The Hitman's Bodyguard

Image credit: Foxtel Movies

With a pretty heavy flu season upon us, the partner having already succumbed, Netflix has proven to be pretty good at picking up the vibes of what we feel like watching and then shoving little surprises our way. Last night, it treated us to a film that we missed at the cinema, but were keen to see: The Hitman’s Bodyguard.

The film tells the story of disgraced high-priority bodyguard, Michael Bryce, (Ryan Reynolds) who is called on to protect a key witness set to testify in International Criminal Court. The witness is a hired assassin (Samuel L. Jackson) and, unfortunately, one that Bryce has had prior history with. If either are going to make it to Court alive, they must put aside their differences and distrust of one another and work together.

While The Hitman’s Bodyguard is a recognisable and relatively predictable film in a lot of ways, what’s particularly nice about it is the fact that it’s an interesting spin on the frenemy-buddy-cop subgenre. Like Will Farrell and Mark Wahlberg in The Other Guys or Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum in 21 Jump Street, Reynolds and Jackson are complete opposites, though the difference is that both of them are in a pretty similar line of work. The reluctant friendship that grows between them is done in a really nice way, foregoing any major acts of betrayal or epiphanies about love and friendship, and instead, opting for action-packed gestures of duty and unfathomable loyalty. It’s this that makes the film different, refreshing, and funny.

Image credit: Metro

Reynolds and Jackson work a treat together, playing off one another, but then blending perfectly and unexpectedly, like basil and strawberry. At some point, one does get reminded of the beautiful friendship between Curtis and Portier in The Defiant Ones, but only fleetingly, as the central relationship is not built up to be the cash cow. That title goes to the fantastic action sequences: lots of car chases, lots of explosions. 

The Hitman’s Bodyguard is a really fun movie that is recognisable, but just twisted about enough so that it’s different to other films that follow the same genre steps. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Director: Patrick Hughes, 2017

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, Elodie Yung, Rod Hallett, Samla Hayek, Tine Joustra, Joaquim de Almeida, and Richard E. Grant