FILM REVIEW OF ''THE HITMAN'S BODYGUARD" (2017)

As the summer doldrums descend upon us with the impending change of the seasons, it is reassuring Hollywood has produced a genuinely entertaining action comedy to tide us over until the major Thanksgiving and Christmas releases.   Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson make a charismatic combo with no love lost for each other in the fast-paced but formulaic thriller “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” (***1/2 out of ****) co-starring Gary Oldman and Salma Hayek.  “Expendables 3” director Patrick Hughes proves not only that he can orchestrate some extraordinary stunts involving vehicular mayhem on a modest $30-million budget, but he also gets inspired performances from his gifted cast.  Indeed, you’ve seen variations of “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” many times before in road pictures about mismatched heroes, such as the two “48 HRS” movies, “The Rundown,” “The Rookie,” the “Rush Hour” trilogy, the “Lethal Weapon” series, “The Nice Guys,” and “Midnight Run.”  This adrenalin-laced saga benefits from catchy dialogue courtesy of “Fire with Fire” scenarist Tim O’Connor who gives everybody quotable lines peppered with flavorful profanity as well as a plot sizzling with surprises galore.  Of course, you know Ryan Reynolds is going to deliver Samuel L. Jackson as a witness to testify against villainous Gary Oldman before the deadline when the latter can be cleared off all charges against his murderous Eastern European regime.  The destination isn’t as much a revelation as the rollercoaster ride that everybody takes to arrive there in the nick of time.  All too often movies like “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” lose steam somewhere in the middle, but Australian director Patrick Hughes maintains the momentum throughout its 118 minutes.  The gauntlet that our bickering heroic pair must negotiate keeps challenging them right up until to the last second. Happily, the gals in this slam-bang, grudge match aren’t destitute damsels-in-distress, but babes that can shoot straight, smash testicles with their feet, and rival the guys with their profanity.  Clearly, sensitive souls searching for philosophical insights about life’s mysteries should shun this implausible but entertaining nonsense.

Debonair Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds of “Deadpool”) is at the top of his game as an elite triple-A bodyguard who will shield any scoundrel who can afford his services.  Bryce knows all the tricks of the trade.  As “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” unfolds, our clean-shaven, well-dressed, suit and tie executive has escorted a notorious Japanese arms dealer, Kurosawa (Tsuwayuki Saotome of “London Has Fallen”), to the airport to bid him farewell when a random shot out of the blue obliterates the arms dealer as the latter is peering out the window of his jet at Bryce.  Our protagonist is stunned beyond expression and watches as his bodyguard service folds.  Initially, Bryce blames his girlfriend, Interpol Agent Amelia Roussel (Elodie Yung of “Gods of Egypt”), for her lack of discretion. Michael believes Amelia leaked word about the Japanese arms dealer’s presence.  They separate over this breach.  Meantime, genocidal Belarusian dictator Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman of “True Romance”), is on trial at The Hague in the Netherlands for international human rights violations.  As the trial winds down to its inevitable conclusion, the prosecution cannot seem to keep its’ witnesses alive long enough for them to testify.  The last man scheduled to take the stand against Dukhovich is the world’s deadliest hitman, Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson of “Pulp Fiction”), who refused an offer from him.  Simply said, Kincaid doesn’t murder innocent women and children. He has irrefutable evidence which will seal Dukhovich’s fate.  Basically, Kincaid has cut a deal with the prosecutor to talk if she will release his wife, Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek of “Everly”), from an Amsterdam prison.  As Kincaid later tells Sonia, he doesn’t care if they send him to prison because there isn’t a prison secure enough to hold him.

Interpol sets out to haul Kincaid from Manchester, England, under a heavily armed guard to The Hague.  An informer within the ranks, however, tips off Dukhovich’s top assassin, Ivan (Yuri Kolokolnikov of “Game of Thrones”), about the route.  Ivan’s trigger-happy henchmen ambush the Interpol van and wipe out everybody but Amelia and Kincaid. Kincaid catches a slug in the leg before Amelia and he elude the killers.  She escorts Kincaid to a safehouse where he digs the bullet out of his calf as if he were Sylvester Stallone’s John Rambo and bandages himself.  Afterward, Kincaid refuses flatly to cooperate with Interpol.  Reluctantly, Amelia swallows her pride and resorts to Michael for help.  At first, he wants nothing to do with this suicidal kiss of death exercise.  Nevertheless, he caves in to his desperate ex-girlfriend’s pleas.  No sooner have Michael and Kincaid met than they are shoving pistols in each other’s faces. “My job is to keep you out of harm’s way,” Michael reminds Kincaid. “I am harm’s way,” Jackson retorts defiantly.  Since his near miss with death during the ambush, Kincaid has gone to packing a pistol.  As it turns out, Michael and Kincaid discover they are old adversaries, and they spend the rest of “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” swapping insults when they aren’t whittling down the army of gunmen that outnumbers them. 

“The Hitman’s Bodyguard” indulges in everything action movie fans crave.  Director Patrick Hughes knows better than to let the expository dialogue scenes interfere with the plethora of shooting and killing.  The body count escalates into double-digits, and Kincaid himself knocks off almost thirty gunmen.  Although our heroes cannot perish, life is hardly a picnic as they dodge one barrage after another. Half of the time, Kincaid and Michael are working against each other. For example, Kincaid stomps the brakes during a careening car chase and a surprised Michael performs a header through the windshield but regains his footing without missing a stride.  Ironically, the relationship between them improves as the odds against their survival worsen.  Meanwhile, Gary Oldman arouses our wrath as an appropriately despicable villain who kills without a qualm.  Villains must be hard-boiled in thrillers.  Despite its familiarity, “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” delivers everything that makes an action movie unforgettable!

