CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE (2016) Review
Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber
Funny guy Kevin Hart teams up with wrestler turned actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for the first time with the director of Dodgeball (2004) and We’re The Millers (2014) in an action-comedy film and an addition to the buddy comedy films we have today. Unfortunately, it had to follow Shane Black’s The Nice Guys starring Ryan Gosling and Ruseell Crowe.
You already know what you’re about to get when you enter the cinema but thankfully, there are few surprises here and there. Central Intelligence is what you would want from a film starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, there’s action and a lot of comedy thanks to Hart’s mouth. But what keeps the film down is its mystery which felt unnecessary. It keeps the heart of the film in a juggled state that makes it confusing to take. That downplays the ability of the surprises to be fun and natural. The film wants to go big, so it puzzles its audience and include a twist in the climax but everything reeks predictable that it doesn’t work as it should be.
There’s nothing new here except their tandem though. A weird Dwayne Johnson is something but it’s not surprising and Kevin Hart does what he’s best at. It would be better if everything felt natural, like disregard its twists and its attempt to hint on those twists. There’s a lot of going on and these type of films doesn’t really go well if twists are forcibly included. It can give you a fun time at the movies but everything is just forgettable, even seeing Dwayne Johnson naked is not something we hardly see, right?
2 OUT OF 5 STARS
“Central Intelligence” is now showing in Philippine cinemas from United International Pictures, locally distributed by Columbia Pictures. Rated PG by the MTRCB.