Mr & Mrs Smith product reviews

Usually, I am not a fan of Angelina Jolie films... I think she over-acted in Tomb Raider and was quite 'watery' in Pushing Tin, but in this movie, she really took me by surprise. Not only did she suit the part perfectly, she actually managed to pull off the 'detached housewife-as-a-cover-story' tone of the character so well I was was actually able to enjoy the movie. Brad Pitt isn't one of my favourite male lead actors either, but he also did such a great job in this movie that I found it easy to get drawn into the story, enjoy the humour, thrill to the action, and above all accept the plot without reservation.

The plot revolves around a couple of solo assassins who met 5 (or 6) years ago while on-the-job in Bogota. With the police looking for any tourists travelling solo, they quickly fall into the ruse of being a couple to throw the cops off the scent. This leads to a steamy night of fun and passion, which turns into a marriage that is pure fabrication. With lies layered upon lies, two separate lives trying to fake a third mutual family life... it gets messy. And, as with all messy relationships, pieces start to unravel.

When their respective bosses discover that their head operative is married to their opposite number from the 'competing firm', a sting operation is devised that will quite possibly force the couple to take each other out, removing the problem quite nicely. Of course, things don't go quite according to plan, as each has a distictive and non-complimentary style. She likes high-tech solutions, with lots of beeps, boings and flashy lights. He prefers the hands-on approach, with brute force moderated with precision targeting, and an element of face-to-face bravado. This leads ho him distrupting her electronic boodytrap, and she shoots him when he whips out the rocket launcher, which he then fires at her hiding spot. Both escape unharmed, but both left evidence that reveals their identity to the other. From there, things get really messy.

The end results are spectacular... their luxury, 2-storey house blown into pieces no bigger than your hand... lots of operatives, sent in to finish the job, getting killed... and a final "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" style shootout in a department store in the middle of the night. Not to mention a reconciliation of the otherwise disasterous marriage.

Overall, I would have to rate this as the movie that surprised me the most in the last 12 months, mostly because I honestly didn't think I would enjoy it much at all, and yet loved it... even after the third viewing in a week. Not many movies have ever done that. It has definitely earned a place of honour on my 'Bet you didn't see THAT coming' shelf.