Kevin Hart plays a typical Kevin Hart type in this action comedy from the director of The Hitman’s Bodyguard. All you need to know right now is that this film isn’t even as good as The Hitman’s Bodyguard, which wasn’t any kind of modern classic itself.
I don’t even have the energy to relate the plot, as tired and overdone as it is, but here is the very basic outline. Teddy (Hart) ends up somewhere with people who mistakenly assume he is the very dangerous, and skilled, Man From Toronto (Woody Harrelson). Because he ends up involved in a job that has two or there main objectives, authorities want Teddy to keep up the pretence, to lure out The Man, while The Man ends up also wanting Teddy to keep up the pretence, for some convoluted reason to do with maintaining consistent identity from the first part of the job. Teddy just wants to stay alive long enough to make things up to his long-suffering wife, Lori (Jasmine Mathews). And blah blah blah blah blah.
This is a prime example of what happens when you marry a weak script (from Robbie Fox and Chris Bremner) to a weak director, fail to have main cast members who are charismatic enough to distract from the many negative aspects of the film, and think that viewers will be kept amused by action set-pieces that complement the physicality of the actors with an excessive amount of CGI (the effects often far from top quality work, it has to be said). As much as I disliked The Hitman’s Bodyguard, and the sequel, I was able to enjoy some moments thanks to the casting of Reynolds and Jackson. Hart and Harrelson aren’t the right fit for the roles they are given here.
There is nothing in the script that feels at all real, in terms of the movie world it is presenting. The Man From Toronto is supposed to be a mystery figure, yet a lot is known about him and he doesn’t exactly hide his identity, or even try to be subtle. Teddy isn’t ever developed as a character who really aims to change by the time the end credits roll (in fact, it could be argued that he doesn’t change at all from the start to the finish). And as for the mission at the heart of everything? Think about it for more than two seconds and you will see how ridiculous it is for anyone to be letting Teddy take the central role.
I guess those who like to see Hart doing his usual schtick will find some laughs here, and Harrelson isn’t terrible (he just doesn’t quite work in the role, due to a mix of the writing and his casting), but the supporting cast generally do better with much less screentime. Mathews is a pleasant presence, Kaley Cuoco is fun in the role of her friend, and Pierson Fode keeps things lively whenever he appears, playing The Man From Miami.
The final extended fight sequence has a number of fun moments, but is also dragged down by too much time spent cramming in camerawork flourishes and CGI, and you may start to realise just how few and far between the laughs were when you get to an end scene that is supposed to provide some extra chuckles, but doesn't. I'm not going to say that this is entirely laugh-free, and Hart fans will rush to strongly disagree with me, but it's disappointingly miserable with any jokes that actually work. Can we maybe encourage director Patrick Hughes to move away from trying to make comedies, he's just not very good at it.
3/10
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