When Ryan met Sam. Review of ”The Hitman's Bodyguard”
Year after year, directors, screenwriters and producers are looking for new ways to attract viewers to cinema. And this time they decided to play on the opposition - to force a professional bodyguard to protect an equally professional killer. The idea, of course, is a trump card - the story shows dozens of examples of different genres, where complete opposites were in the center of the plot (The Taming of the Shrew, Star Trek, Lethal Weapon). The events of the new film revolve around a hitman with the makings of a psychoanalyst and a bodyguard with signs of depression.Once Michael Bryce guarded the world's largest businessmen, and now he has sunk into cocaine lawyers with a persecution mania. And all because of the fact that his client was killed. But suddenly Michael has an opportunity to rehabilitate himself both in his own eyes and in the eyes of his colleagues. To do this, you just need to deliver from point A to point B a certain Darius Kinkade . The matter is complicated, firstly, by the fact that Kincaid has to appear in court against a war criminal, who does not stand on ceremony with witnesses. And secondly, Kincaid is an international-class assassin ... Staged "The Hitman's Bodyguard" Patrick Hughes, who in 2014 released the third part of the adventures of old robbers with Stallone at the head. This time, the cast was selected, as they say, conscientiously: the sad and pensive Ryan Reynolds, the genius Samuel L. Jackson, the gorgeous Salma Hayek, the great Gary Oldman, the charismatic Joaquim de Almeida. There was also a place in the tape for USA actors - Mikhail Gorev and Yuri Kolokolnikov.  The promo materials for the film prepared the viewer for a high-quality comedy action with good actors. Some even made optimistic assumptions that the new tape could occupy the niche of the canonical Lethal Weapon . The film has dotted the "e". In the first ten minutes, the director sketches out the main features of each of the characters by hand and ... believes that this is enough. The whole movie Reynolds sighs about his failures, Jackson does not take anyone seriously except his beloved woman, Hayek swears in Spanish at everyone, from the phone to a beloved man, and Oldman threatens and fulfills threats. And already at the stage of drama for the film, reasonable questions arise: why did none of the heroes undergo any changes in two hours of screen time? Unless the killer adjusted his “course of personal life” to his bodyguard. By the way, about the relationship between the main characters. Hitman- Jackson has principles, beliefs and a wonderful sense of humor. Bodyguard- Reynolds has self-pity, an unsettled personal life and a gentle disposition. It would seem logical to play the declared opposition card. Moreover, it was possible to make a line of how the heroes rub in, and then begin to influence each other, to make the main one. Perhaps this was the case in the original script, and the same Richard Donner would have revealed the topic one hundred percent. But Hughes decided to rely on action, humor and the myriad use of the word "motherfucker". Although, perhaps, we should also thank our localizers for the last point.  As for humor - it's either funny, but out of place, or out of place, but flat. Balance Hughes is rarely found. The director apparently thought that Jackson even repeated use of the aforementioned curse words could make him funny. And he was partly right: a talented actor pulls out the entire film on himself, obviously getting great pleasure from both singing psalms with the nuns and from fighting. But Jackson is not alone in the film. Unfortunately. And if Reynolds with Hayek rarely delight us with deep characters, then it would be just right to expect something significant from Oldman , who a priori does not know how to play badly. However, the creators cheated here too - the scenes with the participation of the great actor are bright,  In addition to Jackson and Oldman , the action on which Hughes made the main bet is also happy. True, with an "adult" rental rating, it would be possible to add some peppercorns to it, and not shoot like they have been shooting for twenty years. Moreover, after the trailers, there was a feeling that all these skirmish fights would be easy and quick, but turned out to be heavy and drawn-out in places. There are also many questions to the script. And here the responsibility is shared. It would seem that Tom O'Connor wrote, the producers approved, and the bribes from the director are smooth. But a good director and a mediocre script turns into a masterpiece. And in such cases, admiration is born in the viewer, not questions. But Hughes either couldn't or didn't want to. Therefore, plot bloopers are all in full view, and the film is full of predictable "unexpected" turns.  After watching The Hitman's Bodyguard , there is peace in my heart for Olympus detectives Riggs and Murtaugh - he once again remained unattainable, as well as joy for Samuel L. Jackson - he managed to drive a boat, shoot, and kiss Salma Hayek . If everything was started just for the sake of this, then Hughes fulfilled the task. The Topic of Article: When Ryan met Sam. Review of ”The Hitman's Bodyguard”. |