FILM REVIEW OF ''OPERATION: DUNKIRK" (2017)

Apart from some vintage, black & white, newsreel footage of the historic British retreat from France in 1940, director Nick Lyon’s “Operation Dunkirk” (** OUT OF ****) has nothing to do with that landmark event aside from the setting. “Operation Dunkirk” reminded me of an earlier World War II epic, director Walter Grauman’s “The Last Escape” (1971) starring Stuart Whitman. These two Second War World sagas chronicled the Allied rescue of important German scientists.  Whitman reached his scientist before the Russians. Similarly, a squad of British soldiers under Lieutenant Galloway (Ifan Meredith of “Metroland”) are ordered to find a German scientist (newcomer Eddie Curry) whose expertise in algorithms may significantly enhance radar technology.  Historically, radar saved England from the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain in 1940.  This critical technology enabled the English to detect German warplanes when they entered Allied airspace and alert Sir Hugh Dowding’s Fighter Command about them.  Furthermore, radar meant that the heavily outnumbered RAF would not have to maintain constant full-scale aerial surveillance.  This meant their pilots could grab some much-needed sack time between dogfights.  Consequently, the premise that a German scientist would possess valuable technological information about radar which would aid the British seems unlikely.  Meantime, this stubborn scientist has refused adamantly to share his algorithms with Hitler.  Now, historical accuracy doesn’t always make a movie more entertaining.  Consequently, Hollywood often plays fast and loose with the facts to heighten dramatic impact.

Anyway, back to the plot.  When one of several, hand-picked commandos asks Colonel Plummer (Gerard Pauwels of “Resurrection”) about their evacuation, Plummer barks, “Pull your balls out of your throat and be a soldier.” Later, Galloway and his five men cruise off in a jeep to a rendezvous with the French Resistance.  Armed with American .50 caliber Thompson submachine guns, they leave the jeep and cross a cornfield.  They don’t behave like battlefield veterans because they walk too closely together without a scout either at point or on drag.  When they arrive at a huge lumber storage facility, a member of the French Resistance challenges them.  By this time, the villainous Nazi officer, Strasser (Michael Wouters of “Sins of the Guilty”) has shot the unfortunate scientist to death. Galloway reacts with incredulity when the Resistance explains that they have a woman, Angelique (Kimberley Hews of “The Other Wife”), for him to escort back to headquarters. Not only is Angelique the late scientist’s daughter, but also she has memorized the algorithm.  Not long after the British show up at the lumber yard, the Germans arrive.  The fact the villains are hot on the heels of our heroes and stay one step behind them is a positive point in favor of Lyon and his writers.  Later, the same French Resistance member who challenged Galloway is captured, questioned, and then shot in the back by the Nazis.  Meantime, Galloway refuses to turn Angelique over to the Germans. A firefight erupts.  The Germans refuse to take cover.  Instead, they stand in the open and blaze away at the British hidden in a brick building.  The arrogant Strasser stands with his men as if he were bulletproof.  The Germans riddle the building with a hail of gunfire, and then they discover to their chagrin that the British and Angelique have fled.  All of this occurs during the first 30 minutes of this 95-minute epic. Happily, Lyon keeps the action moving forward at a steady pace.  Ultimately, he brings the action right down to the wire with a last-minute appearance of the Royal Air Force as the air force routes the Germans.

“Operation Dunkirk” doesn’t rank as your average Asylum quickie, knock-off.  “Rise of the Zombies” director Lyon takes and scenarists Geoff Mead of “I Am Omega,” and Stephen Meier of “Re-Generator” take themselves somewhat seriously.  Unlike most straight-to-video Asylum outings, the action is depicted in a largely straightforward manner, with the unsavory Strasser relentlessly pursuing the British.  Mind you, this is the same Nazi officer who not only derived sadistic glee in torturing, but also in murdering the scientist.  Strasser enjoys burning the hand of Resistance member with a clothes iron and then impales it with a screwdriver so he can induce the Frenchman to squeal.  At the same time, “Operation: Dunkirk” is a compilation of World War II clichés. First, Galloway and company must endure their commanding officer’s standard-issue speech: “This mission could not only save lives but win the war.”  Second, a seriously wounded British soldier insists on being left behind by his fellow soldiers.  When two Germans stumble onto him, he brandishes a hand grenade and blows them to smithereens.  Third, another British soldier steps on a cleverly hidden German booby trap by a tree.  Actually, these two scenes demonstrate Lyon’s dramatic strength as a director.  He generates suspense and tension in both instances.  My quibble with the hand grenade scene is that the soldier doesn’t know when to shut up.  The ironic thing about the booby trap scene is that the British commander saves his soldier’s life, but a shattered tree branch skewers his thigh like shrapnel and lodges perilously close to his femoral artery.  Meantime, it is interesting to note that Lyon provides subtitles so the nasty German officer can speak in German.  Since I am not fluent in German, I cannot comment on the accuracy of both the translation or the German language.  The appearance of Sherman tanks is a plus.  Blood is spilled in most of the combat scenes, too.

Clearly, Asylum produced “Operation: Dunkirk” to cash in on writer & director Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming “Dunkirk.” Typically, Asylum cranks out knock-off movies that exploit bigger studio releases.  Although “Operation: Dunkirk” is routine and often unrealistic, director Nick Lyon’s World War II thriller amounts to a better-than-average Asylum release.