Central Intelligence - A Whole Lotta Hart

Certificate – 12A

Directed by – Rawson Marshall Thurber

Starring – Dwayne Johnson; Kevin Hart; Amy Ryan; Danielle Nicolet; Timothy John Smith; Ryan Hansen; Aaron Paul.

Running Time – 108 minutes (1hr 48 mins)

★★★

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Central Intelligence was my most anticipated comedy of the summer, having Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson in a film together, I thought could be the start of a cinematic dynamic duo. Sadly, their personalities and chemistry could only carry this film so much as the laughs were few and far between.

Central Intelligence follows one time bullied geek Bob (Johnson), who grows up to become a lethal CIA agent, and using his high school reunion as a cover up and claiming to be on a top-secret mission. Bob enlists help from former “big man on campus” turned accountant Calvin (Hart), who misses his glory days. Realising it’s too late to get out, Bob drags Calvin though the world of shoot-outs, double-crosses and espionage that could get them both killed.

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As you can tell the story was pretty basic, however, seeing Johnson in more of the comedic role and Hart playing the straight man (which I found him funnier than in the Ride Along films) was a nice twist and worked really well. I’d like to see Johnson doing more roles in comedy as he suits the genre nicely.

The high points in the film were whenever Johnson and Hart were on screen together as you can't help but be drawn into their personalities and their chemistry was amazing as they bounce off each other so well. I look forward to see them working together again, probably in the sequel.

It’s just compared to another decent buddy-cop film, Shane Black’s The Nice Guys, it was a weaker story as well as weaker on comedy.

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However, I will say as a former fat kid, and current semi fat man, I connected to Johnson’s character a lot and there was one scene that really hit home to me.

Verdict

If they want to turn this into a franchise then the sequel will need a better story and comedy as it was weak on both. Saying that, it was impossible to hate or even dislike this film that’s how good Johnson and Hart’s chemistry was and would pay to see them again.