134.
The Hitman's Bodyguard
8.5/10
I'm not one to shy away from the fact that I think Samuel L. Jackson is purely overrated. The guy can't help but shout for no apparent reason in every movie that he is in. At the other end of the spectrum, there aren't many movies that I dislike Ryan Reynolds in, so the both of them coming together for this action is going to be interesting. Gary Oldman also stars and this guy can play villain or hero and win plaudits. Reynolds plays a bodyguard who is needed to transport and protect Jackson, the hitman, to court. Is this going to be a hit, or one that should have taken a bullet?
Michael Bryce, Reynolds' character, lives in a swanky, modern house in the woods somewhere, puts on his suit, loads his guns and kisses his girl one the forehead before he leaves for work. The beginning its meticulous, possibly showing how serious and effective this guy is at his job. He's been hired to protect Japanese man, whether a good guy or not, we don't know. As for Reynolds, it is hard to see past his comedy for this serious character, the guy is just born for laughter. It goes well, up until a bullet flies through the plane window and takes the guy out. Two years later and Bryce is a broken man. Protecting drug taking executives in a family car. Getting the job done, with bodies in his wake, the scene flips to Duhkovich, a ruthless dictator of Belarus, played by Oldman. He's being put on trial for his crimes against humanity, but with no real evidence, it looks like he is going to get away with it. The prosecution's last hope is in the shape of a famous hitman, Darius Kincaid. He agrees to give evidence but only if his wife will be released from prison and exonerated. She is in a cell and on a phone call from Kincaid, he recites lyrics to her from 'Hello' by Lionel Richie. She lets him know what kind of view she has and then the line goes dead after the singing.
Next, we are taken to an underground parking lot in London, probably underneath a jail. An Interpol assistant director, Jean Foucher is setting up Amelia Roussel with the job of transporting the hitman. Isn't she the girl sleeping at Bryce's pace in the beginning? She pretty much a rookie to this. If films tell me anything, it's that something is clearly going to go wrong, there will be an inside person in this and I think it's going to be the Frenchie. Just as we thought, they get ambushed on the streets of London and after plenty of gun fighting and deaths, Kincaid and Roussel make it to a safe house. She realises that they need someone who isn't attached to this case and the obvious guy would be Bryce. He answers the phone to her like a true ex would and after putting all of that aside, he agrees to help, not knowing who he will be protecting. Once he gets to the flat, he meets Kincaid but this isn't the first time. Kincaid has tried to kill him plenty of times in the past. Bryce and Roussel have a falling out and it is shown that Bryce ended the relationship because he feels that she gave up the information on the Japanese guy at the start in order to get a promotion herself. The Interpol have become aware of the safe house being used and figure it must be the couple how have survived. Foucher is in the meeting about this and my fears are made clear when he calls some of the Dictator's men to take out the hitman. They head over, but so do the police in order to apprehend Kincaid. Bryce knows the signs and they must make a quiet yet quick escape. Kincaid does no such thing and his first gunshot alerts everyone, causing them to rush in faster. The two make it to the top of the building and jump onto scaffolding, finally getting to Bryce's car and driving off calmly. In the meantime, Roussel has made it back to her boss and filled her in on the plan.
Bryce and Kincaid shall be traveling by car and ferry but obviously it won't be as easy as that. The driver is pretty strict again, forcing Kincaid to wear his seat belt and behave. They have some great back and fore between us other about plenty of personal things before Kincaid finally delves into his past about what he took up killing. When he was younger he witnessed his priest being killed by a racist man for no reason and left hanging for his congregation to witness. He found the man and killed him without hesitation. The gun shot cause crows to take flight from a nearby tree and this is actually the tattoo that is across the back of his head and neck. He then moves onto the story of how he met his wife in a bar. She was working there and ended up beating around 5 men to death. This scene is shown all to the music of Lionel Richie and the song 'Hello'. With lyrics like, 'Is it me your looking for?' and later, 'I love you,' is mimed by Kincaid to his future wife. The hitman needs the toilet and takes his whiskey flask with him, leaves it pouring off the roof that sounds like he is going to the toilet and makes a break for it. He hits a road bump as they have been followed by men from Belarus, who blow up their car but are eventually killed on the road. They have to hitchhike with a bus of nuns, all the way to the ferry and get on without trouble. Once in Amsterdam, Bryce has a place where he stays, keeps his guns and has pictures of his and Roussel. Kincaid takes a shower but instead climbs out of the window and they head to a clock tower where Kincaid leaves a bunch of flowers and a hat for his wife to see from her cell. They don't go together though. Kincaid actually sneaks off to go and Bryce is in the background, making sure he stays safe. We constantly see people getting pulled out of shot by an arm, every time they get too close.
