s Bodyguard a 7.5 out of 10, would watch again.

“motherf*cker.”