The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)

User Review

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  TheMovieDiorama

  6 / 10

  The Hitman's Bodyguard is a fun, entertaining and humorous popcorn film that lacks technical excellence. It does exactly what it sets out to do: entertain. Turn your brain off and enjoy what's on screen, no need to whip out a notepad and detail the subtext and metaphors that are nested within. Car chases with explosions, boat chases with explosions, street chases with explosions...it's over the top and it's all the better for it! The main reason why it's going to bring in audiences is to see the hilarious chemistry between Reynolds and Jackson. Needless to say, they both pull off fantastically comedic performances. Although they are pretty much playing themselves, I for one like their personalities so was onboard straight away. The screenplay enables them to have adequate banter that made for some riveting confrontations. There's some crude slapstick humour thrown in for good measure, like a girl farting in the corner of a prison cell accompanied by Salma Hayek. Whilst we're on the subject of Hayek, she was damn hilarious. Personally I wanted to see more of her. The chase sequences are well filmed, the cuts aren't too frequent and does give off some much needed thrills. The problems that arise with the film are with its technical aspects, they just didn't agree with me. The plot was generic beyond description. Also, to have Gary Oldman as the antagonist and underuse him is a criminal offence. His henchman (which might I add looks like a Belarusian Ed Sheeran) had more screen time! Outrageous I say. The hand-to-hand combat scenes suffered from half second jump cuts that made it difficult to concentrate. The stunt doubles were plainly obvious. The natural lighting looked completely off, as if everything in the foreground was blurry. Finally, the film should've ended sooner than it did, quite a few unnecessary scenes were thrown in for the sake of it. However, ignoring all of the glaringly obvious issues...I did find myself entertained which is what the film set out to do. So it succeeds. It's fun, flashy and full of charisma.

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