Foucher, finally meets up with the dictator, demanding his payment for an involvement in this ambush but it doesn't go down well because Kincaid is still alive and the Frenchman has a pen driven through his hand for his troubles. Back to the pair in Amsterdam, Kincaid is giving relationship advice We have a flashback again of him meeting his wife, Salma Hayek. Obviously, she is the actress playing her, not actually Salma herself. The nickname he calls him, 'Cucaracha', is actually the name of the bar that they first met in. It's now time for Bryce to tell Kincaid where he met Roussel. He was on a job and bumped into her at a funeral whilst she was there to kill the person that he was protecting. Some more love music sets the scene for his flashback before there is an abrupt stop. Kincaid is laughing about Bryce blaming his girlfriend for the Japanese hit. Kincaid reveals that he was the one who shot the Japanese arms dealer at the beginning, the one who ultimately ruined Bryce's life. He abandons Kincaid and heads to an outside bar to talk to a barman whilst drowning his sorrows. As he's talking, we can see Kincaid leave the clock tower behind him. He gets ambushed again and cars are flying through the beer garden behind Bryce, who is totally calm and ignoring it all. Bullets are flying and a chase starts as Kincaid makes it to a speed boat in the canals as the Dictator's men follow him on land in their jeeps. Bryce decides to take action and chase him down on his motorbike. Finally, getting to the scene, he's hit of his bike and is captured, before being tortured about Kincaid. Only one person is going to save him and low and behold, here comes Kincaid. He jumps in the car with him and both make their way to The Hague for the court case. Bryce is on the phone to Roussel, giving her the update but also revealing his feelings to her. Yet again though, they are being chased and Kincaid slams into a concrete block, causing Bryce to fly out of the front window and onto the road. They have a dry, funny argument about the seat belt rule again. They are split up as Bryce makes a run for it and Kincaid continues to drive, making it to a dried-up river and exploding a car for his troubles. The flames from the car cuts the scene to flames on a grill in a kitchen where Bryce has fought his way into. With some melee combat, he fights his way back to Kincaid who is parked outside and both make their way to the court case, just in time.
Evidence is given and Kincaid gives his real name and his story. The priest that he once spoke about was actually his father. He reveals pictures of the massacre and all seems to plan but I know otherwise. The trailer has given too much away for me and I know that there is an explosion to come inside the courtroom. The French snake gets a nod and heads outside and Roussel notices him acting shady. She follows him into the hallway as a bomb goes off in the court, Dukhovich steals a gun and shoots at Kincaid. Bryce jumps in the way and takes his first bullet for someone, order Kincaid to follow the leader and not let him escape. They get to the roof top as a helicopter is planned to pick up Dukhovich. Downstairs, Roussel is being choked out by Foucher until Bryce makes it outside to save her. Kincaid shoots down the helicopter with it exploding behind him as he's cracking down onto the Belarusian leader. He claims that he should never have shot his bodyguard before kicking him off the roof. The film draws to a close with Bryce being wheeled off on a stretcher, Kincaid giving himself up and Sonia being released from prison. The scene is outside the pub that the hitman and his wife met, as the camera goes inside to catch them both dancing. He has escaped in order to spend their anniversary together.
Ryan Reynolds has actually given me a reason to enjoy a film with Samuel L. Jackson in. Their chemistry on screen was great at times and dry humour is, without doubt, the biggest factor for me within comedy films. The action scenes were great, whether it was gun slinging, car chasing or pure hand to hand combat. It could be described at repetitive at times because you always knew that they were going to be chased down time after time, but each one was different. By land, sea and building to building, it was kept relatively fresh. The plot is never meant to truly spectacular because this is an action comedy and because of that, the film doesn't take itself too seriously. It was a lot of fun and Reynolds adds to this genre with ease. Even the fight scenes had laughter when Bryce was chucking any kitchen utensil at his attackers. I didn't expect too much but was left with a couple of hours well spent.
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