The Hitman's Bodyguard

Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman) is a genocidal dictator on trial at the Hague. Witnesses with evidence of his crimes are sadly lacking, except for hitman Darius Kincaid (Sam Jackson), who is willing to turn evidence in exchange for getting his wife (Salma Hayek) released from prison. He will still be going to jail, though. The Interpol agent (played by Elodie Yung) charged with getting him to the Hague is finding that difficult due to a mole in the agency. So she calls her ex, Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds), who plays bodyguard to wealthy people but has fallen on hard times, and basically orders him to get Sam Jackson to the Hague. Death and hilarity ensue.

Sorry, that paragraph just seemed like an easy way to introduce all the relevant players and get the plot, such as it is, out of the way.

The movie isn't going to go on any of the actors' highlight reels. Ryan Reynolds plays his stock kind loud, easily startled character. Sam Jackson is angry, sarcastic, and uses the word "motherfucker" a lot. But, each one's stock character is the sort that would easily irritate and be irritated by the other. So the movie gets mileage out of them getting on each other's nerves. Bryce trying to protect a guy he doesn't like, who doesn't want protecting. Bryce being a meticulous and careful guy, while Kincaid just wants to break stuff and get on with it. Although Bryce proves to be surprisingly good at improvising for someone that hates it so much.

There's nothing really surprising about the plot. There's a big reveal near the end that you can pretty much see coming from a mile off. But the details of the movie are enjoyable. There's a fun chase sequence in Amsterdam involving cars, boats, and a motorcycle. They should have figured out some way to get a helicopter in there, or maybe a hang glider. But they did incorporate shootouts and a fight in a hardware store, so that's pretty good, I guess.

Really though, this is a love story. Sure, there are a lot deaths, but like Deadpool taught us, all good love stories start with a murder. The relationship between Jackson and Hayek is sweet, the one between Bryce and Agent Roussel is a little more iffy, just because there's a lot of bad blood there. But the film shows a genuine recognition by Bryce of his screw-ups, so that works. Yung and Reynolds have decent chemistry, albeit mostly being hostile towards each other.

It's a decent popcorn movie. Nothing deep or special, but a fun way to kill a couple of hours.