Somedays you just want to kick back and watch a film without thinking too much. While I’ve been trying to watch documentaries and the odd festival winning film, on average I find myself looking for popcorn flicks in these trying times. Hitman’s bodyguard is exactly that.

It isn’t thought-provoking, it isn’t subversive or unique, it isn’t even top tier action like “John Wick”. It is simply a run off the mill hollywood action adventure that rests on the shoulders of its stars, Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson. The two have good on screen chemistry and so the film works. Everything else is just kinda there. The CGI and cinematography are passable. The action choreography goes to great lengths to avoid showing how old Jackson is and how little combat training Reynolds has. And all these shortcomings are easily compensated by the cheeky laughs that the two manage to get out of you through their relentless banter. The film’s emotional depth is that of a bent teaspoon, and more present to justify plot than to serve the story but you don’t really mind as you see more stupid deaths and witty remarks get dished out in equal measure.

I won’t recommend this film for anything but a boring saturday afternoon, but it will elevate that afternoon.