The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (2021) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Patrick Hughes

Starring:  Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, Morgan Freeman, Frank Grillo, Antonio Banderas

It's hard not to feel sorry for Michael Bryce (Reynolds), who spends more than half of The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard with someone else's blood splattered on him.    He recently was stripped of his bodyguard license after the death of a client and has nightmares about winning a Bodyguard of the Year award.  His therapist tells him to take a vacation in Capri (the city, not the pants) for some R and R.  That lasts only a few moments.   He is soon pressed into duty by Sonia (Hayek), who if you recall is the wife of Darius Kincaid (Jackson), the hitman who Michael reluctantly guarded in The Hitman's Bodyguard.   

Michael, Darius, and Sonia are soon on the run from thugs who work for the powerful Greek zillionaire Aristotle, who is plotting to bring the European economy to its knees following the European Union's economic sanctions against his country.   Something about a drill which can bore into a tungsten box which would cripple Europe's computer infrastructure.   No matter.   The plot is what it is:  An excuse to hold plenty of fights, chases, and shootings within the movie's running time.   More heads are blown off in the Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard than in your average zombie movie.  

The original film was loud, wall-to-wall action with a buddy comedy waiting to emerge that never did develop.   The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard manages to be a little more fun.   Ryan Reynolds is John Ritter-esque in his delivery and how he is acted upon by everyone and everything else in the movie.   If a Ritter biopic is ever made, Reynolds should be the only actor considered for the role.   His likability quotient is increasing with each comic role.   Jackson is having a blast amidst the chaos surrounding him.   Hayek has nice chemistry with her often co-star Banderas, with whom her character has a Past.  And then we have Morgan Freeman as Michael's father, himself a legendary bodyguard whom Michael idealizes who shows where his loyalties lie in a crucial moment.   

The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is not a superior example of the buddy/action picture.   The violence becomes numbing after a while and the actors can only take the material so far.   However, it is an improvement on the original strictly because it allows itself to have at least somewhat of a good time.