When it comes to making action buddy comedies, the filmmakers behind them often rely on the films chosen stars to perform the main body of work in regards to making each respective story an extremely fun and satisfying ride, even if the films often feel as if they're coasting on the backs of their cleverly well-casted duos. With The Hitman's Bodyguard, the filmmakers choose to capitalize on the star talents of Deadpool's Ryan Reynolds and Pulp Fiction's Samuel L. Jackson with the two making for an unusual pairing, which adds some much-needed flare to a script that's heavily reliant on both generic elements and subplots from other films within the genre. The Hitman's Bodyguard serves as being an average action and buddy comedy, that's ultimately made entertaining to watch due to the hilarious banter of its main stars, who are often used to deflect from the stories overreliance on cliched elements from other numerous films that walk similar beats.
The plot for The Hitman's Bodyguard centers around a bodyguard (Played by Ryan Reynolds) whose down on his luck after failing to prevent the assassination of a high-powered client. He finds himself guarding a notorious hitman (Played by Samuel L. Jackson) whose in the process of being transported to the Hague to testify against the Belarusian president (Played by Gary Oldman). Looking at the storyline for The Hitman's Bodyguard, one can see that there's nothing particularly groundbreaking nor innovative about it as its concept has been done before by other filmmakers. Despite the lack of originality, the film manages to succeed largely thanks to the unexpected chemistry that both Reynolds and Jackson bring to the screen along with the welcoming presence of Gary Oldman and Selma Hayek in supporting roles. As the film shows, both main actors are the sole reason that The Hitman's Bodyguard provides audiences with a good time as being ridiculous entertainment that's surprisingly witty, appropriately over-the-top, and smoothly acted with both energy and enthusiasm from its main stars. Whereas the execution of the story falls within the category of being generic, it's the presence of its main stars as well as the films impressively directed action sequences and comic book style fun, that ultimately make it worthwhile in terms of viewing.
The key element that makes The Hitman's Bodyguard as explosive and entertaining as it comes across, is the enormous amount of silliness and energy that it's main cast brings to the table with the life of the film coming from the fantastic teaming up of both Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson on screen together. This is a pairing that audiences wouldn't immediately think of nor put together, but the films casting director deserves major props for imagining the combination because it effectively works here and is fantastic. Ryan Reynolds continues to impress audiences with his charisma with him playing Michael Bryce, a former triple A rated executive protection agent and CIA officer. Reynolds makes his character likable and serves as being a fitting sidekick to Jackson's, despite appearing as being a bit of a pushover in comparison. Samuel L. Jackson is equally good as Darius Kincaid/Evans, one of the Kincaid world's most notorious hitmen. As solid as Reynolds is in his role, Jackson carries the higher ground with his part with him being allowed to do his best acting which is to be Samuel L. Jackson. Both men share tremendous chemistry and stand as being the films main strongest point with it often struggling when they aren't around. Though his role is more serious in comparison to the main leads, Gary Oldman proves effective as Vladislav Dukhovich, the dictatorial President of Belarus who serves as being the films main antagonist. When both Reynolds and Jackson aren't on the screen, Oldman commands it though his role is smaller in comparison which makes him feel a bit wasted given his range. Selma Hayek manages to be a fun surprise with her minimal role as Jackson's wife Sonia Kincaid. The script doesn't allow her to do much given her characters circumstances but the moments that she's on screen, she manages to steal the show with her character bits. Elodie Yung gives a notable performance as Michael's ex-girlfriend and Interpol agent Amelia Roussel, who shows conflicting feelings towards her ex. As a whole, the cast for The Hitman's Bodyguard plays a large role in the film being reasonably solid entertainment for audiences with everyone attempting to bring a sense of charm, as well as professionalism to the production. As noteworthy as the performances from the supporting cast come across, it's the work of both Reynolds and Jackson that make the whole experience worth sitting through even if the plot doesn't particularly offer anything new or exciting.
