At this point in time, every Netflix film more or less looks the same. It’s just a bad imitation of so many films mixed in a grinder to make an original, and Patrick Hughes’ buddy action film, “The Man from Toronto” is no different. To say it simply, it is a story about an underdog who is too afraid to change his life and thus gets stuck in a mistaken-identity situation that helps him overcome his fear. Yes, Kevin Hart plays that man, portraying the role of Teddy Jackson, a failed salesman and an aspiring fitness coach who makes online gym videos about his ambitious no-contact boxing idea called Teddybox. Evidently, he is neither rich, smart, or famous. But Teddy is kind-hearted, and that is his only talent, maybe. On the other side, there is a deadly assassin named “The Man from Toronto,” played by Woody Harrelson. The legendary tales of Toronto and his origin story are enough to make his targets tremble, and on one not-so-fine day, Teddy accidentally takes Toronto’s identity that teddies (messes up) his mundane life. Let’s continue further.
Spoilers Ahead
‘The Man from Toronto’ Plot Summary
Teddy Jackson is a married man who lives a quiet life in Yorktown with his wife, Lori, and works in a local gym called Marty’s Gym to support an income. However, Teddy has big plans in life. He wants to start his own online gym but rarely uploads any videos on his channel. He is too afraid to take the call. As the film begins, Teddy plans a weekend for Lori’s birthday in a little cabin in Onancock. However, before leaving for the short vacation, Teddy presents his non-contact boxing idea to his boss, Marty, who not only rejects Teddy’s dumb idea but also fires him from the job for “teddying” so many things as a sales agent. Teddy doesn’t inform Lori about it, and the couple happily leaves for Onancock.
On the other side of the narrative, a deadly assassin named “The Man from Toronto” gets a two-phase extraction job from his handler, where the client has offered one million dollars for each one. Without any ado, Toronto takes the job and arrives in Onancock, Virginia (the same location as Teddy) to extract information from a captive. In Onancock, Teddy decides to surprise Lori by decorating the cabin beforehand and thus leaves her in a spa. Due to a toner-situation and a blurred address on the booking receipt, Teddy arrives at the wrong cabin where a man waiting for Toronto thinks Teddy is Toronto and thus clicks his picture and sends it to his boss, Colonel Sebastian Marin.
Inside the cabin, Teddy is stunned by the sight of a blood-smeared man, Mr. Coughlin, tied to a chair, from whom Teddy (or Toronto) has to dig out a code that Marin needs. In a comical playout, Teddy gets the code from Mr. Coughlin, but before Teddy can run away, government special agents arrive at the location and start firing at the goons that cause an explosion. Teddy is rescued and is taken away by the FBI while Toronto finds out that an imposter is playing him and thus decides to clear the confusion before it is too late.
“The Man from Toronto” further explores how the FBI convinces Teddy to meet Colonel Sebastian Marin in Washington, DC, so that they can arrest him on the spot. But as usual, things get pretty messy, and Toronto gets hold of Teddy and soon develops a soft spot for him. While Toronto helps Teddy overcome his fear, Teddy influences Toronto to become a better person and leave the world of crime behind to follow his only passion, which is to become a chef and start a restaurant. However, the question here is, what does Marin want, and will the Toronto-Teddy duo be able to stop him?
See More: ‘The Man From Toronto’ Review: An Entertaining Watch With The Right Dose Of Action And Comedy
What Did Colonel Sebastian Marin Hire Toronto? What Does He Want?
Sebastian Marin was a former Venezuelan colonel who had staged a coup to overthrow his own government, but US intelligence found out about his sinister plan and stopped him. Sebastian and his wife, Daniela, escaped before they could be arrested, and since then, he has been planning an attack to take revenge. He got some intel about untraceable seismic explosives designed by the scientists of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Mr. Green and Mr. Coughlin, who worked at DARPA during the 2000s.
