Rewatch Saturday: Mr. & Mrs. Smith [2005]

"As for now, I do more rewatch of old movies, than just watching new ones. So I decided to review one film each Saturday, as a part of Rewatch Saturday post series"

In 2005 two of Hollywood's hottest actors teamed up to film an incredibly dark, bold and entertaining Mr. & Mrs. Smith, directed by acclaimed creator of Bourne series. It tells a story of two paid assassins, married couple Jane and John Smith, who yet are unaware of each others real jobs. On the surface they seem to be an average, kinda richy American family, leaving really calm and boring lives. John, as a coverup story, is owner of Smith Engineering, Inc., while Jane owns a company I-Temp Technology Staffing. In fact, both use the marriage for safety of their real works. The couple successfully manages to keep in secret their professions during five or six years of "holy matrimony", until both are sent to kill the same guy... Two of the best agents going against each other is never a simple story and here they both fail to fulfil the mission. This is when things get complicated, because now they are ordered to get rid of their spouses.

Most importantly, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a lot fun, probably one of the most entertaining comedy action ever filmed, because it never stops being smart, funny, dark and oh man, this couple can literally and/or figuratively lit the fire on the screen. The true, very natural chemistry Brad and Angelina have just makes every scene perfect, as if they were meant to star in this film and as if the movie was just created for these two. This is not a case where actors disappear in their characters, it's the case where characters are just written for those actors, because I really can not imagine ANYBODY playing Smiths but them. This chemistry is embodied in every possible scene, from fights to dances and sex scenes and it truly looks extremely natural.

In fact, Angelina was not the first choice of director Doug Liman. He thought of Nicole Kidman for this role.  Luckily to us, she turned down the role of Mrs. Smith. Don't get me wrong, I love her but I can not imagine her - a delicate beauty - playing such a rebellious, strong woman. Back then, Jolie was one of those Oscar winner bad girls, who used to openly talk about her bisexuality, love of knives and stuff. So, I guess, she pretty much seemed a perfect casting even then.

Except those two, I feel like I should acknowledge the achievements of director Doug Liman and writer Simon Kinberg who created a romantic comedy that successfully tries to be an action film. They have mixed up some cliche romance situations, humor, action and sexiness and as a result we got extremely "erotic" movie that works in every way it's supposed to. Some scenes are masterfully done, like Tango dance, which is my favorite. This is where John and Jane actually beat up each other while dancing and still do it in the hottest way possible.

It is not a masterpiece of great dialogues or complicated character developments. To the contrary, it has quite simple line-up but anyway it manages to be one of the most enjoyable action-comedies every made. As experimental as it may sound, every scene of Mr. & Mrs. Smith works and it's fun. The biggest asset of this film is how it transforms very average romantic comedy scenes into something original. A good example of it is a car chase scene, where John and Jane tell each other some family "truths", opening up fully and the same time, they are struggling for their lives. The lines in this scene sound like every other line in every other comedy. But the mix of situation and those characters  just make it more hilarious.

The movie has also got some good music. Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros song Mondo Bongo perfectly fits the spirit of film and relationship of main characters and it just is stuck into your mind ringing and singing with the same rhythm Smiths used to dance.

I short, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is so much perfect that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt started their real life relationship that lead to wedding and 6 kids.