The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)

I remember seeing The Hitman's Bodyguard's trailer back in Septemeber and thinking it would be a mess and saying that I would not watch it. I do love Samuel L. Jackson though and Ryan Reynolds is pretty amazing and months later I ended up watching it anything. 

Triple-A bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) is hired to protect a Japanese arm dealer (Tsuwayuki Saotome). Everything goes smoothly until the Japanese is shot and killed through the airplane window. Two years later, Bryce has fallen into disgrace and makes his living protecting drug-addicted corporate executives in London. But things are about to change when his ex-girlfriend (Elodie Yung) asks him for help to protect Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson), a notorious hitman, and get him to Amsterdam to testify against ruthless dictator Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman). 

Now think of every possible cliché of the genre, this movie has it. The story unfolds in the most predictable of the ways, it's not intricate at all, therefore there's no tension or suspense whatsoever, and basically I've wasted time writing a whole paragraph about the plot when the film's title sums it up already. Also, the romantic subplots are so forced they are nothing but a waste of time.

The villain doesn't get any better either. Gary Oldman is utterly wasted to play your typical, underdeveloped Russian villain. He has no motivation whatsoever to do his thing and his actions are silly to say the least. What's worse though is that he's barely in the film. If you have someone like Gary Oldman playing a villain you don't simply underuse him. 

Lionsgate

However, as predictable, stupid and clichéd as it gets, the film still manages to engage and entertain. How is that possible with such a messy script? Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson, that's how. They have a wonderful chemistry and they basically carry the whole thing. The kind of relationship between them, one planning everything, the other always trusting his instincts, isn't anything new but they both are so charismatic, they make the film fun to watch. Also, they compensate very well the film's lack of jokes. Okay, there are some jokes that land well, but most of them are flat and not funny at all. 

The action is another critical aspect of The Hitman's Bodyguard. Coming from Patrick Hughes, the same guy who directed The Expendables 3, the action sequences are exactly as one would expect them, unbelievable and implausible which take away their excitement. However, some scenes are fun to watch especially because how exaggerated they are. But most importantly, it is consistently nonboring.