Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard Movie Review

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (2021)

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Written by: Tom O'Connor (based on characters created by), Tom O'Connor (story by), Tom O'Connor & Phillip Murphy & Brandon Murphy (screenplay by)
Directed by: Patrick Hughes
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, Gary Oldman, Frank Grillo, Richard E. Grant, Morgan Freeman
Rated: R
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Plot
The bodyguard, Michael Bryce, continues his friendship with assassin, Darius Kincaid, as they try to save Darius' wife Sonia.

Verdict
This attempts to build on the first movie by adding Salma Hayek to the mix. It kind of works, resulting in a movie slightly better than the first. I could say much of the same about both movies as the ambition and execution is the same. This is a filler movie. it doesn't do anything that stands out and even the comedy largely relies on Ryan Reynolds' usual dead pan while characters bounce jokes off him.
Skip it.

Review
A sequel to The Hitman's Bodyguard, and this does much of the same only with three main characters.

This starts off silly as I wondered what was going on before the reveal. Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) has lost his status as a top tier bodyguard after the first movie. He's in therapy and that sets up the reoccurring joke that Bryce is "not doing guns right now" as he fights through the rest of the movie with anything but.

Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Reynolds, Salma Hayek play Darius Kincaid, Michael Bryce, Sonia Kincaid

Bryce is recruited by Sonia (Salma Hayek), the wife of Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) who is the hitman from the first movie. That's all the setup this movie needs as Bryce and Sonia must first free Darius and then defend themselves and the world against a terrorist the rest of the movie.

This relies on just a few jokes, which can get dull. The movie's go to is Bryce as a near pacifist and Sonia as beyond crude. It's not that the joke is bad, it's just overused. This also gets a lot of mileage out of Bryce no long being a licensed bodyguard. The best reoccurring joke may be Bryce's pen knife, except for the fact that it's a Swiss Army knife.

Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson play Michael Bryce and Samuel L. Jackson

The movie is certainly over the top and committed to it. Like most sequels it manages to land a few other big name actors. The cameo later in the movie is a surprise and appreciated.

This takes the positives of the first movie and pushes them farther. Instead of an odd couple, we get a third wheel. It's a mindless action movie punctuated with humor and cameos. The ending certainly got me as it's a complete non-sequitur. It's included purely for the humor with no basis whatsoever. That's in line with this movie.