'The Nice Guys' Review

Shane Black directing a buddy cop film starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. It really didn't take much else for me to be sold by this film.

Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) is a hired enforcer who makes his living by hurting people. One of those unlucky victims is Holland March (Ryan Gosling) a private investigator. In a strange twist if events, the two will now have to team up as they look to find the missing Amelia (Margaret Qualley) before she is killed. The investigation puts their lives in danger as they face trouble everywhere the case takes them.

'The Nice Guys' is probably the best start to the summer season of movies that I could of asked for. This is by far one of the most fun films of the year and its mainly due to the two leads within the film. Crowe and Gosling work incredibly well together and it creates a very enjoyable viewing. The two are most definitely an odd pairing which leads to some hilarious scenes as they try to work together. The combination is one of the highlights of the film with the performances not letting the audience down. Black's previous successful work in creating a similar duo is evident as he pulls it off incredibly well once again.

Not only does Black create the odd pairings relationship very well but also each of their individual characters. Both of the leads characters are shown to be quite tough with their job but are layered with quite troubled backstories. Crowe's character Healy is the muscle and makes his living from causing pain but all he really wants to do is to be able to make a difference for the good of people. However circumstances have not lead him to be able to do so which does seem to bother him. A fairly good change rather than the muscle having no remorse whatsoever.

The same can be said for Gosling's Holland March. March has to deal with the struggles of losing his home as well as his wife, leaving him to protect and provide for his daughter all by himself. He continuously blames himself which leads to him turning to the booze which takes its effect throughout the film. A layered back story for arguably the main cause of humour in the film was perfect and fantastically written character. Huge credit must go to Black and co-writer Anthony Bagarozzi for achieving this.

As well as being incredibly funny, the film does not let down with its action and even incorporates some of the comedy within it. The action is done to a very high standard in the film with a good mix between hand to hand combat and combat with automatic weapons. The scenes are pulled off incredibly well and are incredibly easy to keep up with as they progress. Thoroughly entertaining throughout and really helps elevate the movie.

Although the film is a blast with great comedy and action, it also leads to causing a bit of a problem for the film. As the film has a sequence which is highly entertaining, it does slow down which causes it to lose some of its momentum. It is a very small critique but it could have possibly been transitioned a bit better. Another problem that I have with the film is that the main story does end rather abruptly. You spend most of the runtime following this story and it doesn't seem to really deliver as well as you would like it to do. There aren't really any big issues with the film which helps to make it that more enjoyable.

Another thing that makes this film so great is that everything within it has a purpose. Something may seem quite odd and out of place but later on, it fulfils its purpose of being in the film. It doesn't waste your time or try to fill the movie with just complete nonsense which also is a credit to the writers. 

It was very clever how the film handled its villains by not ever giving too much away throughout the film. It leads you to believe certain things and as the story goes on, it becomes trickier to see who really is the enemy. It's not obvious from the start how this will pan out and with each of the characters being introduced, you aren't entirely sure who or what to believe.

Final Verdict = 

A fantastic buddy cop, action comedy that delivers throughout the whole film. The two leads are fantastic and create a great on screen duo. Well worth seeing!

So have you seen 'The Nice Guys'? If so what did you think of it? I hope this review was useful for if you were deciding to go and see the movie. I'd also like to know what are your favourite movies featuring a strange partnership? Once again, thank you for reading my review, it is much appreciated!

By Angus McGregor