Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is a 2021 American action comedy film directed by Patrick Hughes and written by Tom O'Connor and Brandon and Phillip Murphy. The film is a sequel to the 2017 film The Hitman's Bodyguard and features Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, and Richard E. Grant reprising their roles, with Frank Grillo, Antonio Banderas, and Morgan Freeman joining the cast. In the film, suspended bodyguard Michael Bryce (Reynolds) must once again team up with hitman Darius Kincaid (Jackson) and his wife, Sonia (Hayek), to stop a madman (Banderas) from launching a terror attack on Europe.

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard was theatrically released in the United States on June 16, 2021, by Lionsgate. The film received negative reviews from critics and flopped at the box office, grossing $70.1 million on a $70 million budget, less than half its predecessor.

Plot
Michael Bryce, temporarily retired from being a bodyguard while he awaits reinstatement of his license, tries to clear his mind on vacation in Capri until Sonia Kincaid tracks him down and forces him to help her rescue her hitman husband Darius after mobsters kidnap him.

After saving Darius, Bryce and the Kincaids are caught by Interpol agent Bobby O'Neill, who reveals the mobster they killed was his informant and forcibly enlists their help in locating Greek billionaire terrorist mastermind Aristotle Papadopoulos, who plans to destroy the European power grid and infrastructure in retaliation for the European Union's plans to impose more sanctions on Greece.

O'Neill sends Bryce and the Kincaids to infiltrate a party in Portofino and buy the coordinates to a data grid, which results in a shootout after Bryce is recognised by a former client. After getting help from his bodyguard stepfather, Bryce Senior, the trio is captured by Aristotle's henchmen. Aristotle reveals that he is Sonia's old flame.

Aristotle seemingly turns Sonia against Darius, and he and Bryce are forced to flee. Senior reveals himself to be Aristotle's head of security and denigrates and disowns Bryce. Bryce and Darius compose themselves and work together to rescue Sonia, who reveals that she is manipulating Aristotle, and thwart Aristotle, who learns of Sonia's deception and attempts to drown her.

After killing Aristotle's henchmen, Darius and Bryce disrupt his plan to drill into a data junction underwater, damage the European power grid and communications, and fight Aristotle and Senior. Bryce kills Senior while Darius and Sonia kill Aristotle. Bryce manages to hit the manual override to destroy the ship and stop the drill, and the three survive the explosion.

O'Neill tells them to stay on a yacht for 48 hours together before being cleared and free, then hands Bryce papers to sign, which Bryce thinks is his bodyguard license. Bryce signs them only to find out they are adoption papers for him to become the son of Sonia and Darius, much to the horror of both Bryce and Darius. Bryce despondently jumps off the yacht he is piloting while Sonia and Darius have sex inside.

Cast

 * Ryan Reynolds as Michael Bryce, Michael Sr.’s stepson and a bodyguard-for-hire on mandatory sabbatical which leaves him without the authority to use lethal weaponry.
 * Ivor Bagarić as young Michael Bryce
 * Samuel L. Jackson as Darius Kincaid, a world-renowned hitman.
 * Salma Hayek as Sonia Kincaid, Darius' wife.
 * Frank Grillo as Bobby O'Neill, an Interpol agent.
 * Antonio Banderas as Aristotle Papadopoulos, a Greek shipping tycoon.
 * Morgan Freeman as Michael Bryce Sr., Michael's stepfather and Aristotle's head of security.
 * Richard E. Grant as Mr. Seifert, an old associate of Bryce and a drug addict.
 * Tom Hopper as Magnusson, a famous bodyguard employed by Aristotle.
 * Kristofer Kamiyasu as Zento, a famous Japanese hitman employed by Aristotle.
 * Caroline Goodall as Superintendent Crowley, a senior Interpol agent.
 * Alice McMillan as Ailso, Crowley's Scottish Interpol translator and O'Neill's assistant.
 * Gabriella Wright as Veronika
 * Dragan Mićanović as Vlad
 * Rebecca Front as Joanne, Michael's therapist
 * Blake Ritson as Gunther
 * Miltos Yerolemou as Carlo

Gary Oldman is briefly seen as Vladislav Dukhovich through archive footage from the first film. Additionally, director Patrick Hughes appears as a bouncer at the club.

Development and casting
In May 2018, it was announced that Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, and Salma Hayek were in early talks to reprise their roles for a sequel to the 2017 film The Hitman's Bodyguard, with plans to begin filming later in the year. While Lionsgate was in talks to secure the United States distribution rights, Patrick Hughes was also in talks to return for directing duties. In November 2018, Lionsgate acquired the US rights from Millennium Films, while Matt O'Toole and Les Weldon would produce the film through Millennium and Campbell Grobman Films, and Hughes would return to direct the film from the script by Tom O'Connor, Brandon Murphy and Phillip Murphy. Reynolds, Jackson, and Hayek also officially signed on to star in the sequel. In March 2019, Frank Grillo, Morgan Freeman, Antonio Banderas and Tom Hopper joined the cast of the film, with Richard E. Grant reprising his role from the first.

Filming
Principal photography began in Europe on March 2, 2019. Filming took place in Italy (Trieste), Croatia (Rovinj, Rijeka, Karlovac, Zagreb, Jastrebarsko, Pisarovina, Motovun, Buje, Vodnjan, Lim Channel and Biševo), Slovenia, Bulgaria and United Kingdom.

Release
Lionsgate Films released the film on June 16, 2021, after being previously delayed to August 20, 2021, from an original release date of August 28, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Box office
Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard grossed $38 million in the United States and Canada, and $32 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $70.1 million.

In the United States and Canada, the film was projected to gross around $15 million from 3,331 theaters over its five-day opening weekend. The film made $3.9 million on its first day of release, including $1.8 million from advanced screenings the weekend before and $815,000 from Tuesday night previews. It went on to gross $11.4 million in its opening weekend and $16.7 million over the five days, topping the box office. It fell 57% to $4.9 million in its second weekend, finishing in third, then $3 million in its third weekend, including $3.9 million over the four-day 4th of July frame.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 26% based on 193 reviews, with an average rating of 4.3/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Despite the charms of its ensemble, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard fails to protect the audience from repetitive and tired genre tropes." On Metacritic, the film has weighted average score of 32 out of 100 based on reviews from 36 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 75% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 53% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Alonso Duralde of the TheWrap wrote: "Hitman's Wife Bodyguard is a comedy with not one legitimate laugh and an action movie where cars keep blowing up while the A-listers yell at each other, as though that were inherently amusing or entertaining." From The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney said: "Screenwriters Tom O'Connor, Phillip Murphy, and Brandon Murphy display no interest in how credible characters — even cartoonishly exaggerated comic ones — might really behave under circumstances like these, which wouldn't be so bad if the movie were funnier. But its occasional laughs drown in a sea of action-comedy tropes that have been stale for decades."

Sequel plans
In June 2021, Patrick Hughes stated that a third film is in development with the basic plot including an additional main cast member, already mapped out. By July, the filmmaker acknowledged that the end of the film leaves opportunity open for additional installments. Hughes stated: "The ending of this film lends itself to more suffering for Michael Bryce, so that can continue for eternity because I certainly love watching Ryan suffer. If there's potential to do it further, then we certainly are going to pursue that."