‘Killer threesome’
Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is a 2021 American action comedy film about a bodyguard on a sabbatical who is drawn back into duty. The movie is a sequel to The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017).
Directed by Patrick Hughes (The Man from Toronto; The Expendables 3; Red Hill) from a screenplay written by Brandon Murphy, Phillip Murphy and Tom O’Conner. Produced by Matthew O’Toole, Les Weldon and Yariv Lerner.
The Millennium Media-Nu Boyana Film Studios production stars Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, Morgan Freeman, Frank Grillo, Antonio Banderas, Caroline Goodall, Rebecca Front, Gabriella Wright, Alice McMillan, Kristofer Kamiyasu, Tom Hopper, Blake Ritson and Richard E. Grant.
Plot:
Bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) trying to recover from previous events and recharge — call it a psychological sabbatical.
However, he is literally pulled back into action by his old friend/foe Darius’ (Samuel L. Jackson) even more volatile wife, the infamous international con artist Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek) who need his help saving her husband.
The trouble attracting trio gets in over their heads in a global plot and soon find that they are all that stands between Europe and a vengeful madman (Antonio Banderas)…
Reviews:
” …does what any great sequel should do… it brings back as much of the positive elements from the original as possible. It builds upon those original elements including adding to the backstories of the characters we are already familiar with, while at the same time adding just the right amount of new so the sequel isn’t 100% rehash.” Bulletproof Action
” …the addition of Hayek into the mix makes for a much more entertaining grouping, allowing for a more explosive and engaging chemistry. While Hayek is arguably the “newcomer” for the film, due solely to being relegated to a jail cell in the first outing, she creates the necessary alchemy to make this follow-up so electric […] Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman, and Frank Grillo also serve as welcome ingredients getting tossed into the mix…” Comicbook.com
” …this faithful follow-up plays marginally stronger than its 2017 predecessor, though the length is unforgivable and the repetition is substantial. There’s a lot of frenetic movement but scant reasoning, doing its best to lose interest during fantastical action sequences, only to possibly regain it with punchy one-liners. A dull villain consisting of plain grimaces, monotone threats, and garish suits…” Gone with the Twins
“Screenwriters Tom O’Connor, Phillip Murphy and Brandon Murphy display no interest in how credible characters — even cartoonishly exaggerated comic ones — might really behave under circumstances like these, which wouldn’t be so bad if the movie were funnier. But its occasional laughs drown in a sea of action-comedy tropes that have been stale for decades. These actors deserve much better, and so do their fans.” The Hollywood Reporter
“No one will ever confuse this for a good movie — it lacks any evident aspirations of goodness, as if returning director Patrick Hughes made the best thing he could while strapped to a bomb that would explode if its Rotten Tomatoes score ever went above 50 per cent Fresh — but it’s really, really hard to work up any real hatred for a goofy action programmer in which Antonio Banderas plays a psychopathic billionaire named Aristotle Papadopolous.” IndieWire
“I would urge any excited movie-goer to enter with realistic expectations. Do not expect a rehash of the first film. Do not expect greatness. But do buckle your seatbelts and lean in for one hell of a ride. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is a take no prisoners, laugh out loud romp.” Nightmarish Conjurings
“Returning director Patrick Hughes recycles gags from the prior film, like Bryce and Kinkaid’s ability to be oblivious amidst mayhem and the use of nuns to exaggerate off color humor. There is nothing here, though, that stands out like Hitman’s Amsterdam sequence. Freeman, Reynolds and especially Hayek are entertaining as always, but most new additions, like Banderas, Freeman and Grillo, are disappointing.” Reeling Reviews
” …an unsustainable combination of callbacks to the first entry and the central trio frantically screaming their lines at top volume during incoherently choreographed, shot, and edited car chases, periodic walks-and-talks, and sit-down dialogue scenes. And when that doesn’t work, Hughes relies on sight gags ranging from the juvenile to the sophomoric or a rapidly increasing, if ultimately meaningless, body count.” Screen Anarchy
“Overall, Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is a fine continuation of the franchise, bringing back Reynolds and Jackson for another action-comedy romp, this time made somewhat fresh by the addition of Hayek in a main role. The action of the movie is decent enough, though none of it is necessarily memorable, with the sequel perhaps shining more as a comedy thanks to the talents of Reynolds and Hayek in particular.” Screen Rant
“So is it, you know, fun? At times it is; at others it’s exhausting. Let’s call the whole thing fun-xhausting. But a movie like this one, in its trivially unhinged and irresponsible way, does feel, at moments, like a cultural marker: the cinematic equivalent of defining deviancy down. The story scarcely pretends to add up to anything plausible or logical…” Variety
“Hitman’s Wife Bodyguard is a comedy with not one legitimate laugh and an action movie where cars keep blowing up while the A-listers yell at each other, as though that were inherently amusing or entertaining. It’s a film that’s both frantic and listless; the overall impression is one of movie stars screaming their lines before returning to their vacations in picturesque Italian settings.” The Wrap
Release date:
Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard will be released theatrically in the USA on June 16th 2021.
Trailer:
Red band trailer:
Official teaser trailer:
Clips:
