Review of The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017) by Mmadnessgames — 19 Jul 2019

There are some funny moments, but there's something missing overall. Hitman's Bodyguard tries to emulate some classic 90's interracial buddy movies, but it doesn't have the same chemistry as films like 48 Hours... Reynolds is annoying. He doesn't play off Samuel L. Jackson. He's just Reynolds. Sometimes they have good chemistry, but most of the time there just feels like there's something missing.

Jackson is the star of the film. His performance is almost perfect. Second place goes to Salma Hayek, who doesn't get enough screen time.

The moment when Reynolds character forgives his ex-girlfriend on the phone is probably the biggest comedic fail of the film. He overplays it, but - more importantly - the scene doesn't make sense. Why is he socially retarded? Why does every film these days have to have an emotionally disabled manchild in the lead role? It's getting ridiculous.

Next, the action. There's too much of it. I found myself zoning out during numerous elongated action sequences.

Nothing is at stake. Jackson and Reynolds (I didn't pick up either characters name throughout the film; they're just Jackson and Reynolds) are both immortal superheroes. They know things they couldn't possibly know. They're always ten steps ahead of the enemy, even when it doesn't make sense.

Numerous times in the film one of them turns up to save the other one, with absolutely no explanation as to how they find each other.

The last thing we see of Jackson, he's on a speedboat. Reynolds is captured by the bad guys. Then, Jackson appears in the underground torture chamber to save the day. It makes no sense. But, he's a superhero. So we're supposed to look past it.

Personally, I'd prefer it if the film made sense and the characters were human. I'm getting tired of superheroes.