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("The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard" showtimes Mon 14 JUN)
● ODEON Luxe Leicester Square, 24-26 Leicester Square
17:45 20:45
● Cineworld Leicester Square, 5-6 Leicester Square
11:20 12:50 20:50
● Vue Cinemas - West End, 3 Cranbourn Street, Leicester Square
13:00 15:25 17:05 18:30 20:30
● ODEON Luxe Haymarket, 11/18 Panton Street
15:00 17:00 20:30
● Vue Cinemas - Piccadilly (Apollo), 19 Lower Regent Street
14:10 18:25 20:50
https://we-love-cinema.com/movies/52272-the-hitman-s-wife-s-bodyguard/
"The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard"
The world’s most lethal odd couple, bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) and hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson), are back on another life-threatening mission. Still unlicensed and under scrutiny, Bryce is forced into action by Darius’s even more volatile wife, the infamous international con artist Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek). As Bryce is driven over the edge by his two most dangerous protectees, the trio get in over their heads in a global plot and soon find that they're all that stand between 'Europe' and Aristotle Papadopolous (Antonio Banderas), a vengeful and powerful madman. Joining in the fun and deadly mayhem is Senior (Morgan Freeman).
We couldn’t help but wonder; what the hell would have happened to Michael Bryce after that road trip with Kincaid? Michael Bryce is still discredited and still looking to define himself after losing his 'AAA' rating as a bodyguard. He's suffering no matter what he does. He’s a man who has lost everything, worst of all, his 'Triple-A' rating, but he’s still trying to do the right thing. After taking a bullet for Darius Kincaid, he has unresolved feelings about his job. The first step, like always, is therapy. But as much as he looks for answers inside himself, his problems really do come from the loudmouth, dangerous hitman Darius Kincaid and his even more volatile wife, Sonia, who always seem to come back into his life. When your problems include detonating briefcases, 'Italian' mobsters, 'Russian' gangsters, car chases, bar brawls, explosions, shootouts, a little light torture, and overall pandemonium, there’s only so much that cognitive behavioral therapy can do about Darius and Sonia Kincaid. Darius Kincaid is just the guy you get if you need to ruin a bodyguard’s 'Triple-A Day'. He’s cool, funny, intelligent, fast thinking, incredibly good at his job, comfortable in his own skin, has no regrets, and he really, really loves his wife. He’s self-actualized and fundamentally a really happy person. Just one thing: the guy’s a totally unhinged, murdering hitman. And despite the fact that Bryce took a bullet for the guy, they still can’t stand each other. Wouldn’t we all like to be that guy?. He’s married to his soulmate and has total job satisfaction. He might be a murderer, but he’s one that’s got it all together and understands the importance of love and his relationship. He imparts a lot of that knowledge to Bryce. Kincaid feels like this overbearing, disapproving father figure throughout that film, and Bryce has massive and deep-rooted validation issues. It feels that Bryce would certainly be in therapy. There's a real potential to explore the family dynamic.
That family dynamic takes form as Kincaid’s wife, the international con artist Sonia Kincaid, embraces her role as a mother figure. She’d actually be pretty good at it if not for her extreme mania, if anything, she’s even more volatile than her husband, but she does havep a way of sympathetically making peace between Bryce and Kincaid. Sonia's occupation, technically, is con artist, but she’s just as skilled and dangerous with weapons as her husband, Darius. She’s quick to anger, quick on the trigger, and will cut you to the quick. But there’s something missing from her life: Sonia desperately wants to become a mother, and it’s driving her to make some choices. After all, what perfect parents these two completely deranged people would make. She’s crazy, but not randomly crazy. She’s full of contradictions, but those contradictions make sense to me. One of the things we love about her is her thought process, it’s strange, but it’s consistent in it's strangeness. Aristotle Papadopoulos is an egomaniacal 'Greek' tycoon with all the money in the world and the national pride to match. Papadopoulos is kind of a right-wing stand-in for anyone in 'Europe' who's in disagreement with 'The European Union', he’s fighting for the rights of The Greek' people. He has all this power, intelligence, money, and an army of really nasty henchmen. Ultimately, his character is really just fighting for himself, but you get to learn that at one time he was a better man. Now he’s just very bitter, a very bad guy. As 'UN' sanctions sink 'Greece’s' economy, with ordinary 'Greeks' protesting in the streets, Papadopoulos vows to avenge his homeland and allow 'Greece' to retake it's rightful place in the world as the birthplace of history. Clearly, he’s insane. Behind a look that suggests a cross between 'Liberace', 'Scarface', and 'Aristotle Onassis', complete with blonde pompadour and orange tan.
Senior is a man who Bryce admires and respects; as Bryce shows his usual lack of judgement. But even if his character doesn’t always inspire trust, Senior finds ways to make him real. Bobby O'Neil (Frank Grillo) is a classic 'American' cowboy cop, but he’s stuck, against his will, as an Interpol agent in 'Europe'. He hates every minute of it and will do anything he can to get sent back home, and like any American cowboy cop, he doesn’t care what rules he has to break to get what he wants. He’s almost constantly screaming. He’s a curmudgeon, he hates 'Europe' and he’ll do whatever he has to do to get home as fast as he can, and he’s totally unapologetic for that. But through all the gruffness and the angry shouting there’s a soft side to him, he’s got a vulnerability that makes him kind of likable.
The water sequence leading up to Bryce, Kincaid, and Sonia’s violent standoff with Papadopoulos and his henchmen on the yacht, with nail-biting chaos, gunfire and explosions, is a highlight. Filmed in the quiet and picturesque harbor of 'Ravinj', the sequences required split-second timing involving a hair-raising speedboat chase through the billionaire’s heavily armed thugs. The action naturally includes fights, too, fist fights, gun fights, knife fights, wrestling, it’s all in there. Their characters are chalk and cheese. Darius Kincaid with his cool swagger against Michael Bryce’s snarky 'OCD'. Their chemistry is off the charts. When you throw Sonia into the mix, it’s even more fun. The humor and absurdist behavior is the connective tissue of this movie.
