Central Intelligence (2016)

Central Intelligence (2016) - Movie Review

Central Intelligence is sorta of a buddy-spy comedy and it's about an average joe hung up on life over past issues, until he meets up with one of his high school batch mate, and things suddenly turn upside down for him.

A movie like this only works if the two leads meld together, and boy oh boy did they ever in this movie. Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart both were excellent in this movie. I loved their chemistry, their banter and their relationship. They clearly seemed to be having a great time in their roles, and as a result, the movie as a whole became a lot more fun. Also, I liked it more that they weren't playing their usual selves. It was just hilarious to see The Rock play this man-child agent, he always manages to bring so much energy into every role. And Kevin Hart dialed back a lot. He was the average joe, the normal guy in this movie and I liked that. You do still get the usual Kevin hart outbursts/moments, in small doses.

Aside from these two, there was a whole story revolving around government secrets etc, which was pretty cliched but it worked for the movie, whenever they didn't took it seriously. The story was just there so that these two could do their thing. Everyone had storm trooper aim enabled, which instead of distracting, made for some hilarious situations. I had some great laughs.

The movie also had a couple of great short roles. Like Jason Bateman, who I love, and I believe is the perfect choice if you want someone to be a major dick, because he does it so so well.

But when the movie did took itself seriously, that's where it faltered. Those scenes bogged it down, and the story itself was nothing new nor was the execution anything great, so nothing of interest was to be had. Plus, it was pretty predictable. The movie also had a strong anti-bullying message, but the way it ended was so cliched and cringe worthy. They could have done a lot better because that ending was just meh.

All in all, despite some shortcomings, The Rock and Kevin Hart managed to make this a good watch. Both were amazing together and I would love to see them do it again. A good comedy, definitely worth a watch.

7/10

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