Review of The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017) by Harry W — 19 Aug 2017

How did a film starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Gary Oldman come out in 2017 without me knowing about it's existence? Well there's actually a fairly simple answer to that, it's because this film is nothing. There are points where I think the film is good, there are points where I think the film is bad, but I never feel too strongly in either direction.

My biggest complaint is that the film should just be a straight up comedy. When it tries to be a comedy it actually works as one, mostly due to the talent of the lead roles and the chemistry between them. However, especially for the first half, the film insists so persistently that it's a serious action film and it just doesn't work. The stakes are low and the plot is predictable. The action scenes are pretty good even if they are pretty brutal, and I don't mean John Wick style "awesome" brutal but instead a kind of uncomfortable sense of brutality.

Gary Oldman may as well not have even been in this film. His character was essentially just "Dictator" and that's literally it. He didn't get any opportunity to shine and was very limited in this limited role stuck within a predictable plot.

I wouldn't recommend this film, but I wouldn't tell someone not to watch it. If you know the premise then you can walk in and out of the film without missing anything and so I'd say that this film is appropriate for having on in the background of a BBQ. Watch it in the way you'd watch a Fast & Furious movie.