The Hitman’s Bodyguard is Possibly The Best Action Comedy of The Year (Review)

This week it’s The Hitman’s Bodyguard. There was a bit of hype for this one, seems like I saw the trailer to the Hitman’s Bodyguard before every other movie for two months, regardless of genre.  That could be an overstatement but not by much.  I was pretty sure I’d like this one, Action/Comedy if a forgiving genre.  Even when it’s bad it’s still pretty good.  And this one was pretty good, I laughed so much.  

The world’s top bodyguard gets a new client, a hit man who must testify at the International Court of Justice. They must put their differences aside and work together to make it to the trial on time.

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The Hitman’s Bodyguard’s strength is in its cast – Ryan Reynolds, Salma Hayek, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman – that’s a lot of big ticket names.  I usually don’t like Samuel L. Jackson – he plays the same character in every movie and that annoys me.  Here, however, it fit really well, and I think he might have been toning it down.  Gary Oldman was perfect as a villain; he was absolutely vile. Salma Hayek was hilarious, I loved her character.  She was just so badass, it was a hoot watching her tear through everyone she interacts with.  And of course Ryan Reynolds, who is SO funny and hot.

I loved the writing for this movie.  Not only does he the main character, Michael Bryce, have to contend with his unruly client, dangerous adversaries and his ex-girlfriend, he also has internal struggles to deal with.  He has to change his worldview because his current one isn’t working for him.  His motivations and assumptions are constantly being challenged, and they’re often hilariously wrong for the current situation. Ryan Reynolds is perfect for this, we can empathize with him and laugh at him at the same time.  Samuel L. Jackson had such good chemistry with him too, they made each other funnier.

This film is an hour and 58 minutes long.  Nice try,The Hitman’s Bodyguard, that’s still too long.  But not by much.  They should have cut about 18 minutes, and that could have easily been taken off the numerous chase scenes.   Because oh god, were there ever a lot of chase scenes.  And fight scenes.  And chase scenes that became fight scenes and vica versa.  The pacing must have been a little off because there came a point where I thought “ah, another chase scene” and just waited for it to be done.  Not an egregious fault, it comes with the territory, but still things seemed a little too frenetic.

So is The Hitman’s Bodyguard worth seeing? Yes it is.  Of course, there’s a lot of cursing and violence, so maybe don’t bring the kids.  Though no nudity – what happened to the nudity?  You have Ryan Reynolds, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, you can’t take off his shirt?  Were you worried you’d lose your ‘R’ rating?  Okay I’m stopping, I’m stopping.  But it’s worth seeing anyways, shirt or no shirt.  My favorite scene is when the main character stops for a drink, it’s worth the price of admission.  

Rating: [star rating=”4″]