Review: Patrick Hughes’s The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard Is a Comedy Killer

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard improves on its 2017 predecessor only insofar as it runs 20 minutes shorter.

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard

Patrick Hughes’s The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard improves on its 2017 predecessor, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, only insofar as it runs 20 minutes shorter. While this results in a bit more narrative efficiency, given that the plot is less weighed down by convoluted twists and turns, the sequel is as clunky as its title. The film’s uneasy blend of action and comedy is neither well-directed enough to deliver on the former—Hughes’s quick cutting and liberal use of extreme close-ups barely conceals how poorly choreographed the fight scenes are—nor is it sharp or witty enough to inspire more than a light chuckle.

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard rests its laurels on the performances of its three leads, each of whom coast on their established personas. Samuel L. Jackson plays foul-mouthed assassin Darius Kincaid with a decidedly measured indifference, while Ryan Reynolds, as bodyguard Michael Bryce, leans into the smug shtick that’s pervaded much of his career. As Darius’s wife, Sonia, Salma Hayek plays a bigger role than she did in The Hitman’s Bodyguard, but she’s given nothing to do but play up the fiery Latina stereotype that she’s often saddled with, reduced to delivering groan-inducing jokes revolving around her accent.

The film abounds in such juvenile humor, from Michael reacting to the name of his island destination with “Capri? Like the pants?” to getting shot with several poisoned darts and falling face-first onto Sonia’s butt. The warmed-over nature of the comedy also extends to the narrative, which involves a couple of subplots that would’ve felt antiquated in a film released even a decade ago. For one, Michael gets a wholly unnecessary backstory—involving an overweight man flying out of a carnival ride and killing his mother—that seemingly exists only to allow for a lengthy scene in which Morgan introduces his father, Senior (Morgan Freeman), to Darius and the latter assumes that they’re biologically related.

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This lazy, sophomoric comedy is made all the more disconcerting by its cavalier depiction of violence, leading to jarring swings in tone as the film bounces between scenes with excessive body counts, including one that sees 75 civilians killed in the blink of an eye, and ones in which the protagonists perpetually bicker like children. The first film had a similar issue, but it at least had the decency to treat its central terrorist plot with a modicum of gravity.

In The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, the villainous scheme is equally destructive, but nearly everything in the film is turned into a bad, throwaway joke, whether it’s the name of Antonio Banderas’s Greek villain (Aristotle Papadopolous), Michael’s family drama, or the ticking of Sonia’s biological clock. The latter plot line appears to be building up to another sequel (The Hitman’s Wife’s Son’s Bodyguard, perhaps?), but in one of the filmmakers’ few good calls, they throw a curveball that suggests audiences may be spared of having to endure that.

Score: 
 Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Salma Hayek, Samuel L. Jackson, Frank Grillo, Morgan Freeman, Antonio Banderas, Tom Hopper, Richard E. Grant, Caroline Goodall  Director: Patrick Hughes  Screenwriter: Tom O’Connor, Brandon Murphy, Phillip Murphy  Distributor: Lionsgate  Running Time: 99 min  Rating: R  Year: 2021  Buy: Video, Soundtrack

Derek Smith

Derek Smith's writing has appeared in Tiny Mix Tapes, Apollo Guide, and Cinematic Reflections.

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