Review of The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017) by Kaptenvideo — 18 Aug 2017

Bodyguard (Ryan Reynolds) teams up with a hit man (Samuel L. Jackson) who must testify against the dictator of Belarus (Gary Oldman). The two have to put their differences aside to make it to court on time. Also appearing: Salma Hayek, Elodie Yung, Richard E. Grant et al.

It’s a fine mainstream action comedy about two loved movie stars arguing, cursing, and eliminating lots of big men armed with big guns.

Theres a ton of shooting, fighting, car chases (also a motorboat chase), explosions, and a half-amusing appearance by Salma Hayek who also curses a lot.

The characters and story are as generic as they can come, the main aim to emulate the exciting mix of humor and violence that worked so well for „Deadpool“ – 2016’s comic superhero movie starring Reynolds, bringing 783 million dollars from cinemas.

"Deadpool's" mix works well here too. The only problem is the big amount of secondary filler material.

You could easily remove most of the stuff concerning dictator and bodyguard’s former girlfriend, and the result wouldn’t be worse in any way. It would be even better, probably, because the 118 minute running length is a bit much.

Why does almost every summer movie need to be close to two hours long these days?

Still, action scenes are good and adrenaline-filled, and Jackson and Reynolds are enjoyable as always.

Jackson turns 69 this December, by the way. How come he's still so cool and able to star in action movies? Not a geriatric bone in his body, it seems.