The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard: Film Review

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Salma Hayek, Samuel L Jackson, Antonio Banderas

Director: Patrick Hughes

Loud, obnoxious, explosive-filled and expletive-laden, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is a monument to popcorn blockbuster excess that will find fans in those willing to be battered into submission.

Ryan Reynolds dials up the neurotic and returns as disgraced bodyguard Michael Bryce. Waiting to have his licence reviewed by the bodyguarding agency, Bryce is ordered by a therapist to take a break and put all thoughts of protection and killing to one side.

But at the same time as Antonio Banderas' Trumpian villain cum Liberace dresser Aristotle Papadopolous rises to make Greece great again as it suffers under sanctions from Europe, Bryce finds himself pulled back into the orbit of Darius Kincaid (Jackson, looking dareyousay it almost tired)who's been kidnapped. 

Thanks to the intervention of Kincaid's murderous wife Sonia (the playing-it-for-all-its-worth Salma Hayek), Bryce is forced to drop plans to use only pepper spray to take bad guys out, and try and save the day - again.

Patrick Hughes knows what made the 2017 film The Hitman's Bodyguard a success, and reckons on throwing in Hayek's Sonia as the winning formula to enhance the bickering of The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard.

The explosions are big, the references to other films are outright, and to be honest, there are a few unexpected laughs throughout a somewhat bloated 2 hour run time.

It's fair to say The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard isn't out to change the world, merely to keep it at bay for the aforementioned 120 minutes. But its commitment to almost-ACME levels of cartoonish OTT violence is undeniable.

While Jackson looks at times like he's coasting by, and Hayek tries to find another piece of scenery to ferociously cheer through, Reynolds delivers a thoroughly likeable performance as Bryce's neuroses come bounding to the fore. Perenially exasperated throughout, and with a level of comedic commitment that's hard to deny, Reynolds delivers throwaway lines with aplomb. From comments such as "What if someone's upstairs" when a bad guy unloads in the roof to get attention to some impressive physical comedy, Reynolds is infinitely more committed than the material perhaps deserves.

The bickering bonds work well between the three, and there's clearly an implication of a third movie being on the way, but in some ways, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is a diminishing returns kind of film.

Some of the side plots and characters simply fizzle into insignificance having been given a bigger part early on, and then reappear from nothing more than what would appear to be contractual, but not narrative, obligations.

It's safe enough - and enjoyable enough - as disposable popcorn fare, but offers little strong incentive for a third outing, despite Reynolds' well-intentioned input.