Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Hits Keep Coming

Didn’t we just see a 2021 Ryan Reynolds movie? Yes, but in Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (2021), he’s an uptight exasperated quipping machine, not a lovestruck naive quipping machine. Very different.

In this direct sequel, Reynolds is in therapy. His therapist convinces him to take a break from body guarding, to stop carrying a gun and get some rest. She is mainly trying to get rid of him because he scares her. So we find him resting on a beach when Selma Hayek comes busting in. Her husband, hitman Samuel L. Jackson, has been kidnapped, and he asked for Reynolds to help get him out. 

So even though he is on sabbatical and refuses to carry a gun, he can’t resist the honor of being asked to help. Of course, Hayek misheard - he actually asked for anybody BUT Reynolds. But they do get him out. And are immediately captured by Interpol agent Frank Grillo who has a mission for them involving villain Antonio Banderas.

For reasons, Reynolds takes the gang to see his father Morgan Freeman, who promises to help and of course betrays them. And so on. You don’t care about that, right? It’s all about Reynolds refusing to carry a gun (shades of Destry). He is always either complaining about his interrupted vacation or saying, “we need a carefully thought out plan” just as Hayek and/or Jackson just jump out, guns blazing. 

It’s pretty funny and exciting, as promised. It even has a callback to the nuns from the first movie. Hayek was underused in the first one, and now gets to have some real fun. Is this our favorite new series? No, but we will watch the sequel if they make it: Son of Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard?

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