Ryan Reynolds is hot stuff again in the wake of Deadpool‘s success last year. Whether or not any of that mutant success will rub off on his non-Deadpool projects is anyone’s guess, but I find it nice that he’s getting better work again. Last month’s Life is a good example. It was a pretty standard spacebound creature feature, but a solid one and he was good in it. What else does Reynolds have coming our way? The Hitman’s Bodyguard! And boy does it look fun!
We missed out on posting about the trailer late last week, but you can find a red band version of it below. I personally think it looks like an absolute blast, it has a fun cast, and it has a good director who hasn’t quite broken through in the U.S. yet. The man behind the camera on The Hitman’s Bodyguard is none other than Patrick Hughes, who is probably best known as the director of The Expendables 3. Not the most impressive title to have in your directorial CV, but it does seem to be the installment of that franchise that people like most.
If you really want to see something good that Hughes has done, however, track down his modern Aussie western Red Hill. It’s a great list flick that shows just how good Hughes can be as a filmmaker when he’s given time to breathe (EX3 was made super cheap & fast). It’s vibe is different from this film, of course, but that matters not. How different? Well, let’s just say that this poster tells us exactly what kind of movie we are in for…
Much like the trailer, this poster is trading heavily on the memory of the ’90s romantic action hit, The Bodyguard. Here, in place Kevin Costner lovingly cradling Whitney Houston, however, we get Ryan Reynolds holding up Sam Jackson. It’s wonderful. I don’t know whether this will resonate with film fans under a certain age, but here’s hoping the trailers will better cover that front.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard is an action comedy from Millennium Films and Cristal Pictures, coming to us courtesy of Lionsgate. It is directed by Patrick Hughes , from an original screenplay by Tom O’Connor. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, Salma Hayek, Elodie Yung (“Daredevil“), Joaquim de Almeida (Fast Five), Kirsty Mitchell, Richard E. Grant (Logan), and Sam Hazeldine.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard blasts its way into theaters on August 18th, 2017.
