WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, now in theaters.
A largely star-studded affair, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard ends up feeling overstuffed, with an unsure tone that alternates from enjoyable comedy to overstuffed dramatics and action. One of the many stars to appear in the film, Morgan Freeman, has a small but important role in the film. But while his role is a somewhat surprising twist that sets up some genuine potential in the latter half of The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, he ends up being a bit too disjointed of a character to be effective.
Senior isn't introduced until about the halfway point of The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard. On the run from agents working for Papadopoulos (Antonio Banderas) for stealing a crucial part of his plan to bring about economic ruin for all of Europe, the core trio of the film finds themselves in the Italian countryside with little hope. Reluctantly, Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) brings the group to meet his step-father, a world-famous retired bodyguard himself. Senior -- played by Freeman -- initially seems to be a kind, old man. He greets Bryce with open arms, despite his possible expulsion from the bodyguard association, and even offers to help the group, including Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) and Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek).
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However, the trio is instead captured by Papadopoulos, forcing them to be separated. Bryce then returns to his step-father and discovers he betrayed them. As the head of Papadopoulos' security team, Senior turned them over with little concern about his step-son's safety and loudly proclaims him an embarrassment -- even revealing he's ensured Bryce loses his AAA licensing. Bryce and Darius return to save Sonia and stop Papadopoulos aboard his yacht, with Bryce being forced not just to fight Senior's top agent Magnusson (Tom Hooper) but also Senior himself. Although Senior risks his life to keep Papadopoulos from killing Bryce, the pair soon break into an intense fight, which ends with Bryce fatally wounding Senior with his pen-knife. Bryce then sets the boat to explode before barely escaping -- saving Europe but dooming Senior.
Senior's betrayal is a weird character choice, but it works for the most part. His chemistry with Reynolds works incredibly well, especially when he's tearing into Bryce as a disappointed father. He even handles himself well in the action sequence against Bryce, with the film giving the older man an efficiency and accuracy to his strikes that allow him to put up a good fight. However, the character is dragged down by a script that isn't sure what it wants to do with him. Senior's shifts in emotional connection to Bryce come across as jarring, mostly because he goes from claiming he doesn't love him to almost dying protecting him, just so he can fight him himself.
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It's a weird juggling act Senior is asked to handle, and even someone as talented as Freeman can't give the character a straightforward throughline. Instead, Senior proves to be more of an emotional roadblock for Bryce to overcome instead of being an actual character, with the final moments of The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard not paying Bryce's feelings towards killing his father figure any real attention. This is just another example of the film's overall tonal mishmash. If The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard had committed to the stakes-free storytelling, then maybe the caviller relationship between the pair could've been used for laughs. But instead, it tries to incorporate dramatic elements and character beats that don't work, which makes his fate feel rushed.
There's even fertile ground throughout The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard for a more dramatic approach, but it never seizes them. The movie never uses Senior to force Darius to really confront his parental issues, it doesn't give Bryce a genuine arc outside kind of ensuring his father figure died, and even his place in the AAA ends up feeling like an afterthought. It's a weird waste of a possibly fun idea, and it's a shame The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard didn't balance Freeman's character better.
Directed by Patrick Hughes, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard stars Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman, Frank Grillo, Caroline Goodall, Rebecca Front, Gabriella Wright, Alice McMillan, Kristofer Kamiyasu, Tom Hopper, Blake Ritson and Richard E. Grant. The film is currently in theaters.