'The Hitman's Bodyguard' Movie Review

Hello, fellow moviegoers!
   The Hitman’s Bodyguard is directed by Patrick Hughes, and it stars Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, and Elodie Yung. When an international hitman is the only viable witness to a ruthless dictator’s crimes, it’s up to one of the world’s top bodyguards to keep him alive en route to the courtroom. 

   The Hitman’s Bodyguard was actually a surprisingly entertaining time at the theater that can make for a fun night out with friends. While it’s far from perfect, I believe the good definitely outweighs the bad here. It was funny, it had entertaining action scenes, and it was just an amusing, simple movie that you can have some fun with.
   Let’s start with the humor. While The Hitman’s Bodyguard isn’t the funniest movie of the year, it still managed to get plenty of laughs out of the whole theater. The humor in this film may not be the wittiest, the most clever, or the most original, but it worked for what it was. The point of a comedy (granted, this is an action-comedy, but a comedy nonetheless) is to make the audience laugh. The Hitman’s Bodyguard succeeded at that. Most scenes featuring Salma Hayek in prison, in particular, were pretty funny. While occasionally it does rely on toilet-humor, annoyingly so, for the most part, there are quite a few laughs to be had in this film.
   The action scenes also stood out as being very well shot. In its action scenes, The Hitman's Bodyguard was able to keep focus very well. It never became overly complicated to the point that you weren’t really sure what was going on. It was always very clear what was happening in the action and chase scenes, even though they could get quite complicated. At times, they reminded me of what you would expect to see from a film like Kingsman: The Secret Service. While they never got quite as violent as Kingsman, the action scenes here were still pretty bloody, so if that’s not your thing, this movie might not be for you.
   No film is perfect, and The Hitman’s Bodyguard does have its flaws. Primarily, it doesn’t really handle emotional or romantic scenes very well. When they happen, as they do often in this film, they come off as cheesy and cliché. In addition to that, the musical score, which is mostly very good, also gets very formulaic in those scenes. At one point, an emotional scene is undercut with a joke at the very end, and the film actually used the sound of a record scratch when it did. While record scratches can work well if used right, it felt out of place and, to put it simply, distracting in The Hitman’s Bodyguard.
   Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds definitely carry this movie on their shoulders. I actually find it hard to imagine any other actors playing those lead roles. I was concerned that all I would see was Ryan Reynolds playing the same character as Deadpool in this film. That’s his shtick, and I assumed he’d stick to it. Thankfully, his character was a little different from that. It wasn’t drastically different, but it was a little touch of a different flavor from Reynolds, which was a welcome change. I had the same concern about Samuel L. Jackson, but he also fit into his character quite well. Jackson surprisingly brought a lot of emotion and depth to his character, and he really made you empathize with this hit man, despite his attitude and all of the awful things he had done. Together, Reynolds and Jackson worked very well. It was apparent that the two of them were having fun together making this movie, and that translated onto the screen wonderfully.
   At the end of the day, The Hitman’s Bodyguard isn’t an amazing film, but it was pretty enjoyable. This is the type of film that you can go see in the theater with a group of friends and have a really good time with. It’s pretty straightforward. The Hitman’s Bodyguard is exactly what you’d expect an action-comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson to be, though that’s not a bad thing. If you enjoy these two actors then you’ll enjoy The Hitman’s Bodyguard. It's as simple as that. It might not be the type of movie you plan a day around seeing, but if you’re bored, it’s certainly worth your time.
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7/10

   So what did you think of The Hitman’s Bodyguard? Do you want to see Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds work together again? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this review, share it on Facebook and Twitter. It really helps! Don’t forget, I post every Monday and Friday, so check back then for more movie reviews and other miscellaneous movie thoughts!
 
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