‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’ is fast, freaky and funny

The “we aren’t partners, and we aren’t friends” strain of buddy-action movie seldom gets played with as much gusto and knowing humor as in “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” a movie that fires off bullets, jokes and F-bombs with equal frequency.

Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson star in this fast and freaky action comedy as private contractors on opposite sides of the law. Reynolds plays Michael Bryce, an “executive protection agent,” a bodyguard-for-hire who keeps his clients safe through meticulous planning. So it’s a blow to his career when one of his clients gets whacked by professional assassin Darius Kincaid (Jackson).

Their paths cross again when Kincaid flips to the side of justice as the only surviving witness to the atrocities of central European dictator Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman). Dukhovich’s minions have breached Interpol’s security, and Amelia Roussel (Elodie Yung), the young Interpol agent in charge of getting Kincaid to testify before the International Criminal Court, taps Bryce — her ex, but the only one she trusts — for the assignment.

Now it’s a race to get to The Hague in time for Dukhovich’s trial, avoiding the dictator’s goons, getting a message to Kincaid’s imprisoned wife, Sonia (Salma Hayek, stealing the show), and not killing each other in the process.

Director Patrick Hughes (“The Expendables 3”) fires off a string of action set pieces that make up in bravado what they lack in plausibility. He embraces the looniness of Tim O’Connor’s script, whether zipping through Kincaid and Sonia’s fiery courtship or showing carnage in the background while Bryce grouses about Kincaid’s impact on his life.

Jackson is in his element in “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” having so much fun as the badass that one forgets he’s 68 and possibly a bit old for this kind of action — as if anybody would be fool enough to tell him. Reynolds matches him well, tamping down his “Deadpool”-level sarcasm and proving that good comics make the best straight men.