Ryan Reynolds has been in some solid movies that haven’t required him to use his fast-talking jokester persona (Buried, The Nines, etc), but sometimes an actor crafts a persona so well that it becomes difficult for audiences to accept them doing anything else. And Reynolds is good at being an exasperated, sarcastic badass, so he might as well lean into it, right? Toss somebody like Samuel L. Jackson into the mix, and now you’ve got yourself a party.
That’s exactly what The Hitman’s Bodyguard does, and the film’s latest trailer shows the two of them in buddy cop mode as they bicker all across Europe while trying to stay one step ahead of a dictator who wants them dead.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard trailer
This doesn’t exactly scream “billion dollar box office” to me, but it might be a fun diversion in a summer full of sequels, reboots, and remakes. It looks like this is a few rungs above those direct-to-video movies that always seem to shoot in Eastern Europe (you know, the ones Steven Seagal somehow still stars in), and if absolutely nothing else, it should be able to coast by on the charisma of its two leads.
Tom O’Connor’s script seems to take the aggression that’s always simmering between mismatched characters in buddy movies and brings it to the surface, so instead of just yammering away at each other the whole time, these guys are physically going head-to-head as well. On top of all that, any movie that features Gary Oldman playing a murderous dictator immediately has my attention, and the official synopsis (which you can read below) indicates that Salma Hayek will be more than just the latest example of the played out “wife on the phone” trope.
Directed by The Expendables 3 and Red Hill director Patrick Hughes, the film also stars Elodie Yung, Richard E. Grant, and Joaquim de Almeida.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard hits theaters on August 18, 2017.
The world’s top protection agent (Ryan Reynolds) is called upon to guard the life of his mortal enemy, one of the world’s most notorious hitmen (Samuel L. Jackson). The relentless bodyguard and manipulative assassin have been on the opposite end of the bullet for years and are thrown together for a wildly outrageous 24 hours. During their raucous and hilarious adventure from England to the Hague, they encounter high-speed car chases, outlandish boat escapades and a merciless Eastern European dictator (Gary Oldman) who is out for blood. Salma Hayek joins the mayhem as Jackson’s equally notorious wife.
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