Um Espião e Meio

Central Intelligence sees a high school fat kid Rob Wierdich who is humiliated at his last day in school being transformed into muscular but timid Rob Stone (Dwayne Johnson) who is now a CIA operative.

Twenty years later and with a high school reunion on the horizon Stone hooks up with Calvin Joyner (Kevin Hart) the star student known as the Golden Jet and the only one who came to Wierdich's aid. Joyner's career as an accountant has not been as stellar that high school promised but Stone wants to use his skills to decrypt some financial transactions. The agency thinks that Stone has gone rogue and are out to get him.

This is essentially a buddy action comedy. Hart is actually the straight man, leaving the light goofy comedy to Johnson. They make a good team but the plot is too formulaic and unadventurous. Still the offbeat characterisation from Hart and Johnson makes this film amusing enough.

It's quite possible that they cast Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson just to make "Little Hart, Big Johnson" pun. As far as buddy cop goes, this contrasting nature can provide some chuckles, however the espionage them might not hit all the marks. Still, there are significant amount of scenes where laughter is secured by sheer timely body language and jokes alone.

Dwayne Johnson plays as Bob, a CIA agent who tries to reach out to his old friend. This escalates into a chase for secret files and national security. The way Bob is presented relies heavily on juvenile gag and demeanor despite his imposing physique, this is fun at first but it hampers the credibility as an agent. The movie wants to add some bullying subplot which is commendable, although it doesn't have the depth to accommodate it.

Kevin Hart is excellent in creating reactions and gestures. He's surprisingly identifiable with high school nostalgia and occasional self-doubt. Many of the good moments come from his outbursts and babbling. The script has a few nifty pop references and sometimes even witty gags, so the comedy is not just slapstick throughout and undermines the "intelligence" in the title.

There are serious undertones of adult life or self-acceptance even though they are not fully fleshed out. Action is pretty light, it's passable without being too demanding. The most important thing is it's enjoyable. Sure, there are a few awkward moments, yet they make the best out of it to present a light humorous spectacle, a better buddy cop gimmick than expected.

Central Intelligence is the kind of fun, theatrically released action comedy that has unfortunately disappeared now that streaming services have made it their mission to fail miserably at making these competently. The film's attempt to be twisty doesn't work because it's always obvious what's actually going on and there are major luls between laughs but the strong comedic double act works overtime to counterbalance those issues.

Mileage will vary depending on how comfortable you are with Kevin Hart doing his usual high pitched, highly erratic shtick and if it's not a deal breaker he's a fun lead who can constantly acknowledge how absurd it all is. Dwayne Johnson actually changes his persona as he plays an overly excited, generally kind person who is still a trained killer and his arc involving overcoming his high school bully is great. It's easy to see why these two keep teaming up based on their chemistry here.

Rawson Marshall Thurber's direction is a lot more comfortable with the comedy than the action and thankfully it does commit to its strengths more than the weaknesses. The action is a little too choppy and clumsy in a way that only an action comedy that puts the comedy first can get away with. Putting the outtakes in end credits never backfires and it's a wonderful inclusion here as it gives the film some of its biggest and most consistent laughs.

Central Intelligence stars Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart and is about them teaming up to save the world. I'd like to say that I had zero expectations going into this but was still looking forward to it. This movie is HILARIOUS! The Rock and Kevin Hart are fantastic together and have some of the funniest jokes I've heard all year. Watching them both on screen is the best part of this movie and it was extremely funny.

The story follows both of them having reunited 20 years after high school in order to save the world. The main plot is the weakest part of this movie since there's not much emphasis put on it. I will say that there are some pretty sweet cameos in here that are awesome. The action is mostly good even though it got a bit shaky in some places.

Overall, Central Intelligence is a pleasant surprise this summer. This movie is honestly battling Deadpool for funniest movie of the year; I can't believe I just said that. This is definitely one of the better buddy-cop action comedies we've gotten in the past few years.

Central Intelligence gets a B.

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When a film has a tagline as witty and sharp as Central Intelligence's – "Saving the world takes a little Hart and a big Johnson" — something tells me that the producers came up with that pun first and decided to commission a script around it after. True enough, this film is an excuse to have Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Kevin Hart play delightfully silly characters amidst a fairly disposable plot. It really doesn't matter because you won't see this film for a complex plot, you'll see this film for some good laughs. The hit-to-miss ratio is surprisingly higher than you expect.

In Central Intelligence, Johnson plays a formerly morbidly obese high school student named Robbie Wierdicht (yes, it's pronounced as Weird Dick, hah!) who was subjected to a horribly cruel prank twenty years ago. He now resurfaces as Bob Stone, a herculean CIA agent who decides to reunite with his only friend in high school, Calvin "The Golden Jet" Joyner (Hart) — back then Central High's "most likely to succeed" student. Ironically, he is now living an unexceptional adult life as a mid-level accountant stuck in a rocky marriage. Little does Calvin know, what started as a mysterious Facebook friend request to a casual catch-up is Stone's silent attempt to enlist Calvin as his unwilling sidekick in a deadly mission to track down stolen U.S. satellite codes and stop a wanted kingpin called the "Black Badger" from obtaining them.

In his previous comedies (Ride Along and Get Hard), Hart is often portrayed as a fast- talking shtick at the center of attention. In this film, We're The Miller's director Rawson Marshall Thurber, who co- wrote the script with Bob Fisher and Steve Faber, breaks this stereotype by subduing Hart to a serious straight-up role and giving the goofy prankster role to Johnson (responsible for pulling off most of the verbal and physical gags). The role reversal works with the slapstick comedy thanks to both actors' exhilarating chemistry and sharp performance. Their size juxtaposition alone is a joke in itself. "Pint-sized" squeaky-voiced Hart, with all his outbursts and babbling, mixes panic and rage probably better than any actor. As for Johnson, he keeps up with expectations here whether by simply donning fanny packs, unicorn t-shirts, and uber-tight pajamas; or flaunting his cartoonish manliness against a character who is surprisingly sensitive and still embarrassed with his past. Central Intelligence is given more depth when it deals with our main characters' high school baggage – Calvin's frustration on his life turning not the way he expected, and Bob's self-esteem issues due to the serious and lasting effects of bullying.

Don't get me wrong, the exhausting espionage plot struggles to have any shred of intelligence to it. It is quite perfunctory to the point that it might as well fade into a background noise. It even falls apart to utter nonsense by the end when the plot twist is revealed and judging by their focus on comedy, the filmmakers seems to be fine leaving the plot holes unpatched. Neither are the villains written with deep thought as they are all cardboard bad guys who are homophobes, bullies, mercenaries or a combination thereof. Apart from the comedy itself, the film apologizes in its shortcomings by boasting a roster of cameos that I'll leave unmentioned for the sake of surprise.

You can groan at its dumb plot, get antsy over action scenes where no one (not even trained CIA gunmen) can shoot straight or frown at Calvin and Stone whispering strategies whilst pointed with guns, but Central Intelligence is hard to dislike because Johnson and Hart shine perfectly in their roles and hence, elevate this film from subpar to moderately enjoyable. Without them, this film will be as useful as a bag of rocks. That being said, Central Intelligence can be a good distraction during a hot summer day.