Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

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Movie
Ryan Reynolds seems to be that affable sort of guy who just has fun with his career and genuinely can look at his own mistakes and cinematic faux pas as actually humorous, rather than get all defensive about them. So it’s no shock that the wise cracking action hero winks and nods at his previous entry of The Hitman's Bodyguard in his latest follow up, and decides to make it bigger, badder, and more fun at the same time. Usually sequels to middle of the road action movies (think RED and RED 2) don’t exactly do well compared to the original. Most of the originality is gone, and the studios either try to amp up everything to level 11 (think 48 Hours and Another 48 Hours), or else it just gets a smaller budget and less action. Well neither of those apply to 2021’s Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard as it amps everything up, but also gets a bigger budget, with Ryan Reynolds being even MORE Ryan Reynolds than he was in the previous entry (e.g., what makes him so charming and lovable to fans). It’s actually quite a lot of fun, and the chemistry between Reynolds, Hayek and Jackson are top notch, making this a blast to watch.

AAA bodyguard rated Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) is not having a great time after the chaos that ensued in The Hitman’s Bodyguard. His license is under review, he’s having nightmares about hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson), and he’s seeing a therapist for it as well. That is until his frustrated therapist “graduates” him from therapy and recommends he give up the violent life of a bodyguard and go on sabbatical for while. So there Michael is, living life in the slow lane, with a book in one hand and a pina colada in the other when the bullets start flying and he’s once more sucked back into the game. This time it’s Darius’s wife Sonia (Salma Hayek) who basically kidnaps Michael and forces him to break Darius out of the clutches of a known criminal. Only thing is, everyone’s dead by the time the dust settles and it turns out said criminal was a paid snitch of Interpol and now that said snitch is dead they have no leads on the whereabouts and plans of gigantic crime lord Aristotle Papdopolous (Antonio Banderas).

Interpol agent Bobby O’Neill (Frank Grillo) has other ideas, though. Instead of letting the 2 criminals and the disgraced bodyguard go from killing their snitch, he puts them to work infiltrating Aristotle’s gang in hopes of finding out where he will strike next, and what his end goal is. Things go nastily awry as you could guess with Sonia and Darius’s rocky relationship towering over everything else, while Michael deals with bouts of low self esteem due to his license getting revoked, as well as living under the shadow of his father’s (Morgan Freeman) shadow as the greatest bodyguard ever (yes, I know), all the while dodging bullets, screaming obscenities at villains, and generally causing mayhem and violence wherever they go.

As I said earlier, it’s hard for a sequel to live up to its predecessor. The originality is usually gone, and the budget doesn’t allow for much of an action setpiece. However this time it’s not going to go that way, as Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard is even bigger, more fun and generally a better done movie than its predecessor. Ryan Reynolds is basically given carte blanche to be his goofy wise cracking self and he does so with a glorious heaping of self depreciation along the way. He and Jackson vibe off each other quite well, but it’s really Selma Hayek who ties them all together. He comedic timing is on point and the foul mouthed con woman plays both Jackson and Reynolds off each other so well that it’s the perfect trio.

Morgan Freeman and Antonio Banderas do a good job with their parts, but this is really the Selma, Ryan and Sam show and the three ham it up on screen with some awesome results. The action sequences are bigger and bolder than the previous film, and except for the slightly bland 2 act (after we get to Michael’s father’s house) the movie is hoot and a half. Lots of action, lots of one liners, and an ending that had me busting up laughing at the sheer absurdity of it all. Which brings me to one final thing to note. The movie knows it’s absurd to the core and leans directly into it, having fun with the concept while not going TOOOOO overboard with it (such as Hobbs & Shaw).




Rated PG by the MPAA, Parental Guidance suggested




4K Video: Video:

Supposedly shot with various Arri Alexa cameras and using a 4K master, Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard looks stunning on 4K, with bright colors, a neutral color grading (for the most part, a few scenes have dark blacks, blues and golds as the overtones, such as in the night club) and stunning detail level. Fine details are mostly impeccable, though I did notice that many times far back background objects could look a bit soft, while foreground objects were sharp as a tack (most likely a filming style more than a flaw in the encodes or the cameras). Blacks are deep and inky, with only a hint of digital noise in the nightclub scene. The CGI can look a bit soft and wonky here and there, but that’s simply due to the fact that the uptick in clarity shows some of the weaknesses of budget CGI (such as explosions etc). Otherwise this is fantastic encode that easily outclasses the perfect scored Blu-ray for top of the heap.







Audio:

The Dolby Atmos track is the same on both the Blu-ray and the 4K UHD, so this portion of the review will be interchangeable between both reviews. That being said, this is a STELLAR audio mix, with a full on balls to the walls action spiciness to it that is intoxicating. Vocals are crisp and clear throughout it all, but this one dynamic track, whisking us from quiet talkative moments into the roar and power of a gun battle or car chase. Bass is tight and clean adding weight when needing, fading back into the background when not, and then leaping out with some incredibly powerful moments when you least expecting (the boat blowing up for example out of nowhere). The overheads get used with some of the action scenes, as well as the score bleeding in those channels every once in a while, and the general surround usage in general is impeccable. The Hitman’s Bodyguard boasted a very similarly perfect audio mix back in 2017, and this is no different. A+ tier all the way.





Extras:

• “Ryan, Sam, Salma: One F’d Up Family” Featurette
• “Gone Soft: The New Michael Bryce” Featurette
• “Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard: #stuntlife” Featurette
• “On the Set of Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” Featurette
• Gag Reel
• Theatrical Trailers

Final Score: ​

Needless to say, I had a great time with Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard and was actually surprised I liked it as much as I did. The first movie was enjoyable, but I wasn’t expecting it to surpass that. And surpass it they did. The 4K UHD disc is a great disc, with fantastic video, the same fantastic Atmos track as the Blu-ray, and a mildly decent set of extras. Couple that with the fact that the movie is blast, and you get a solid thumbs up from yours truly.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Selma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman
Directed by: Patrick Hughes
Written by: Tom O'Connor, Phillip Murphy, Brandon Murphy
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1 Core), Spanish, French DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: R
Runtime: 100 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 17th, 2021

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[mechman]

I'll have to check this one out. I love Ryan Reynolds.