This man single-handedly ruined the word mother-fucker!

Directed by: Patrick Hughes

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Salma Hayek

I was caught off guard with this film, which bode well for my overall feelings towards it. After seeing the trailers I had assumed this was a spoof movie. It looked to me like Reynolds and Jackson were releasing a movie where they got to goof around and make fun of action/hitman style movies. I was way off. They took this movie seriously and actually sold me on their chemistry, comedy and action sequences. Now, that doesn’t mean I’m saying this was a great movie. But compared from what I was expecting, it was entertaining.

Michael Bryce (Ryan ‘subtle sarcasm’ Reynolds) was a top notch agent in the business of high-end protection. Until one day a client of his gets killed and it ruins his life. He loses his top notch rating as an agent, his cushy lifestyle and his serious girlfriend due his inability to cope with the loss.

Darius Kincaid (Sam ‘the black guy in every movie’ Jackson) is the worlds deadliest assassin and has been in prison for a few years. It turns out he has information that would put away international super villain Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary ‘never turns in a bad performance’ Oldman) forever. Kincaid cuts a deal with Interpol to give up the info as long as they release his wife, Sonia Kincaid (Salma ‘aged really well’ Hayek) from an Amsterdam prison.

Kincaid and Bryce are thrown together when the protection detail assigned to get Kincaid safely to Amsterdam for his testimony all gets killed, save for one lady – Amelia Roussel (Elodie ‘Elektra’ Yung). Agent Roussel just happens to be that previous serious girlfriend of Bryce. She knows there’s only one man qualified to get Kincaid alive to Amsterdam to testify – Bryce. (cue ominous music)

Thus we are thrust into a love/hate relationship and journey of Kincaid and Bryce as they attempt to survive a road trip across the countryside. The predictableness of the rest of the film gets pretty standard. Along the way they both reveal personal feelings to the other. They both slowly earn each others trust and ultimately friendship as they have to work together to survive. Even though they began their journey together with hate, by the end they are each better men for knowing the other.

This is where I assumed the film was going to be spoof based. The trailers told you more than the very basics of this plot. Yet here I was really enjoying it as if it was my first time watching this story. Neither Reynolds nor Jackson did much towards character acting. They each essentially were themselves as you would think they would speak in real life. Close your eyes and you could hear Deadpool on a road trip with Jules Winnfield (although a little less preachy).

Despite all this, I had fun watching it all play out. The chemistry with Reynolds and Jackson is smooth. They’ve worked together before, are probably friends in the real life and it shows. I was actually surprised at the delivery of a few lines in more than a couple scenes actually because of this. Usually two guys with such good rapport would dialogue-flow throughout, but there are a couple moments I’d think each actor may want back.

I realize this review just got long for how good this movie actually is.

The film is fun. You’ll have no problem kicking back, grabbing a tub of popcorn and enjoying this action comedy. The best moment of the film is when Reynolds starts doing impressions of Jackson behind his back. He’s not making fun of the character here but of Jackson and his career. (see: topline of this article).

For being an entertaining movie this one gets my recommendation.

7 out of 10

-Brian