Two years ago, Green and Coughlin were contacted by their former boss, General Hanson, who was hired by Marin, who wanted to get hold of these seismic explosives. With them, Marin planned to blow up the new Venezuelan Embassy in Washington to send a message to both the governments, and as soon as Green and Coughlin learned about Marin’s plan, they built two fail-safes. To detonate the bomb, Marin needed a special code sequence designed by Coughlin and Mr. Green’s thumbprint, which was the reason why Marin contacted Toronto’s handler to get these two things for him. And while Teddy had already extracted the code from Coughlin, Marin only needed Green’s thumbprint, but before Toronto could deliver, he started having second thoughts about completing the mission, which is when his handler hired another assassin named “The Man from Miami” to finish the job.
What Happened With Toronto In Minnesota?
Though Toronto was known throughout the world as a lethal assassin, few knew about his soft side. He didn’t like killing people unnecessarily, which was the reason why he created so many legendary tales around him. Rumors about his methods inflicted fear upon his targets, which helped him to do the extraction job without shedding any blood. However, one time he was hired by a client to kill a chronic gambler in Minnesota who owed a lot of money to the wrong people. Toronto was about to pull the trigger on the target when he saw a kid in the man’s car, and he remembered his younger self. According to Toronto’s origin story, he used to live near a frozen lake in Canada with his grandfather, and while he was just a kid, his grandfather was brutally killed and eaten by a bear. The terror and the freeze around the little kid froze Toronto’s heart and turned him into a cold-blooded killer, and by sparing the gambler’s life, he wanted to break that cycle. Though the job in Minnesota was a total mess, Toronto still thought that saving Teddy and stopping Sebastian Marin was his chance to redeem himself, and thus he went against his own handler to start a new life altogether.
‘The Man from Toronto’ Ending Explained: Is Sebastian Marin Dead? What Happened To Teddy And Toronto?
During Lori’s birthday dinner, “The Man from Miami” arrived at the restaurant and stole Mr. Green’s thumb from Teddy and Toronto in order to finish the mission. Teddy and Toronto decided to stop Marin and the handler at all costs and thus arrived at Marin’s hideout to stop him from exploding the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington. Through his comic and chaotic wordplay, Teddy created a diversion, and again, at the same moment, the federal agents infiltrated the building and shot Sebastian Marin during the raid. Toronto took the money and managed to escape while his handler was rescued by “The Man from Miami.” Teddy, on the other hand, was taken away by the FBI, who later informed him that the thumbprint didn’t belong to Mr. Green, which meant that Toronto never intended to help Marin in his plan to explode the Venezuelan Embassy. Instead, he just wanted his money to start a new life.
Toronto’s handler ordered Toronto to return the money, but he refused, and thus, in order to recover it, she tipped several deadly assassins from all over the world to kill Toronto. At this moment, Toronto knew that all these men would attack Teddy to get to him, and thus he decided to protect Teddy at all costs. While Teddy, back in Yorktown, got a text from Lori, who informed him that she was leaving for her mother’s house for a while. Teddy wanted to stop Lori from leaving and ran towards the railway station when suddenly ‘The Man from Miami’ attacked him. Teddy was fortunately saved by Toronto, but soon other assassins, i.e., “The Men from Tacoma Brothers” and “The Man from Moscow,” surrounded them. After dealing with these assassins, Toronto finally had to face his only nemesis left, that is, his own handler. They were finally able to end the cycle of violence as they killed the handler inside the food factory. As a gesture of gratitude, Toronto gave his beloved Debora, a 1969 Dodge Charger 440 R/T, to Teddy so that he could reach the station in time and stop Lori from leaving. But though Teddy reconciled with Lori and saved his marriage, he ‘teddyfied’ Debora. He parked the car on the railway track that was soon struck by the upcoming train. Teddy literally killed Debora, and Toronto wanted his car back at all cost.
Nevertheless, a year later, Toronto started his own restaurant and started dating Lori’s friend, Anne (Kaley Cuoco), who had literally groomed the violent man. Lori also got pregnant with Teddy’s child, and the couple had a bright future ahead. Eventually, Teddy overcame his fear of failure and started posting videos online. His no-contact boxing idea finally gained some attention through which he was able to realize his dream of creating his own online gym platform, obviously after turning Marty’s physical gym to ruins. The banter between the two men, Toronto and Teddy, continued till the end of the film, which symbolizes an unlikely friendship between the two.
