CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE MOVIE REVIEW
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Kevin Hart and Amy Ryan in the lead roles, along with Aaron Paul and Danielle Nicollette among others, Central Intelligence falls under the Hart Rock genre. With We’re The Millers fame director Rawson Marshall Thurber at the helm the technical crew comprises of Theodore Shapiro , Ludwig Göransson (music) , Barry Peterson (cinematography) , and Michael L. Sale (editing) .
"Saving the world takes a little Hart and big Johnson” says the movie’s tagline. Well, that's the movie’s plot in a nutshell. A high school hero named Calvin (Kevin Hart) is leading a life he had least imagined he would. Enter Bob Stone (Dwayne Johnson), who brings along with him, the CIA and a load of trouble for Calvin. Bob brings back high school memories to win over his trust. On the other hand Calvin is tugged at by CIA’s reports that suggest Bob is a traitor. What ensues is a fast paced unwrapping of a package filled with out of the blue buddy comedy applied over a well worn plot line and topped with a slightly distasteful ending.
The most has been extracted by the director from the Hart - Rock combo. Just looking at Hart, sometimes, brings out laughter. It seems like he doesn’t need any dialogues to conjure up an ROFL moment. The Rock has been made to lose his WWE factor, especially with an ending that would make one wonder if the writers have forgotten his WWE tagline! Special appearance by Breaking Bad fame Aaron Paul earns cheers, but that’s about it regarding his role in the script. Amy Ryan and Danielle Nicollette play neat supportive roles.
The team, it seems like, has been treading on a tightrope since day one. They’ve had to keep balance and try not to fall into an abyss with pits of predictability and absurdity on either side.
While they’ve managed to steer the movie well through the first half, they seem to have fallen down near the end into a pit that is a mix of both. But yes, the movie takes efforts to make you laugh, thanks to the skills of Hart and Dwayne Johnson.
Overall the movie is a feel good one time watch, with chance comedy. The Rock could have been used better and the ending could have been something else. But hey! Even few moments of laughter are precious right?
