The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard Has a More Complicated Title than Plot

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021)

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard has a more complex title than plot. It is a very straightforward concept, directly following the first movie, in which Ryan Reynolds, a disgraced bodyguard begrudgingly defends a criminal in order to save all of Europe. The twist is that it isn’t just Samuel L. Jackson this time, it is Sam Jackson and his wife, played by Salma Hayek. It is a very basic action-comedy film that is solely reliant on the chemistry between Reynolds, Jackson, and Hayek. Fortunately, that worked in the previous iteration and carried through to the sequel. Everything else is by-the-numbers, but the comedic stylings of the leads carry the film. Most of the jokes only work because of the actor delivering them. Few others could carry these roles without making this movie absolutely suck. Jackson and Reynolds have the perfect balance of enmity and friendship and Hayek plays the deranged wild card perfectly. Their characters can survive on their own, but they thrive together. Nothing in this movie will surprise the audience, besides one cameo that was spoiled in an international trailer and poster. This movie is never “laugh out loud” funny, but it is frequently “silently smirk and respond lol” funny. If this movie came out in 1996, it would have played three times every weekend on TNT or TBS from 2003 to 2008 and you would just let it play in the background while you got work done or tried to take a nap because you were just entertained enough to not change the channel. Overall, it was a simple, yet enjoyable throwback to mid-90s action movies like Lethal Weapon 3 and 4. I give it 2 out the 3 movies that Samuel L. Jackson is starring in this year without anybody knowing about it.