The Hitman & Her
They met in Bogotá, Colombia and it was love at first sight but now 5 or 6 years of married life and John (Brad Pitt - Ocean's Twelve) and Jane Smith's (Angelina Jolie - Girl, Interrupted) relationship is stale, it is why they are speaking to a therapist. What neither of them realise is that that they are both trained assassins working for two different organizations. That is until they end up being booked on the same hit. Now with each other realising the truth about the other they have no choice but to kill each other or else their organizations will kill them both.
So let's state the obvious, the chemistry between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie is electrifying, it is part of the reason why "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" is entertaining and whether anything happened behind the cameras at this stage is here nor there. It is because the chemistry is so good that the first part of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" works, yes I said first part because this is a two part movie. That first part is the darkly funny "War of the Roses" style comedy of a husband and wife trying to kill each other as it is sharp and witty. But then you get the second part and that is action, one action scene after another and if you like lots of action well lucky you but despite being well made it is almost a let down after the smart first half.
So that first half of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" clearly feels like it has been influenced by "War of the Roses" as we go from John & Jane's first sexy meeting to mundane married life where there is little love for each other. The coldness of their relationship, sitting at opposite ends of the table, not really listening to each other is all amusing and that is before we actually get to the hit where they both get booked for the same job. That is when the first half truly kicks into gear because we get the pussy footing about as each other wonders whether the other one knows yet and when it becomes clear it is full on war as they go all out to kill each other, not just in the home but anywhere.
The thing is that whilst the first half of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" is darkly amusing, especially when we have them each sneaking out and back from doing hits, it ends up becoming just an action movie. We have the action of John & Jane trying to kill each other but then, and this is no spoiler, working together to try and survive when their organizations come after them. It is still stylish, full of big gun battles and nice camera work but it ends up just one action scene after another. Although by action standards it is great I just wish they had found some way of incorporating the same sort of dark humour and cleverness of the first half into the action.
Now aside from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie there are other people in the movie Vince Vaughn has a part as John's friend Eddie but to be honest "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" is all about Brad and Angelina. Now as already mentioned there is absolutely amazing chemistry between them and it makes it hot and sexy, you just cannot ignore it. But beyond that individually both Pitt and Jolie deliver hot and sexy and funny, well actually Pitt delivers the funny as the more laid back John to Jolie's uptight Jane who lets be honest grabs your attention in a scene where she is dressed like a dominatrix.
What this all boils down to is that "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" is an entertaining movie but it is a movie of two halves with the first which delivers a "War of the Roses" style marital battle being the supperior half. But for those who enjoy sexy action and stylish gun fights will love the second half just as much.