The films directing by Patrick Hughes ranges as being relatively standard for this type of film with him impressing with the films action sequences, while letting the actors do a significant chunk of the work in regards to bringing the story to life and making it genuinely fun to watch. He gives the film a comic book style level of violence, that adds to the appeal of the plot with him rightfully giving the story its R rating, allowing it to be edgy. The film is well-shot with cinematography that makes it appear both flashy, as well as being visually appealing to look at with the film containing some beautiful shots of Europe with the Amsterdam action sequence being a well-executed piece of action choreography. The pacing is quick from the start with the film being tightly edited. The story especially jumps into hyper-drive when the audience discovers that the two are former mortal enemies. The films violence is edited quick to appear as being fast-paced, particularly the sequences involving shootouts where bullets are shown traveling through characters with quick glimpses of gore that reinforce the films R rating. The directing that Patrick Hughes gives the film aims to match the over-the-top nature of the plot with him throwing exotic settings at the audience as well as chase sequences involving motorcycles, boats, and cars mixed with good old-fashioned shootout sequences to provide audiences with a genuinely satisfying experience full of solid popcorn entertainment. For the most part, he succeeds here despite his directing doing nothing impressive outside of the action sequences and generally feeling like an average action comedy flick, that largely relies on its main stars in order to be successful. It also doesn't help that the films script isn't that strong to begin with.
The screenplay written by Tom O' Connor is where the film ultimately suffers as the story lacks both creativity and boldness to present audiences with something fresh with the end result coming across as being extremely formulaic. The writing appears to be rather bland outside of the witty dialogue between its two main stars with the main plot feeling shallow. The films main message saying that ones instincts should always be trusted, doesn't feel thoroughly explored for it to be plainly visible to the audience. With the exception of Reynolds and Jackson's characters, the side characters all feel like stereotypical ones that only operate within the mechanisms of the plot with no real personalities being given to them. Besides being linked to the main characters, audiences simply don't find themselves caring much about either Selma Hayek's character or Elodie Yung's as audience aren't given much interaction with their characters to be thoroughly developed. The same can also be said regarding Gary Oldman's character with his part coming across as being a one-dimensional villain, whom the audience are supposed to buy as being both fearful and intimidating without much background given to him as being a dictatorish figure. There's nothing about the plot for The Hitman's Bodyguard that allows it to standout from other action comedies nor get the audience to become invested in the storyline outside of the film focusing on its main characters. The filmmakers place so much emphasis on them as a winning duo for the story, that the films energy feels as if it stalls whenever they exit the screen and the film goes back to its basic plot, showing just how much the film relies on and ultimately is able to work based on both their talents and chemistry alone. For an action-packed and comedic storyline which aims to appeal to the fanbases of two famous movie stars, one would think that much more effort would go into writing a script that's worthy of their sheer talents, not feeling beneath it. Unfortunately it feels as if the latter happens here as the script lacks both the creativity and depth to make it work as being something truly special rather than being forgettable work.
Overall, The Hitman's Bodyguard isn't a terrible film in any sense of the word but it also doesn't manage to be a great one. It ultimately falls within the category of being passable to average entertainment thanks largely to the unique pairing of its main stars. The film is essentially a recycling of all the familiar tropes of a traditional action buddy comedy with nothing new or compelling being added to the mix. When the film is focused on its two main figures, it works and manages to elevate itself into being something that's fairly decent to watchable. When they're not around, the story struggles and becomes uninspiring with the audience begging the film to bring Reynolds and Jackson back. The film knows that it isn't anything high-art, and aims to deliver some solid popcorn entertainment with audiences being expected to excuse the mediocrity of the story because of the fact that Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson are the main stars. It aims to be well-received on the basis of its main duo being a neat setup, that the rest of the film becomes painful to watch in regards to how little effort went into trying to add more depth to its story rather than recycling old plot twists and subplots, that audiences have seen before in other movies. The charismatic performances of its leading men go a long way in regards to making the film something that's able to be considered as being fairly enjoyable to watch, but doesn't particularly make it a good nor strong film as a whole. It just falls within the category of being okay with both the main cast saving it from being a total waste of time. Not even the films desperate attempts to outdo every previous plot twist set before it succeeds in capturing the audiences shock or attention. This is a film that coasts too much on the strength of its key players, and ultimately suffers from an extreme bad case of painful mediocrity. No one who watches this will find it to be neither a remarkable nor artsy piece of work, but those looking to experience both a wild and whacky ride with Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson in the leading roles will find it to be understandably fun under the right conditions of watching it as both actors appear to be at home with this type of film in terms of playing their roles. They truly are the only reasons anyone should ever give this flick a watch as nothing else about it works in terms of being memorable. One hopes that any future sequels that Reynolds, Jackson, or Hayek pursue will have more thought being put into their stories with much stronger scriptwriters, that'll rightfully give each star more to work off of next time.
Final Verdict: Fans of both Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, and buddy action comedies in general will find The Hitman's Bodyguard to be a passably fun experience that's powered by its main stars.
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