Summary
Somehow this sequel is both smarter and dumber than its predecessor.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard was a surprising action comedy on many levels. Despite a thin script, the unreasonably stacked cast turned up for a relentlessly shooty film in which everyone could do (and has done) better. Yet the economics of Hollywood dictates that it made a profit and thus demands a sequel. So, the cast expands, the plotting convolutes and the ‘motherfuckers’ flow free and fast.
Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) goes on vacation, having resigned himself to giving up the bodyguard life. He’s drawn right back in when Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek) turns up guns blazing, demanding that he help save her captured hitman husband Darius (Samuel L. Jackson). In a setup straight out of The Phantom Menace playbook, terrorist Aristotle Papadopoulos (Antonio Banderas) aims to destroy the European power grid because the EU is planning to impose more sanctions on Greece.
Following an almost identical format to its predecessor, once again from Australian director Patrick Hughes, there’s a certain pleasure to be derived from the moment to moment madness of the action sequences. Still, this is unquestionably the product of an era that’s soon to be bygone: in a post-pandemic world, will there still be junkets to Europe just to shoot action flicks?
For a cast containing two Academy Award winners and three nominees, one wonders if any of them were sent the scripts or the pay rate first. Even so, they all seem to be actually enjoying themselves this time around, and the addition of Morgan Freeman (as Reynolds’ stepdad) and the always welcome Frank Grillo adds a new dynamic to the mix. As always, more Salma Hayek in any film is always a good thing.
Yet for all the fun the cast are having, the audience might occasionally feel like they’ve been slapped about with a wet fish. The whiplash series of loosely connected action sequences are punctuated by rapid-fire dialogue moments that seem to have been cobbled together on the fly. Aware that the script is missing these crucial linking segments, characters are constantly repeated the stakes of the mission for the sake of the audience. When they aren’t, they rely on pop cultural references — including a baffling long tribute to Overboard, a 1987 rom-com starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.
Of course, none of it makes any sense and the ending is one of the stupidest moments in an already silly film. Still, I might be rapidly developing a soft spot for this franchise, and if Kevin Costner isn’t in the third chapter of the trilogy, I’ll eat a hat.
2021 | USA | DIRECTOR: Patrick Hughes | WRITERS: Tom O’Connor, Brandon Murphy, Phillip Murphy | CAST: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, Frank Grillo, Richard E. Grant, Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman | DISTRIBUTOR: Lionsgate, Roadshow Films (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 24 June 2021 (AUS)
