The “Hitman’s Bodyguard” could have been a buddy cop movie that entertained audiences with an antagonistic relationship played out by two actors with distinctly different on-screen styles.

That didn’t happen.

Samuel L. Jackson stars as “Darius Kincaid” and Ryan Reynolds as “Michael Bryce” in “The Hitman’s Bodyguard.” (photo by Jack English)

Instead, it’s a film bogged down by jokes that lack timing (or humor), long and overly violent fight scenes, and a lack of chemistry among the film’s main actors.

Ryan Reynolds plays Michael Bryce, a bodyguard made wealthy by his ability to protect the world’s worst villains. Meanwhile, Samuel L. Jackson is Darius Kincaid, a hit man hired to assassinate the people Bryce protects.

Their worlds collide when Bryce’s ex-girlfriend, Amelia Roussel, needs Bryce’s help. Roussel, played by Elodie Yung, is an Interpol agent whose job is to get Kincaid to an international criminal court to testify against a Belarus dictator accused of murdering his own people. Witnesses for the trial keep dying, and when the Interpol convoy transporting Kincaid – who’s taken out of prison for the trial – is attacked, it becomes clear Roussel needs a plan B. Roussel hires Bryce to take Kincaid to the trial.

Kincaid and Bryce have a long history of hating each other, and this plotline is supposed to create tension and humor throughout Reynolds and Jackson’s romp through Europe.

Instead, Jackson’s punchlines feel dated, like we’ve heard them in his previous films. And at one point, his humor sinks low enough to call Reynolds a “romantic retard.” Let’s hope that joke was improvised and not actually written in a script in 2017.

Reynolds also draws from a character we’ve seen before – that whiny guy who blames everyone but himself until he finally realizes it’s his fault. (See Reynolds’ IMDB for this role, played out throughout his career)

Overall, it feels like Reynolds and Jackson either didn’t spend enough time together to build chemistry, that director Patrick Hughes rushed scenes, or both.

Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek) in “The Hitman’s Bodyguard.” Hayek is a memorable and hilarious character in this summer buddy cop movie. (Courtesy of Summit Entertainment and Millennium Media)

Salma Hayek brings one of the most lovable, and funniest, characters to “Hitman’s Bodyguard,” playing Kincaid’s wife, Sonia.

Unfairly imprisoned for her husband’s crimes, Sonia Kincaid is so angry about her captivity that the prison guards fear her.

When Jackson’s character describes the night he fell in love with Sonia at a bar, the film cuts to a flashback of a male bar goer groping Sonia, which turns into a fight scene between Sonia and several male patrons.

However, the director chose to use this moment to objectify Hayek, providing a full frame of her butt, and another full shot of her cleavage. In a moment where Sonia is kicking ass, it’s apparently important to also take a look at hers.

The film is also problematic for the female lead, Yung.

Good: That Yung was cast as a law enforcement officer.

Bad: She never really gets to act like one.

Whereas several male characters get their shot at ass-kicking, Amelia Roussel is apparently an Interpol officer who never received fight training.

When a male character strangles her, Roussel remains essentially helpless — until a man (Reynolds) comes to her rescue. During a large gunfight scene, Roussel essentially hides behind a van while the boys do the work.

“Hitman’s Bodyguard” is enough of a mindless action-comedy that audience members will likely enjoy it, but it’s not a win for Hollywood or the film’s actors.