‘Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’ (review)

The desire to hit action-comedy gold is high in these days of seemingly endless sequels.

Who knows which summer hit will turn into the next incredibly lucrative Lethal Weapon series? But a bad sequel fails to replicate the magic balance of violence and laughs, giving the impression of a longform TV special. Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard has a cast designed for the big screen working with writing from a TBS primetime event.

The swagger and confidence from unaccredited executive bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) is gone, and he is a shadow of the man whose last scenes were cracking jokes at the charming contract killer Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) from a stretcher after saving the day. In therapy, he details daily nightmares and an obsession for getting back his accreditation that is only vaguely addressed past surface level.

While on a therapist-mandated no-kill vacation, he is swept up by Kincaid’s equally foul-mouthed wife Sofia (Salma Hayek), who needs Bryce’s help to save Kincaid from a kidnapper so they can continue their honeymoon and have a baby.

We have not even introduced the main villain, pompous Greek mafia leader Aristotle Papadopolous (Antonio Banderas) or his ludicrous “destroy the world” plan. This is a decided step down from Gary Oldman’s turn in the original, which gave some weight to an otherwise goofy storyline. The first tried to create some ties to reality, pulling back the more ludicrous elements in favor of well-choreographed action sequences and chummy back and forth between Reynolds and Jackson.

Unfortunately, the same chemistry does not exist between Hayek and Reynolds, making many of their scenes quite awkward.

Sofia is a character that is fine in small doses, but becomes grating in longform. Where comedy fails, we turn to the action. The sequences are louder, more fiery, and significantly more bloody than the original. It veers into the kind of body count you’d expect from a strictly action movie, which might be jarring for those hoping for more jokes than killshots.

Rounding out a cast full of wasted potential are supporting roles from Morgan Freeman, Tom Hopper, and Frank Grillo. Even though the sequel is almost 20 minutes shorter, it somehow feels the same length if not longer.

In all this there are some bright spots, and genuine laughs to be had. They just come too few and far between to make up for the rest of the film.

*  *  *  *  *

Produced by Matt O’Toole, Les Weldon ,Yariv Lerner
Screenplay by Tom O’Connor, Brandon Murphy, Phillip Murphy
Story by Tom O’Connor
Based on Characters by Tom O’Connor
Starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek,
Frank Grillo, Richard E. Grant, Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman