Producers of the Millennium Media production are Matt O’Toole, Yariv Lerner and Les Weldon. The script is by Brandon and Philip Murphy. As an excuse to help wake up the multiplex, we welcome anything - just get us out of the house. Shout-out to Lionsgate for putting this exclusively in theatres on June 16. For those who want to submit to this brand of mayhem, our stars make it more fun than it should be. Nevertheless, this dynamic trio gives it their all, are guaranteed a nice payday and accordingly fire on all cylinders.
As escapist summertime fodder, and a reason to chomp down some popcorn, you could do a lot worse. Jackson has done this thing 100 times and has it down pat, but he and Hayek oddly seem right together.
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Reynolds doesn’t have the outrageous rat-a-tat-tat one-liners of a Deadpool , but he always is fun to have around, an actor who knows how to play a comic line as well as anyone. I only wish Hughes had the smarts to slow things down more often, but I imagine this is a film essentially made by committee, so you get what you get. It shows that if you give the humor a chance to breathe a little instead of overcooking everything, this group can be very funny. I have to say the scene where our trio goes to his home is the best in the movie, maybe because it is also the quietest and most offbeat. Morgan Freeman also turns up (but of course) and seems to have some sort of connection with everyone. The whole thing in this regard seems overly convoluted. Banderas is as over-the-top as the rest of them but is stuck playing a Bondian villain without much teeth. Reynolds, Jackson, and Hayek are simply having a blast, even if overwhelmed by all the loud and constant pyrotechnics and pointless action sequences. Interpol, in the form of an agent played by Frank Grillo, also gets involved as the action heats up to extreme levels but never once seems believable, which might be the point. This time they must find a way to infiltrate the world of Greek tycoon Aristotle Papadopolous (the very un-Greek Antonio Banderas), who is out to destroy the infrastructure of the EU in order to return his beloved Greece to the center of power. Nevertheless, Darius quickly is freed and it serves as the setup to reteam this dynamic duo. Apparently, she gets it wrong as he said to send in anyone but Michael.
So with his copy of “The Secret” in hand, he is off to Capri, the first of several tempting Italian locations featured (although the credits state the UK, Croatia, and Bulgaria also were employed during filming), where a violent incident comes to a boil when Sonia Kincaid (Hayek) runs rampant on the beach and tells Michael that her husband Darius (Jackson) has been kidnapped by the mafia and only wants Michael to come rescue him. He spends time in therapy with a doctor who can’t wait to get rid of him and thus prescribes a getaway vacation.
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Plot-wise, it is four years after the events of the first movie, and Reynolds’ Michael Bryce is screwed up because he lost his bodyguard license after botching an assignment to protect a billionaire. Hayek also has a fair amount of screen time lamenting their inability to get pregnant. He also apparently is fond of boob jokes and sexual gags that have Jackson and Hayek, a married hitman and conwoman, unable to keep their hands off each other.
Fortunately, director Patrick Hughes, who also helmed the original, does not believe in reining her antics in. I never thought I would say this, but her completely bananas “anything goes,” take-no-prisoners approach actually works here. Their comic chemistry saved the day and guaranteed a sequel, this time moving up supporting scene stealer Salma Hayek into full-on co-star status as this one is definitely now a three-fer. Jackson in 2017’s The Hitman’s Bodyguard came close to $200 million worldwide for what initially was perceived to be a late-August throwaway. It also got a greenlight because the first teaming of Reynolds and Samuel L. This clearly is a comedy the studio believes had to be protected with a near-nonstop barrage of violent shootouts, chases, explosions and more to make sure we pay attention for 98 minutes or so.