by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
Everyone has their own version of Fast and Furious franchise. This is (apparently) mine.
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is a sequel to 2017’s The Hitman’s Bodyguard and once again stars Ryan Reynolds as the titular bodyguard and Samuel L. Jackson as the titular hitman. I saw the original and enjoyed it for all its flaws because of the charisma of the two leads and how much I enjoyed watching them do their schtick.
Spoiler alert: It worked again.
This movie has a lot of issues that, were it any other movie, would have left me rolling my eyes or silently cursing at the screen. It’s stuffed full of cliché moments and dialogue, propped up by music that’s too on-the-nose, and “twists” a 10-year-old could see coming. Somehow, with its tongue planted so sharply in its cheek it punctures it, the movie finds a way to pull off another entertaining time. This must be how Fast and Furious fans or people that like any Transformers movies outside the original live action effort or Bumblebee feel. If it were anybody else in the two lead roles, I don’t think either of these films work for me. It’s another feather in both our leads’ caps that it does.
Though the schtick is largely the same, to call this just a carbon copy of its original would be slightly unfair. Salma Hayek returns to play Jackson’s wife and gets her character added to the film’s title in a nod to her vastly increased role in the sequel, and Antonio Banderas replaces Gary Oldman as the film’s big bad. Like Oldman, he looks like he’s having a ball chewing all of the scenery. Morgan Freeman, Frank Grillo, and Tom Hooper round out a cast with quite a few familiar faces.
But let me be honest — a few extra familiar faces aren’t going to be the determining factor for whether you go see this. This should be a pretty easy one for you to determine whether you want to check it out.
Did you like the first one? You’ll probably enjoy this one.
Did you think it was dumb? Probably won’t like this one either.
Have you not seen the first one, but think watching Reynolds and Jackson be versions of the people you’ve seen them be in some of their most popular movies sounds like a good time? There are worse ways you could spend two hours in this heat than in an air-conditioned theater.
(Pro tip: If you do decide to check this one out, be sure to stay until the very end of the credits for a very touching tribute.)
As for me, I now know I’m apparently a sucker for this franchise. I look forward to doing this all over again in 2024 for the The Hitman’s Second Cousin Twice Removed’s Bodyguard.
Grade: B-
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