Courier at the movies – The Hitman’s Bodyguard
The film would have fallen flat if not for the efforts of Reynolds and Jackson and is quite amusing at times
The plot of the film is explained in its title itself. Ryan Reynolds is a rather luckless private security agent, who is bullied by his girlfriend Elodie Yung, who is an Interpol agent, into making sure an ace hit-man, Samuel L Jackson, reaches the international court at the Hague alive to testify against Gary Oldman, an evil dictator of Belarus – which is an actual country, by-the-by.
The rest of the story varies between hilarious fun and cringe-worthy silliness. Lots of bodies and blood, which will thrill teenage audiences. Gary Oldman executes the wife and child of a rebel in cold blood and Reynolds is tortured with electric shocks.
Reynold’s motives for helping his girlfriend, some kind of armed response Interpol cop (why are they always displayed as such helpless chops?) will have to be guessed by the viewers, as we do not get to see much of it.
Salma Hayek fails miserably in this movie. She is just annoying, with a dirty mouth. She plays Jackson’s wife and out-cusses him in every scene she appears in. That video montage of her fighting in a bar, really….?? Jackson mooning over her as she uses the jagged edge of a beer bottle to open up a man’s neck… that’s love at first sight served with a Gothic twist, as one other reviewer said.
The film would have fallen flat if not for the efforts of Reynolds and Jackson and is quite amusing at times. Watch this for a Saturday afternoon laugh. If you are looking for Oscar material, try something else.
This is a two-hour action comedy that dragged on a bit too long for me, but the young ones will love it. Watch the film if you are a Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L Jackson fan.
TRAILER:
5/10
