By Robert Scucci
| Published 1 hour ago
Action comedies tend to lean one way or the other, favoring action over comedy or comedy over action. It’s rare that films in this specific lane go all in on both camp and carnage, and sometimes you want a healthy heaping of both to fully sink into the popcorn spectacle. 2021’s Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard checks both boxes, and it’s such a blast because everyone commits to the banter, the violence, and the sheer volume of bullets and laughs per minute in this direct sequel to The Hitman’s Bodyguard.
Even better, Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard racks up an absolutely insane body count, the kind you’d expect from the John Wick franchise or other so-called elevated action properties. The difference here is that every explosion, every magazine reload, every body flying through the air comes paired with a one-liner or an intentionally corny setup and punchline. Spoiler alert: Ryan Reynolds gets hit by a lot of cars, and that was my favorite part. Not because I dislike him, but because he’s just really good at getting hit by cars in this movie.
The main reason I tuned into Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard was its Rotten Tomatoes reception ratio. Critics despised this thing, leaving it with a 25 percent critical score versus a much healthier 79 percent audience approval on the Popcorn meter across well over a thousand reviews. This kind of split only happens under very specific circumstances. Critics, who sit through countless action movies every year, are burned out on the tropes. Casual moviegoers, who maybe watch a handful of action movies annually, show up specifically for those same tropes. The beauty of Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is that it leans into every single cliché without shame and has a hell of a lot of fun doing it.
Two Guys And A Girl In A Pizza Place
I’ll spare you the layered plot points and stick to the character rundown you actually need to be sold on Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard. Ryan Reynolds plays Michael Bryce, a disgraced bodyguard for hire who recently lost his license after failing to protect his client, world famous hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson). Darius’ wife, Sonia (Salma Hayek), tracks Michael down while vacationing in Italy and ropes him into helping locate her missing husband, which is technically Michael’s fault in the first place.
Michael, who is actively trying to turn over a new leaf and not kill anyone, gets dragged into a sprawling conspiracy involving Sonia, Darius, corrupt Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Papadopoulos (Antonio Banderas), his brute of a bodyguard Magnusson (Tom Hopper), Interpol agent Bobby O’Neil (Frank Grillo), and his boss Superintendent Crowley (Caroline Goodall). As expected, the stakes are absurdly high, the fate of Europe hangs in the balance, and all of that nonsense quickly takes a backseat to the action.
Full Commitment To Its Own Inherent Ridiculousness
Every aspect of Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is engineered to entertain. I didn’t even realize it was a sequel until after I finished watching it and did some reading, which is fully on me. I circled back to the first film afterward, but the point stands. You don’t need exposition dumps or detailed character backstories to enjoy this movie. Everyone is so animated that the characterization does the work for you. You get the villains, their motives, and then the movie immediately gets out of its own way and lets the spectacle take over.
You don’t need homework to enjoy Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard because the characters carry the entire runtime. Ryan Reynolds, who I can take or leave depending on what kind of character he’s playing, works here because he is constantly humbled and humiliated by Salma Hayek’s Sonia. She and Darius spend a considerable amount of time turning Michael Bryce into their emotional and physical punching bag. Michael is genuinely good at his job, but his tendency toward self sabotage makes every escalating incident land harder since he gets seriously injured almost every time.
There are multiple scenes where Michael is smacked completely out of frame by speeding cars, and several recurring moments where Michael, Darius, and Sonia wake up tied to chairs with bags over their heads after yet another botched mission. Sonia runs her mouth like an angry parent who just caught her kids stealing, while Darius and Michael absorb the abuse before regrouping and diving right back into the chaos. Watching it unfold is an action comedy fan’s dream come true because everyone commits fully to making Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard as loud, ridiculous, and energetic as possible.
Come For The Action, Stay For The Humor
What I appreciated most about Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is how tangible the action feels. Cars are wrecked. Boats and buildings explode. People sprint and leap away from fireballs just in time. Stormtrooper volumes of bullets tear through the sound design, and everything is dialed in to make an intentionally absurd premise feel immersive through sheer scale and momentum. The movie crams an impressive amount of mayhem into its lean 100 minute runtime.
If you want to shut your brain off and watch Ryan Reynolds take beating after beating while Samuel L. Jackson unloads f-bombs and Salma Hayek screams her way through the destruction, you’re going to have a great time with Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, which is currently streaming on Max.
