Review: The Hitman's Bodyguard

The Hitman's Bodyguard may be a been-there, done-that action comedy, but its predictability doesn't detract from the fact that it is one of the most enjoyable films of the year. With Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson starring in what is essentially a Midnight Run retread, The Hitman's Bodyguard delivers charisma, laughs and thrills in spades.

Reynolds is Michael Bryce, head of a self-described "Triple-A rated" personal protection organisation whose personal and professional life falls apart when his latest charge takes a bullet to the forehead. Cut to two years later and he's shuttling around the likes of Richard E. Grant's coked-up white-collar criminal in his economy car and bemoaning the loss of his prized rating. Former girlfriend and Interpol agent Amelia (Elodie Yung), who shows up on his caller ID as "Pure Evil," offers him a chance at redemption by helping her escort Jackson's Darius Kincaid from his Manchester prison cell to the International Criminal Court in The Netherlands.

Bryce is understandably reluctant. For one thing, killer-for-hire Kincaid has tried to kill him more than two dozen times before. For another, where Bryce plans everything to the tee ("Boring is best" is his mantra), Kincaid is a go-with-the-flow loose cannon who shoots first, asks later and will literally throw himself into any situation. Yet Kincaid is a valuable asset as he is the star witness in the case against Belarusian war criminal Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman, basically resurrecting his character from The Professional). His safety is key as the evidence against Dukhovich is not strong enough and almost every other witness has been eliminated. So Bryce and Kincaid do their best to not kill one another whilst dodging all the goons that Dukhovich throws their way.

Director Patrick Hughes certainly knows his way around an action sequence, staging car chases, shootouts and hand-to-hand combat with aplomb. It's a minor mystery why more filmmakers don't shoot action set pieces in Amsterdam since its narrow streets, canals and picturesque houses lend themselves very well to such relatively controlled chaos - to wit: the exciting chase scene that has Kincaid in a boat, Bryce on a motorbike, and Dukhovich's henchmen in cars. It's ridiculously over-the-top and yet so unimpeachably entertaining, which is exactly what the whole of The Hitman's Bodyguard is. There's always something going on in every frame - whether it be cars exploding, bones and jokes being cracked, bullets piercing flesh or axes and chains being deployed.

Then there are Reynolds and Jackson, the former with his patented exasperated cool and the latter stealing the film with his singular swagger, priceless expressions, and symphonic skill with a swear word. The whirlwind that is Salma Hayek, as Kincaid's salty and feisty wife, gives Jackson a run for his money. The flashback to their meet-cute in a Mexican bar is a hilarious example of love at first fight - he's as impressed with her violent tendencies as he is with her ample assets. "When she severed that dude's carotid artery with a beer bottle," he reminisces, "I knew right then."

The Hitman's Bodyguard

Directed by: Patrick Hughes

Written by: Tom O'Connor

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, Salma Hayek, Elodie Yung, Joaquim de Almeida, Richard E. Grant, Barry Atsma