Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L Jackson are two innately watchable people.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard marks their first on-screen collaboration (not counting voice roles in Turbo) and the pair bounce off each other effortlessly.
Their chemistry is a godsend, considering the rest of the film is pretty flat.
The story follows executive protection agent (effectively a glamourised bodyguard) Michael Bryce and ‘unkillable’ hitman Darius Kincaid as they attempt to reach the trial of a European president accused of war crimes.
The president, played by Gary Oldman (Harry Potter’s Sirius Black) has countless men on his payroll trying to kill Kincaid before he reaches the court in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Bryce must ensure he gets to the trial before the deadline.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard is largely an action comedy.
This makes the incredibly strained love story between Michael and Interpol agent Amelia Roussell (Elodie Yung, Daredevil) hard to watch and frankly out of place.
The love story between Kincaid and his incarcerated wife Sonia (Salma Hayek, Savages) is also odd, but it is played to be ridiculous, so it doesn’t feel as grating as Michael and Amelia’s.
There are plenty of decent one-liners and acceptable chase sequences throughout the almost two-hour run time but overall The Hitman’s Bodyguard is forgettable.
The plot isn’t interesting enough to maintain your interest, the characters are only so-so and the film cannot decide what it wants to be.
If it wants to be light and hilarious, why have your main villain charged with genocide? Genocide is an extremely serious topic, one that cannot be made light of.
Having a respected actor like Gary Oldman play a dictator responsible for thousands of deaths in an action-comedy seems like a very poor move.
There are a few things The Hitman’s Bodyguard does get right, though.
Reynolds and Jackson just work well together, in a Lethal Weapon kind of way.
Hayek is hilarious in her small role (though she does get objectified a few too many times) and absolutely steals her scenes.
Finally, the European settings – including London and Amsterdam – are beautiful.
