Movie Review: The Man From Toronto

The Man From Toronto is a comedic and action movie. Directed by Patrick Hughes, The Man From Toronto is a film about a case of mistaken identity where a notorious assassin known as The Man From Toronto is confused for a screw-up known as Teddy, and they are forced to work together because of the confusion. This movie is filled with excellent casts, such as Kevin Hart, Kaley Cuoco (Penny from The Big Bang Theory), Woody Harrelson, Jasmine Mathews, etc.

The movie begins with a series of clips showing Teddy Jackson's (Kevin Hart) constant failure, as seen in his workout videos, to promote the gym where he works. He constantly and stubbornly tries to launch the next big workout sensation on his online videos to his non-existent fitness followers. Firstly, we see his elastic resistance belt (TeddyBand)­­, one of his crazy inventions, which does nothing other than slapping him in the face (which looked painful). Another of his inventions was the low-quality pull-up bar (Teddy Bar) he designed; while using it in one of the training videos, it collapsed on him. Teddy became famously known as a failure up to the extent that one morning, while he was with his wife Lori (Jasmine Mathews), she confirmed that her colleagues had coined the phrase "Teddy'ed it" after him, a term used whenever someone messes up at work.

Credit: Netflix

After that scene, we get to see a lone figure (The Man From Toronto) dressed in black arrive at a cabin for the purpose of extracting information from an apprehended target. He brings out his knives and tells the target (who was tied up on a chair) a brief story of how he watched his grandfather get filleted and killed by a bear and the lesson he learned from it. The target gets terrified and gives the necessary information before The Man from Toronto (Woody Harrelson) even has to touch him.

Teddy's newest sport idea and fitness regimen is what he calls no-contact boxing, a sport that doesn't actually involve punching anyone, just heavy on cardio (sounds and looks like a terrible idea to me). He goes to the gym where he works to pitch the idea to his boss, and he is immediately dismissed from his job for accumulated failure. He decided not to share the information about him losing his job to his wife Lori (Jasmine Mathews) because they are trying to have a baby, and her birthday is coming soon.

So Teddy plans a romantic getaway weekend in Virginia to make Lori's birthday a success. He first drops her off for a spa, then tries to locate the rented cabin. While trying to get to the cabin's location, he noticed the ink on the paper of the printed address was so faint that what was there could hardly be read; this was because he did not change the toner (he Teddy’ed it). That unfortunate action led him to the wrong cabin that was set for The Man From Toronto's next interrogation. This causes him to be mistaken for the bloody-minded hitman putting him in a brutal and bizarre encounter. The FBI bursts onto the scene and saves him, but they need him to play the role of The Man From Toronto to help stop an international incident.

Credit: Netflix

While Teddy is trying to work with the FBI, the actual assassin (The Man From Toronto) is angry about losing his high-paying job, so he watches Teddy and his lead closely to hijack the job and finish it so he can get paid. They were able to work together and help each other so Teddy could go home to meet his wife, and The Man From Toronto could collect his last hit money and move on with establishing a restaurant (his longtime dream).

Credit: Netflix

"The Man From Toronto" brilliantly mixes fantastic and innovative action sequences with unique characters and comedic dialogue to provide some amazing entertainment. The chemistry between Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson was very great and hilarious. What I like most about the movie is that the action is a comedy. Kevin Hart made me laugh so much. My major takeaway from this movie is that sometimes, before you achieve your goal or aim in life, you might need to go through an entirely different road or pass through a different process that is not aligned with your original goal just to learn specific lessons or view things from another lens to give you proper motivation and guidance in achieving your main goal.

About the author: My name is Franklin Ifeanyi. I am someone who likes to help people; I hope to do that with writing.

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