‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ Review

Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson are two actors who have very snappy personalities. Reynolds showed that off in Deadpool and Jackson has shown that in almost every single one of his roles. 

Developing a movie where these two personalities combine seems like a great idea. What I can say is that watching these two on-screen is really entertaining. However, the story that they’re in is a bit underwhelming.

Plot

Reynolds plays a bodyguard who is down on his luck. After a big job goes wrong, he finds himself working smaller jobs for lower amounts of money. Jackson is a hitman who has been arrested and has been serving time in prison. When a dictator (Gary Oldman) is on trial for crimes against humanity, Jackson has to be brought in to testify against him. 

Other people who were being brought in to testify against Oldman had been killed by his henchman before they can even get to the courthouse. Now, Reynolds has been assigned to protect Jackson so that he can get to the courthouse and send Oldman to jail. Unfortunately, Jackson and Reynolds have a bad history with one another and find that working with one another is going to be a challenge.

Pros

The performances in this movie are pretty good. Reynolds and Jackson both have great chemistry with one another and both of them are pretty likable. Reynolds has a decent arc in this movie, but it is a bit predictable where his character ends up. 

Jackson’s character basically has no arc in this movie and I honestly liked it. He starts one way and he ends being pretty much the same person he was at the beginning. I thought that it did fit his character.

I think my favorite part of this movie is the relationship between Jackson and his wife played by Salma Hayek. They have a really messed-up relationship, but for some reason, it is strangely convincing. There is a flashback that shows how they met and it is really funny.

I also thought that the action scenes were a lot of fun. Director Patrick Hughes does a good job at making the action scenes a lot of fun and really energetic. They did certain things that made them seem a little bit more unique than just standard action movies. Jackson would often do some funny things in the action scenes that made them even more enjoyable.

Cons

While Jackson and Reynolds provide good entertainment, the actual story of the movie isn’t great. It’s very predictable and I never felt fully invested in the story. I think the main problem with the story is that the villain was never very threatening.

Oldman plays the villain and he is completely wasted in this movie. Oldman is one of the greatest actors of this generation and this movie does nothing with him. He is in the movie rarely and when he is in the movie, he is usually just giving commands to his henchman in a hotel room somewhere. He is still good in the scenes that he is in, it’s just the film did a bad job at making him seem very menacing.

I also thought that there are certain times where the movie felt a little bit too much like a cartoon. Some of the jokes are very over the top and the action sometimes overuses CGI when it really doesn’t need to. There are certain jokes that just really didn’t work for me and took me out of the film.

There is also another relationship between Reynolds and Elodie Yung, who plays a federal agent, but their relationship is far less interesting. Whenever it comes up, it just seems a little forced into the plot and breaks the momentum of the main storyline.

Final Thoughts

This movie is a standard fun, action movie that can occupy your mind for two hours. The relationship between Jackson and Reynolds is definitely what propels this movie and makes it a little bit above average. However, the story is weak and the villain really has nothing to do with this movie. If you choose to watch this movie, I think you can have a good time, but don’t expect anything extraordinary.

Rating: 3/5