Imagine if Pulp Fiction’s Jules Winnfield got older, and grumpier, and had to get to a specific location while under fire from potential assassins. Then imagine that any pre-Deadpool Ryan Reynolds character had to get him there. That’s basically what we have in The Hitman’s Bodyguard and, to great surprise, it looks to be exactly the film you’ll need to give your summer a boost.
Directed by Patrick Hughes (The Expendables 3), The Hitman’s Bodyguard is the second script from Tom O’Connor (Fire With Fire), and boasts a wider cast that includes Salma Hayek, Elodie Yung (Daredevil), Gary Oldman and Joaquim de Almeida (Our Brand Is Crisis). The premise is simple – the world’s greatest hitman (Samuel L. Jackson) needs to get to the International Court Of Justice alive, and the world’s greatest bodyguard (Ryan Reynolds) has to get him there. Complications arise when it transpires that a number of people are trying to kill the hitman to prevent him from testifying, and that the protection of said hitman presents more than a challenge to the bodyguard in question.
From the tone and style of the trailer, it seems that The Hitman’s Bodyguard has the potential to be one of those rare action comedy films – the success of which is achieved by leaning right in to the genre, and fully embracing the fact that nobody is doing anything new at all. Making this work is no easy feat, and these types of films can often fall flat – but those behind The Hitman’s Bodyguard seem to have figured out that it’s all about the talent combination, and it’s all about the ride.
We’ve seen countless road movies of variable quality, involving mismatched characters trying to serve their own agendas (Midnight Run, Planes Trains And Automobiles, Identity Thief, to name but a few) – and The Hitman’s Bodyguard apparently knows it. In fact, The Hitman’s Bodyguard seems to know exactly what it is – as evidenced by the trailer’s use of Whitney Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You” from the 1992 film The Bodyguard, juxtaposed with snippets of Samuel L. Jackson screaming expletives in Ryan Reynolds’ face.
Make no mistake, The Hitman’s Bodyguard trades entirely on the clearly hilarious comedic chemistry that is conjured between these two legendary leading actors, while the supporting cast join in with the joke, and notable action set-pieces explode around them. It’s exactly what it is, and needs to be nothing more, and if this trailer is any indication, August 18th, 2017 is going to be a good day for moviegoers.
