The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

Bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) is haunted from losing a client to hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson). He lost his credentials in the aftermath. He's taking a sabbatical from violence and guns. He's kidnapped by Darius' wife Sonia (Salma Hayek) to join her in rescuing Darius. Then the trio gets kidnapped by Interpol to stop supervillain Aristotle Papdopolous (Antonio Banderas).

The first movie is a mess but I like the actors' chemistry. I especially like Salma Hayek's scene stealing turns. I thought that the movie needed to make the duo into a trio. In this sequel, that's exactly what happens. Salma Hayek becomes a central lead. She's as crazy as ever. I like her craziness coupled with Ryan Reynolds. The story remains a mess. Quite frankly, the plot doesn't really matter. It is frenetic to the point of chaotic. Nobody should care about the diamond drill. I just enjoy some of the moments with the three leads together. Everything else around them is a blur and there are great actors being wasted as supporting characters. What the franchise needs at this point is competent writing and a director willing to let these three actors cook for long stretches. It doesn't need a heavy hand at the wheel pushing the plot.

I liked the first film I felt the chemistry between the leads was excellent. They played off of each other very well. This film has reduced Reynold's character to a version of every Tracy Morgan character. Whiney. Moronic. Irritating. I don't remember his character as such in the first film (perhaps I've just forgotten?). The addition of Banderas and Freeman were a nice touch, but they were under utilized to the point that there was no connection to them. The plot is weak and never really feels like it delivers on the "thriller" aspect. It was ok, but I'm glad it was a Redbox rental.

Banderas is now Greek. And wants to wreck havoc in the EU. Although the movie was (at times) fun and it's cool to see Samuel Jackson and Morgan Freeman in the same film, a star-packed cast can't get this film rated above 6. And 6 is already too much.

Where to start...Pace is inconsistent and compared to the 1st film there are some really boring parts. Action is focused on bang-bang and car chase, coupled with some extreme shouting from Salma Hayek. Acting is ok (if you can stand Hayek).

Storyline is outdated and exaggerated but keeps the European vibe of the first film, which is consistent.

Comedy is prevalent throughout the film and there are some good moments.

And of course...Antonio Banderas: He plays the villain, Greek billionaire Aristotle Papadopoulos, but he doesn't take the role too seriously and he still is the one and only Antonio Banderas, with the one and only Spanish accent we all know. He delivers some funny one-liners mixed with a few popular Greek words and almost looks like a villain BUT with a really weak and bad plan.

Comedian Ryan Reynolds does well in comedy.

Frank Grillo is always a nice addition, even though his role in the film is not essential.

Nice cinematography, photography and great Italian landscapes. And some truly funny moments.

Maybe since they're chasing a Greek, they should have done more shots in Greece, so it could have been more relevant. Because in the overall story the connection with Italy seemed rather weak.

To conclude, there's a few reasons to watch this film. But it's not as good as the previous one, so be prepared.

I personally enjoyed it but it's no more than a 6/10.

My wife and I settled into a nice evening looking for light, funny entertainment, so we spun up this BluRay disc from our public library. We got almost halfway when I hit 'pause' and asked, "Are you enjoying this movie?" She wasn't and I had only gone that far because she was still in the room.

On the surface the story has elements necessary to make an entertaining movie, an unlikely team of three have the task of tracking down the bad guys and saving the world. But we were overwhelmed right away by two big problems:

First all the dialog is filled with filthy language, not just a little but seemingly the script tries to put as much filthy language as is possible. Just for the sake of filling the script with filthy language. All the way through the movie. For us it would be like trying to have a nice steak at a restaurant and the waiter coming by every 30 seconds and spraying pepper sauce into our faces. Now we're not prudes, but when dialog has such pervasive filthy language then soon all meaning goes away because we find ourselves wondering "Why do they think so much filthy language is entertaining?"

The second big problem is one scene after the other after the other with gun battles. From start to finish (I skipped around after the 45 minute mark to get a feel for how the second half of the movie is presented) all we get is shooting and more shooting. Just so much that soon all meaning of the story goes away.

Now we realize some viewers really like this sort of stuff, they are entertained by it, but to us it is a mystery. There are so many good TV shows and movies, how can someone be entertained by this sort of movie? We can't comprehend it.

I thought this film was very entertaining. It is action packed, and has lots of very funny jokes. I enjoyed it a lot.