a5c7b9f00b The world&#39;s top bodyguard gets a new client, a hit man who must testify at the International Criminal Court. They must put their differences aside and work together to make it to the trial on time. With his reputation in tatters after a painfully unsuccessful delivery of a distinguished Japanese client, former triple-A executive protection agent, Michael Bryce, two long years after the disgraceful incident, is now reduced to a mere second-class bodyguard for hire. Under those circumstances, Bryce would do anything to prove his worth once again, anda result, it won&#39;t be long before he accepts an offer from Interpol to escort the renowned international assassin Darius Kincaid from Manchester to the Hague. The task seems simple: Bryce only needs to transport the contract killer from point A to point B, nevertheless, Kincaid,the only one with the guts and enough hard evidence to testify against a tyrannical Belarusian dictator, is an obvious target, while the trip to the Netherlands is long and hazardous. Without a doubt, this is a race against the clockthe mismatched duo will have to put aside their grudges, in a non-stop concerto for bullets. Is it me or are comedies getting progressively worse? Maybe it&#39;s my old age, 26 not exactly being THAT old however, I find it a rarity for me to now go and see a comedy and leave the cinema with a belly ache from laughing so hard. Don&#39;t get me wrong, I was excited for The Hit-man&#39;s Bodyguard, justI would have been ten years ago however, the main difference is that I would have lapped up all of the jokes in this film and been ready to call this one of the best films of the year ten years ago, whereas now at the grand old age of 26, I found it almost painful to sit through at times.<br/><br/>Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) is regardedone of the top bodyguards in the business but when he&#39;s assigned to protect Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson), a notorious hit-man and also someone Bryce has had ties with before, it might not be the easiest assignment of his career. Getting Kincaid to a courtroom to testify against ruthless dictator Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman) comes with its fair share of obstacles.<br/><br/>Patrick Hughes is a relatively inexperienced director, with The Expendables 3 being one of his only films, and it really does show with the bombastic action that The Hit-man&#39;s Bodyguard possesses. Aside from a high-octane speedboat chase through Amsterdam, the action in this film is very underwhelming.<br/><br/>The other major selling point of this film, the comedy, is where it falterswell. It takes a while for Reynolds and Jackson to actually share a scene and the wait for that to actually happen is just tedious. The first half hour is pretty bad and luckily the pair sort of save the film from being a complete disaster by sharing some form of chemistry to enjoy. The writing is painstakingly mediocre and wastes the opportunity to make this one of the comedies of the year by opting for fart jokes and foul language.<br/><br/>Frustratingly there are some very funny moments, particularly when Kincaid tells Bryce about how he met his wife however, these moments are very few and very far between. When the biggest laugh in a comedy is when a woman farts you should be worried.<br/><br/>Coming to the performances, Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson just about keep this film afloat with plenty of verbal sparring, Reynolds bringing the sarcasm and Jackson doing what Jackson does best by being himself. Gary Oldman comes out all guns blazingthe villainous Dukhovich, Elodie Yung doesn&#39;t get a chance to show off any of the skills we&#39;ve seen from here in Daredevil and Salma Hayek makes for one of the most irritating characters of the yearSonia Kincaid, Darius&#39; wife.<br/><br/>Loud, foul-mouthed and aggressive, and that&#39;s just Samuel L. Jackson, The Hit-man&#39;s Bodyguard is unfortunately a major disappointment for me. I want to see more effort put into comedies from the major studios because what we get most of the time gets tiresome pretty fast. The Hit-man&#39;s Bodyguard - Short on laughs and long on runtime. How a concept like this could be stretched into 2 full hours is a feat unto itself.<br/><br/>There are some actors in Hollywood that are basically infallible. The likes of Daniel Day Lewis, Phillip Seymour Hoffman (RIP), Tom Hanks, and Gary Oldman come to mind when I think of consistent, quality performances. Unfortunately for Gary, his streak has come to a crashing end. I don&#39;t know why he would sign on to a movie like this in the first place, but more than that, I don&#39;t know why the director, producer, studio, or even Gary Oldman himself would hang his hat on what ended up in the final cut.<br/><br/>As we&#39;ve come to expect, Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson play themselves in the movie, not really bringing any character into their roles. They&#39;re funny guys, to be sure, but they just don&#39;t hit the mark for me in this one. People were definitely laughing in the theater, but it just gets too slapstick for me at times. <br/><br/>The fight scenes themselves, however, are intricate and well- choreographed. They aren&#39;t at the level of John Wick 2, but they easily surpass the fights from the recently released Atomic Blonde. There are a couple good car chaseswell, with one being to the tune of Black Betty, which probably standsthe best car chase backdrop; perfectly chaotic and fun.<br/><br/>This movie of course doesn&#39;t take itself too seriously, but I at least wanted to laugh and enjoy the story. I didn&#39;t end up doing much of either. It&#39;s another film that when you see it in Target in November you&#39;ll say &quot;Oh ya, that was a thing that happened.&quot; Not exactly a quote you&#39;d want on the cover. 4/10. The film knows what it is, and lives in its ridiculous skin with an infectious, gleeful attitude. Unfortunately, The Hitman’s Bodyguard also doesn’t know when to say goodbye, anda result, overstays it’s welcome.
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