Rating: 4/5 stars

This Patrick Hughes directed buddy-action film stars Ryan Reynolds (“Life”) as a disgraced bodyguard who is tasked with escorting a notorious hitman, Samuel L. Jackson (“Kong: Skull Island,”) to testify against a bloodthirsty eastern European dictator, Gary Oldman (“The Darkest Hour,”) for crimes against humanity.

The film also features Élodie Yung (“The Defenders”) as Reynolds’ former flame turned Interpol agent and Salma Hayek (“How To Be A Latin Lover”) as Jackson’s seductive but aggressive wife. Yung performs adequately in the role as the agent being forced to work with an ex-lover, but glaring issues lie with the remainder of the supporting cast. Hayek is reduced to being an emotional tether for Jackson’s character and Oldman is disappointingly underused as the primary antagonist. Despite being portrayed as a vicious and controversial leader, he is only given two scenes to really flesh out these traits. Being in the film for such a short period of time does not really help the character’s development.

Even though the film’s antagonist is unmemorable, despite Oldman being a very versatile actor, the film shines through its two main leads. At this point in their prospective careers, both Reynolds and Jackson are experts at their craft. Reynolds slides naturally into the role of the fast-talking hero, while Jackson is believable as the foul-mouthed but efficient assassin.

In short, the characters portrayed in the film are similar to the archetypes seen in 2016’s “Deadpool” and 1994’s “Pulp Fiction,” but it is their dynamic chemistry that really sells this picture. Despite the film adhering to many of the buddy-action road trip clichés we have all become familiar with over the past few decades, their constant bickering and comedic nature is enough to keep the film from feeling entirely by the numbers.

In fact, the film brings interesting ideas upon itself such as what it means to be the bad guy and the morality behind revenge.

The musical score by Icelandic composer Atli Örvarsson acquaints the film nicely by incorporating a musical score that is sure to feel right at home to fans of action films from the 1980s, such as “Lethal Weapon” or “Beverly Hills Cop.” “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” also excels with its camerawork and cinematography. At first, action is filmed passably with the obvious use of shaky-cam and closeup shots sprinkled throughout the picture to give fights a certain rawness. As the movie progresses, however, the action scenes become grander and more inventive, including a boat chase through the canals of Amsterdam and a fight between Reynolds and a mercenary in a Dutch hardware store.

Despite being clichéd, “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” is still an enjoyable romp that will please any fan of the action genre, or anybody finding a movie to kill a lazy afternoon. The R-rated feature will not become the next modern action classic like “The Matrix” or “Mad Max: Fury Road,” but the film succeeds in giving what the audience wants: An entertaining movie to close out the summer movie season. It is also a big improvement over Hughes’ previous film the disappointing, and wrongly PG-13 rated, “Expendables 3.” Overall, “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” is a familiar film with enjoyable leads that any action lover should enjoy.

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