The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard review

I enjoyed the first movie so I was looking forwards to this one. I wouldn't say I liked it as much, but I'm happy to report it was still a great deal of fun.

I thought the comedy mostly worked; I laughed quite a bit during this movie. The action was nothing special but, in conjunction with the humor, it worked quite well; I was entertained at least.

I did feel the movie was a little too mean-spirited though. Don't get me wrong, for the most part that led to a lot of laughs, I just feel that a little bit less, especially towards the end, would have made the film a bit more satisfying overall.

I feel that mean-spiritedness also compromised the characters a little bit. It's been a while, but to my recollection I found Michael and Darius more likeable in the original. This time around I felt that Darius really didn't have enough redeeming moments to offset his role as the infuriating foil to Micheal. And while Sonya displayed far more humanity later in the film, to me at least it didn't erase the early impression she gave of being a horribly unpleasant psychopath. Meanwhile Micheal, who despite his quirks originally came across as something of a long-suffering straight-man, now feels like a sad cartoon. I felt sorry for him, but I didn't like him very much.

Don't get me wrong, Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson were a lot of fun as expected. Antonio Banderas seemed a strange casting decision, but I really enjoyed his performance. Morgan Freeman however was perfectly cast - or maybe he's such a good actor that he made the role perfect? Salma Hayak was good, but I have to admit there were a few scenes where her performance felt a bit awkward to me. Nevertheless I believe it was a performance that not just any actress could produce.


I consider this movie a 7/10: it's entertaining, but of course not to be taken seriously.




#####SPOILER WARNING#####
I didn't like the end very much. It was actually really cruel to Michael. I mean, the whole movie was, but you would at least hope that he would get a happy ending. I think those last few laughs were not worth trading a more satisfying ending for.


Morgan Freeman was a pleasant surprise, but I just knew he was going to turn out to be a bad guy. I think it was just because of how, well, sadistic I suppose, the movie was.