It’s rare that a movie lives up to a great trailer used to
promote it. When a movie surpasses the trailer its cause to celebrate. Such is
the case with the release of CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE to DVD. The trailer had me laughing
out loud when I saw it prior to the film coming out. The movie just added more
laughs.
The film opens in 1996 at a high school pep rally with a
special effected Dwight “The Rock” Johnson stars as Robbie, the fat kid in high
school everyone picks on. This in itself is hilarious and actually plays into
the story. The most popular kid in school is Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart) who is
being celebrated at the rally when the school bullies toss Robbie out to the
gym floor sans clothes. Calvin feels for him and gives Robbie his letter jacket
to cover up with.
Fast forward to the present. Calvin now works as an
accountant. The student most likely to succeed isn’t doing near as well as he’d
hoped. His protégé has surpassed him and gotten a new promotion. Rather than
moving up, he’s stagnated or even slid down a notch or two. His high school
sweetheart/wife on the other hand is a partner at her law firm. Life has not
been kind to Calvin.
Then the day before the class reunion he gets a friend
request on Facebook. He accepts only to find the person now known at Bob Stone
is actually Robbie. He agrees to meet with him for drinks and is stunned to
discover Robbie has changed into the body building good looking guy in front of
him. A confrontation with 4 bad guys in the bar results in Robbie taking them
out with ease and impressing Calvin.
Robbie asks Calvin for help with a minor problem concerning
his payroll account at work. Instead Calvin finds a secret bidding war going on
for something that ends in 14 hours. Robbie ropes Calvin into letting him spend
the night but the next morning the CIA shows up at Calvin’s doorstep searching
for Bob. It turns out he’s a CIA operative they think killed his partner and
stole secret documents now being sold online.
Escorted to work Calvin thinks he’s safe now only to find
Bob there waiting for him after he tricks the CIA agents looking for him off
Calvin’s floor. Telling him it’s a set up and asking for his help, Bob recruits
Calvin half against his will and the duo is off and running trying to avoid the
CIA and still discover who the traitor is and where the sale will go down. Or
is that the case? Could it be that Bob is actually the seller, a killer who is
just using Calvin?
The movie captures the best elements of the buddy movies
from the past with two likeable characters who blend together seamlessly
onscreen. Hart has been funny in nearly everything I’ve seen him but Johnson
has only had a few opportunities to display a talent for comedy. He shines here
as Bob, both in and out of CGI mode. While Hart has plenty of humorous moments
Johnson equals him in that department. In return Hart gets the opportunity to
live out some action moves as well.
The movie not only tells the story at hand but delves into
the other topics as well, mainly bullying and the effect it has on a person.
While Robbie went off and turned himself into Bob the torment he took in high
school left its scars on him as displayed when he faces the old school bully.
And while he’s the one with the heroic good looks and skills it is actually
Calvin who displays the truest traits of a hero, the knowledge to do the right
thing when Robbie is humiliated at the start of the film and learning to trust
the man who considers him a better friend than anyone he’s had.
Plenty of action keeps the pace of the film running. The
plot felt simple for me to figure out before the final reel. The humor kept me
laughing from start to finish. When the film ends there are some edited scenes
on hand to show these two were having far too much fun filming this movie. All
it left me hoping was that the pair would team up for more movies in the
future. That seems to be the case as they are currently working on the
reworking of JUMANJI together. Let’s just hope that Johnson gets the chance to
do as much comedy as action films and that Hart is there with him in each and
every one.
Click here to order.
No comments:
Post a Comment