THE HITMAN'S BODYGUARD Review

Director Patrick Hughes has three directorial credits to his name; one I've never seen, another the watered down third installment in the Expendables franchise, and a third in this late-in-the-summer entry cleverly titled The Hitman's Bodyguard that seems intent on capitalizing on the penchant of its two stars for choosing cheap and easy over challenging and risky. Such choices typically provide audiences a few laughs and producers failed financial returns so why Lionsgate thought this might be the exception to the rule is uncertain. Whether it be Ryan Reynolds in disasters like R.I.P.D. or the mildly intriguing but woefully undercooked Self/less to that of Samuel L. Jackson in any number of the projects he tends to choose in between Tarantino and Marvel flicks (think The Man or Formula 51) the fact of the matter is it seemed pretty obvious what we were getting into from the moment the first trailer for The Hitman's Bodyguard was released no matter how much of a surprise it might have felt like it could potentially be. Sure, the premise is cute, but sole screenwriter Tom O'Connor (Fire to Fire AKA one of those direct to DVD Bruce Willis actioners) does little to nothing with the main idea and mostly puts the naturally charismatic personas of Jackson and Reynolds into tired buddy cop scenarios that result in a stale story and a bland experience that is neither consistently funny enough for us to excuse it's formulaic narrative or dark enough to challenge us in unexpected ways. This brings to light the real issue going on within The Hitman's Bodyguard in that it doesn't have a real idea of what it wants to be. Rather, Hughes pulls O'Connor's obviously uneven script in so many different directions that it ultimately fails to succeed in any one of the many genres and/or styles it attempts. I'd like to imagine that Hughes really thought he was pulling off something special and legitimately fun by getting back to the kind of balls to the wall, abundance of blood, unafraid to show death in spades-type action movies that Steven Seagal, Nicolas Cage, or even Harrison Ford might have made twenty some odd years ago, but while Hughes shows us these tendencies time and time again they are either executed so poorly they render themselves empty or they don't lean far enough into any one genre so as to play to the strengths of the tropes of that genre-remaining somewhere in the middle of all these things it wants to be without actually being any of those things. Honestly, it will be a wonder if the film leaves any impression on viewers other than how its use of soundtrack rivals that of last year's summer movie season closer, Suicide Squad. That's the only thing I'm still laughing about; its blatant disregard for how such tools are supposed to be utilized which, coincidentally, effectively summarizes the root cause of everything that goes wrong in this movie.

OUR BRAND IS CRISIS Review

Note: This is a reprint of my review for Our Brand Is Crisis, which originally ran on September 13, 2015 after seeing it at the Toronto Film Festival. I am publishing it again today as it hits theaters this weekend.

Our Brand Is Crisis is a Grant Heslov/George Clooney production, but it's not Argo in the sense that it's not a political thriller and it's not Monuments Men in the sense it's not a heroic story parading around as a nostalgia trip. As this is a David Gordon Green picture though, this is a film that ends up being something of a mashup between a political drama and slapstick comedy. Green is an eclectic director who has dipped his hand in heavy drama (George Washington, Snow Angels) as well as broad comedy (Pineapple Express, The Sitter) and his latest somewhat blends these two styles to create something uniquely edgy if not completely conventional in the beats it hits. From the outset, Our Brand Is Crisis feels like a straightforward documentation of the carousel of politics this world and it's countries become wrapped up in every four years. Given this is Green we're talking about it also means the characters involved in such circumstances have a unique set of sensibilities that give the otherwise unsurprising narrative a twist. Early on in the film Sandra Bullock's 'Calamity' Jane Bodine tells a room of campaign volunteers they need to help make the narrative fit their candidate rather than the other way around. Green seems to have heeded his films own advice as he clearly caters his story to the character of Jane and her off the wall methods that have made her one of the most well-regarded campaign strategists in the game. Were Green to have not done this we would have little more than a standard political drama, but given the characters are fun and engaging it's impossible to not see it as at least a little more than that.

TIFF 2015: OUR BRAND IS CRISIS Review

Our Brand Is Crisis is a Grant Heslov/George Clooney production, but it's not Argo in the sense that it's not a political thriller and it's not Monuments Men in the sense it's no heroic story parading around as a nostalgia trip of the 1960's. As this is a David Gordon Green picture though, this is a film that ends up being something of a mashup between a political drama and slapstick comedy. Green is an eclectic director who has dipped his hand in heavy drama (George Washington, Snow Angels) as well as broad comedy (Pineapple Express, The Sitter) and his latest somewhat blends these two styles to create something uniquely edgy if not completely conventional in the beats it hits. From the outset, Our Brand Is Crisis feels like a straightforward documentation of the carousel of politics this world and it's countries become wrapped up in, but given this is Green we'r talking about it also means the characters involved in such circumstances have a unique set of sensibilities that give the otherwise unsurprising narrative a twist. Early on in the film Sandra Bullock's 'Calamity' Jane Bodine tells a room of campaign volunteers they need to help make the narrative fit their candidate rather than the other way around. Green seems to have heeded his films own advice as he clearly caters his story to the character of Jane and her off the wall methods that have made her one of the most well-regarded campaign strategists in the game. Were Green to have not done this we would have little more than a standard political drama, but given the characters are fun and engaging it's impossible to not see it as more than that.

First Trailer for OUR BRAND IS CRISIS Starring Sandra Bullock

I'll be seeing Our Brand Is Crisis on my third day in Toronto (which is this Saturday!) so it's nice to be getting a little more info on one of the bigger films that will be premiering at TIFF this year. The film comes to us courtesy of director David Gordon Green (All the Real Girls, Pineapple Express) is written by Peter Straughn (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Debt) and is an adaptation of the 2005 documentary of the same name. The film follows a group of American consultants who accept the challenge of getting an unpopular Bolivian president re-elected. Sandra Bullock will make her Oscar bid as maverick political consultant, "Calamity" Jane Bodine, who comes out of retirement to lead the team while Billy Bob Thornton portrays her nemesis, Pat Candy. The trailer offers a strong political satire vibe with the material in line to perfectly blend the more broad comedic strokes of Green's mainstream work with the low-key, dramatic material he seems to call home. In being able to find a balance in these two styles I can only hope to expect great things from the film and with Warner Bros. positioning this in a Oscar-friendly release date just before it was announced the film would premiere at TIFF I can only assume those expectations will be satisfied. Our Brand is Crisis also stars Zoe Kazan, Anthony Mackie, Scoot McNairy, Ann Dowd, Joaquim de Almeida and opens October 30th.