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''The Hitman's Bodyguard'' is a 2017 action comedy film directed by Patrick Hughes and written by Tom O'Connor. It stars Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson with Gary Oldman and
Salma Hayek Salma Valgarma Hayek Pinault ( , ; ; born September 2, 1966) is a Mexican and American actress and film producer. She began her career in Mexico with starring roles in the telenovela ''Teresa (1989 TV series), Teresa'' (1989–1991) as well a ...
. In the film, Michael Bryce (Reynolds) must protect Darius Kincaid, an imprisoned hitman (Jackson), who is on his way to testify at the
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
against a sadistic
Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
an dictator Vladislav Dukhovich (Oldman). ''The Hitman's Bodyguard'' was released in the United States on 18 August 2017 and grossed $183 million worldwide. It received mixed reviews from critics who praised its performances, action sequences, and the chemistry between Reynolds and Jackson, but criticized its clichéd plot and execution. A sequel titled '' Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard'' was released on 16 June 2021.


Plot

Michael Bryce lives a luxurious life as a successful UK-based private
bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects an very important person, important person or group of people, such as high-ranking public offic ...
, until his client Takashi Kurosawa, an international arms dealer, is assassinated on his watch. Two years later, the fallen-from-grace Bryce survives by protecting drug-addicted corporate executives. Meanwhile, Vladislav Dukhovich, the vicious
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
dictator, is on trial for crimes against humanity at the
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
. Unable to secure solid evidence or testimony against him, the prosecution's last hope is incarcerated
hitman Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...
Darius Kincaid, who agrees to testify against Dukhovich in exchange for the release of his wife Sonia from prison. Led by
Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...
Agent Amelia Roussel, an armed convoy escorts him from the UK to the International Criminal Court in
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
. With the aid of treacherous Interpol Assistant Director Jean Foucher, Dukhovich's men successfully ambush the convoy as it passes through
Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
and kill most of the security team. Darius eliminates the attackers, and Amelia, the sole survivor, takes him to an Interpol safehouse in the city. Realizing that the agency cannot be entrusted with the mission due to a possible leak, she enlists the help of her ex Bryce to escort and protect Darius on the way to The Hague. They hitchhike to a ferry going to
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, where Sonia is being held. Darius reveals to Bryce that he was the one who killed Kurosawa, having spotted him by chance while on another job, causing an outraged Bryce to abandon him. As Bryce evaluates his past mistakes at a beer stand, Dukhovich's men attack Darius. Bryce regains his composure and helps him escape, but is captured in the process. As he's being tortured, Darius arrives and rescues him. After reconciling their differences, they arrive at The Hague with seconds to spare. Darius testifies that Dukhovich hired him to assassinate a political rival, and he also witnessed Dukhovich carry out a mass execution and uploaded the massacre photos to a secret FTP site that he provides to the court. Dukhovich admits guilt, and then resorts to his backup plan: bombing the courthouse to escape. Foucher leaves the courtroom before the bombing and Amelia deduces he was the traitor. In the confusion after the bomb goes off, Dukhovich seizes a gun to kill Darius, but Bryce dives in front of the bullet, taking the hit. Injured, he tells Darius to stop Dukhovich. Foucher and Amelia struggle until Bryce shoots him to save Amelia. Darius pursues Dukhovich to the roof, where he attempts to escape by a helicopter his men hijacked. Darius destroys it and angrily kicks Dukhovich off the roof to his death for shooting Bryce. Darius is rearrested for his various crimes but breaks out of Belmarsh Prison several months later so he and Sonia can celebrate their anniversary in the bar in
Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
where they first met as a wild bar brawl breaks out around them.


Cast

* Ryan Reynolds as Michael Bryce, a disgraced triple-A rated executive protection agent and CIA officer * Samuel L. Jackson as Darius Kincaid, a foul-mouthed, infamous hitman and Sonia's husband * Gary Oldman as Vladislav Dukhovich, the dictatorial President of Belarus and later a terrorist leader *
Salma Hayek Salma Valgarma Hayek Pinault ( , ; ; born September 2, 1966) is a Mexican and American actress and film producer. She began her career in Mexico with starring roles in the telenovela ''Teresa (1989 TV series), Teresa'' (1989–1991) as well a ...
as Sonia Kincaid, Darius's wife * Élodie Yung as Amelia Roussel, an
Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...
agent and Michael's ex-girlfriend * Joaquim de Almeida as Jean Foucher, the French Assistant Director of Interpol and Dukhovich's mole * Barry Atsma as Moreno, the lead prosecution lawyer * Tine Joustra as Renata Casoria, Director of Interpol * Kirsty Mitchell as Rebecca Harr, Kincaid's lawyer * Sam Hazeldine as Garrett, a
National Crime Agency The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a Law enforcement agency#natlea, national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; Human trafficking, human, Arms trafficking, weapon and Illegal drug t ...
officer * Mikhail Gorevoy as Litvin, Dukhovich's lead defense lawyer * Richard E. Grant as Mr. Seifert, a drug-addicted corporate executive and client of Bryce * Rod Hallett as Professor Asimov, a political opponent of Dukhovich's, and witness against him * Yuri Kolokolnikov as Ivan, Dukhovich's Chief Lieutenant * Georgie Glen as ICC Lead Judge * Patrick Hughes as Interpol Agent


Production


Development

In May 2011, Skydance Media acquired the action script ''The Hitman's Bodyguard'' written by Tom O'Connor. The script was among the top 2011 Black List of unproduced screenplays. While originally intended as a drama, the script underwent a "frantic" two-week rewrite to be remade into a comedy several weeks prior to filming. On November 4, 2015, Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, and Gary Oldman were cast in the film, which Jeff Wadlow would direct for Millennium Films. Producers would be Mark Gill, John Thompson, Matt O'Toole and Les Weldon. On February 23, 2016, Élodie Yung and Salma Hayek were cast in the film, which Lionsgate would distribute in the United States. On March 9, 2016, it was reported that Wadlow had exited the film and Patrick Hughes signed on to direct the film.


Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
began on April 2, 2016, in London, Amsterdam, and
Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
. Originally, just one scene was to be shot in Amsterdam but when Hughes visited the location and saw its surroundings he decided to move some "London scenes" to the old inner city of Amsterdam. The Coventry-based scenes were also filmed in London.


Reception


Box office

''The Hitman's Bodyguard'' grossed $75.5 million in the United States and Canada and $107.9 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $176.6 million, against a production budget between $30–69 million. In North America, ''The Hitman's Bodyguard'' was released alongside '' Logan Lucky'' and the wide expansion of '' Wind River'', and was projected to gross $17–20 million from 3,350 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $8 million on its first day (including $1.65 million from Thursday night previews). It went on to open to $21.4 million, topping the box office. In its second weekend the film made $10.3 million, finishing first at the box office in what was the combined lowest-grossing weekend since September 2001. The film made another $10.5 million the following weekend, becoming the third film of 2017 to finish atop the box office for three straight weeks. However, while it made an estimated $12.9 million over the four-day Labor Day weekend, this too was a historically low-grossing weekend for movies— indeed the worst combined holiday weekend since 1998.


Critical response

On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 44% based on 226 reviews, and an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''The Hitman's Bodyguard'' coasts on Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds' banter—but doesn't get enough mileage to power past an overabundance of action-comedy clichés." On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score 47 out of 100, based on 42 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 80% overall positive score and a 57% "definite recommend". Peter Debruge of '' Variety'' gave the film a positive review and called it a pleasant late-summer surprise, writing: "''The Hitman's Bodyguard'' is about as close to a live-action cartoon as you're likely to get this year... That's not a style that works much of the time... but in the hands of '' The Expendables 3'' helmer Patrick Hughes—and more importantly, owing to the chemistry of stars Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds—it makes for a delightfully ridiculous screwball action comedy." Writing for ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'', Peter Travers praised the cast, giving it 2.5 stars out of 4 and saying, "Reynolds and Jackson make this summer lunacy go down easy with their banter and bullet-dodging skills. They're the only reason that ''The Hitman's Bodyguard'' doesn't completely sink into the generic quicksand from whence it came."


Sequel

In May 2018, it was announced that Reynolds, Jackson, and Hayek were in early talks to reprise their roles for a sequel, titled '' Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard'', with plans to begin filming later in the year. Production on the sequel began in March 2019, with Frank Grillo, Antonio Banderas, and Morgan Freeman joining the cast of the film.


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hitman's Bodyguard, The 2017 films 2017 action thriller films 2017 action comedy films American action comedy films American action thriller films American buddy action films American buddy comedy films American chase films American comedy thriller films 2010s buddy comedy films American courtroom films 2010s English-language films Films about bodyguards Films about contract killing Films about Interpol Films directed by Patrick Hughes Films scored by Atli Örvarsson Films set in Amsterdam Films set in London Films set in The Hague Films shot in Amsterdam Films shot in Bulgaria Films shot in London Nu Image films Lionsgate films 2017 comedy films 2010s American films English-language action comedy films English-language action thriller films English-language buddy comedy films