By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
For decades, Hollywood was trying to make Ryan Reynolds a leading man, from Van Wilder and The Proposal to genre fare including R.I.P.D., with mixed results. Reynolds was getting recognized, and his star power was climbing based on the strength of his sarcastic public persona, but it wasn’t until Deadpool that his name alone could sell tickets. The Hitman’s Bodyguard, his first post-Deadpool film, proved that being “Ryan Reynolds” on screen was enough to bring in an audience, turning the buddy-action comedy with Samuel L. Jackson into a surprising hit.
The Hitman’s Bodyguard Was A Surprise Hit
In The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Reynolds is allegedly playing Michael Bryce, a fast-talking, wise-cracking disgraced bodyguard who happens to act and sound a lot like Ryan Reynolds. Tasked with making sure that Darius (Jackson), a world-class assassin, makes it to The Hague to testify against the warlord President of Belarus, Dukhovich (Gary Oldman). Along the way, they break Darius’ wife, Sonia (Salma Hayek), out of prison, go on the run across Europe, and save each other’s lives multiple times. It’s the standard buddy-comedy road trip plot, but the sheer charm of the two stars elevates it above the paint-by-numbers plot.
The total box office of $176 million may not sound like much compared to Deadpool, but it was enough to make The Hitman’s Bodyguard the top film for three straight weekends when it debuted on August 18, 2017. Critical and fan reception was similar, with both groups giving it middling marks on Rotten Tomatoes, 44 percent rotten from critics and only 66 percent favorable from the public. Yet it did well enough to earn a sequel, and to this day, it’s still one of the best buddy comedies of the last decade.
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard Falls Into Every Sequel Trap
As for the sequel, The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, it flips the script and has Sonia recruiting Bryce to save Darius. As a trio, the group goes against a manipulative billionaire, played by Antonio Banderas, and Bryce’s stepdad, Michael Sr., played by Morgan Freeman, gets involved in the action. It’s bigger than the first film, but it’s not better.
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard steps into every trap possible for a comedy sequel, from rehashing the same gags to shoehorning in throwbacks and, as 22 Jump Street brutally pointed out, doing the exact same thing again. Released in June 2021, the film bombed in theaters, barely earning back its budget of $70 million, and to say that critics savaged the film would be an understatement, with a 25 percent rotten on Rotten Tomatoes, but fans loved it, giving it 79 percent fresh. Comedy is subjective, but so few Hollywood blockbuster buddy comedies are made today that even a subpar one is a breath of fresh air and makes for a fun date night movie.
The biggest knock against both films, and there are rumors of a third, is that Ryan Reynolds is playing Ryan Reynolds, and Samuel L. Jackson leans into the parody version of Samuel L. Jackson, but the thing is, audiences love that about each of them. The Hitman’s Bodyguard and The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard aren’t high-brow cinema, and they aren’t imparting a grand artistic vision, but they are fun, and sometimes, that’s all you need out of a movie.
Best of all, you can stream both The Hitman’s Bodyguard and The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard for free on Amazon Freevee.
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