REVIEW: The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard

Wife

Four years and an extra possessive noun later, an unexpected hit of 2017, The Hitman’s Bodyguard1, returns for an even more unexpected sequel, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’s.

Eponymous bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds; still snarky, just more tired) is still on the outs following the events of the first film. He’s suffering from frequent nightmares about the eponymous hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson; glaring, borderline hysterical), whose life he saved at the cost of his own reputation.

Bryce’s sabbatical in Italy, taken at the recommendation of his therapist (an appalled Rebecca Front), is interrupted by Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek, swearing up a storm), the eponymous wife. Darius has been kidnapped and she needs Bryce’s help getting him back.

Where the first film at least had a certain retrograde charm, Wife’s brings nothing new to the table. That’s apart from a couple of auxiliary screenwriters, Brandon and Phillip Murphy2, both of whom seem to have no other writing credits, according to IMDb.

As the film’s villain, a Versace-clad Greek nationalist named Aristotle Papadopoulos, Antonio Banderas isn’t given nearly enough scenery to chew or nearly enough screen-time with Hayek, his Desperado costar. As Interpol agent Bobby O’Neill, Frank Grillo’s whole character motivation is that he just wants to go back to Boston. Only Morgan Freeman, in a role I won’t spoil here, gets much work with comedically or character-wise.3

Wife‘s best moments are during its brief reversals, when Jackson is on the back foot and Reynolds temporarily victorious; as with Freeman’s appearance. Sadly, the former spends most of the film crowing and the latter ignored and abused.

Even the fleeting reappearance of a gaggle of nuns, from the first film’s best gag, seems more knowing than funny.

Still, as diminishing are the returns that are on display here, there’s just enough chemistry and wit here to sustain the attention. Though, with its also much-diminished box office, that’s likely it for those possessive nouns and the franchise.

  1. It made almost $180 million worldwide off a $70 million budget.
  2. In addition to original scribe Tom O’Connor
  3. Including an amusing Shawshank reference.

Author: robertmwallis

Graduate of Royal Holloway and the London Film School. Founder of Of All The Film Sites; formerly Of All The Film Blogs. Formerly Film & TV Editor of The Metropolist and Official Sidekick at A Place to Hang Your Cape. Co-host of The Movie RobCast podcast (formerly Electric Shadows) and member of the Online Film Critics Society.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *