The Hitman's Bodyguard
Dir: Patrick Hughes
2017
***
The Hitman’s Bodyguard is fun. That is about as
much as I can say about it really, but I think that’s fine. It is based on a
script that appeared on the much hyped ‘Black List’ back in 2011 but it clearly
went through a few changes since. The film is an action-comedy with a few
serious bits thrown in but originally it was intended as a serious thriller.
Laughable really, as the story itself is about as clichéd as it gets and is far
from being the sort of thing that would find itself on the Black List. Writer
Tom O’Connor thinks that Interpol are a sort of EU version of the
CIA, a supranational law enforcement agency with agents in fast cars (black)
and guns. They’re not. They don’t even have power of arrest. It comes as no
surprise that the script was re-written into a comedy, however, it is amazing
to learn that this last minute rewrite happened just two weeks before filming
started. This is a film that was clearly in trouble and everyone involved took
a huge gamble with it. I think it paid off in the long run, but it clearly
isn’t the film O’Connor intended it to be. The action sequences are
forgettable, the plot is ridiculous, the CGI is bad and it follows a familiar
and rather boring formula. A ‘buddy’ film featuring two feuding partners
has become a bottom of the barrel genre, but, Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L.
Jackson make it work. The chemistry between the two is literally the only thing
that makes the film work and make worth watching. Gary Oldman’s choices of
roles has been questionable for a few years now and pretty much any actor could
have played his part. I liked Salma Hayek’s performance but I’m not sure the
role totally suited her. I suspect that everything good about the script was
written in that last minute rewrite, which is amazing as it is intriguing. Seat
of your pants film making can be a wonderful thing and this is clearly the
proof. The Hitman’s Bodyguard is no masterpiece but it is incredibly likable
and entertaining. The original script was submitted in 2011 and it took five
years before filming began but everything good about it took just two weeks
before filming. It makes you wonder whether these film studios actually know
what they’re doing? Clearly they knew they had a potential turkey on their
hands and that’s why the drastic last minute rewrites happened but to leave it
so late is incredible to me, considering the work and money that is poured into
films these days. Maybe more films should be written this way, because if this
is what two weeks of panic writing looks like, just think of what could be
achieved in one, or even just three days! It’s impossible too take this film
seriously (although watching our character’s route from Manchester to Dover is
excruciatingly incorrect) but its entertaining and enjoyable - entertained I
was, enjoy I did.
