A Ryan Reynolds Movie Is Dominating On Streaming

A Ryan Reynolds movie is topping the streaming charts.

By Apeksha Bagchi | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

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When it comes to streaming platforms, they are always locked in the competition to acquire the streaming rights of the best films that will bring more and more subscribers to them. And, in this race of getting their hands on the best, films of a few selected actors are bound to be the subscriber magnet. Given the fan following Ryan Reynolds enjoys, it is almost a no-brainer for streamers to get as many of his films on their platform as even if some were critical failures, his fans love binging and re-binging them courtesy of which The Hitman’s Bodyguard is currently kicking up quite a storm as the fifth most-watched film on Amazon Prime Video. 

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Salma Hayek, and Samuel L. Jackson, the action comedy film followed Reynolds’ Michael Bryce, a disgraced bodyguard, who is entrusted with the task of protecting a convicted hitman, Darius Kincaid (Jackson) as he is on his way to testify against the ruthless dictator of Belarus, Vladislav Dukhovich. Hilarious chaos ensues as they strive to reach the court and rescue Kincaid’s wife, Sonia (Hayek) in time. 

While critics appreciated the pairing of Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson as well as their performances, they found the action and comedy to be too cliched and overdone. But despite their criticisms and probably due to the presence of Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson, The Hitman’s Bodyguard ended up earning a total of $176.6 million, against a production budget of $69 million, thus becoming a box office hit and a favorite of fans of the Deadpool star. 

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And that favoritism for Ryan Reynolds continues as the film is currently the fifth most-watched film on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S. It is also the fourth most-streamed film in iTunes and occupies the sixth position in the list of most-watched films on Vudu. This renewed surge in the film’s popularity and the spike in the number of its viewers is probably due to the recent release of its sequel, Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, which sees Ryan Reynolds, Salma Hayek, and Samuel L. Jackson reprise their respective roles. 

Just like its predecessor, Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard has also attracted majorly negative reviews from critics who criticized it for its cliched one-liners and stale humor. The film currently has an approval rating of 25% on Rotten Tomatoes based on critics’ reviews but a high 79% audience score based on over 1000 reviews by viewers. And like the first film, it is also enjoying the top spot at the box office ever since it was released on June 16, 2021. 

While the reviews are far more negative for Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, Ryan Reynolds is once again being praised for keeping the humor fresh with his charisma even as the story crashes and burns around him as per the critics. But according to the fans, the film is delightfully ridiculous and a laughter riot that even trumps The Hitman’s Bodyguard. 

ryan reynolds samuel jackson

Ryan Reynolds is known for his unique brand of comedy and killer dialogue delivery that makes his films a must-watch. To date, his most successful film remains Deadpool and Deadpool 2, which saw the actor in the role of Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool. The majority of the critics highlighted that while the film amazingly balances action and comedy, it wouldn’t have been the whooping success it was without Reynolds, who remarkably personalized his character.

While Deadpool 3 is, unfortunately, years away, as theaters across the country slowly open, fans of Ryan Reynolds will have plenty of his upcoming films to begin their post-pandemic binging spree. After you are done binging The Hitman’s Bodyguard on Prime Video and its sequel in the theaters, you will have Reynolds’ Free Guy that will be releasing on August 13, 2021. It will be followed by the Netflix comedy-thriller, Red Notice, which will see the actor as the world’s greatest con-artist alongside Gal Gadot as the most-wanted art thief and Dwayne Johnson as Rusty, an Interpol agent, at the end of the year. Next year, we have The Adam Project, a science fiction film that will see the actor alongside Jennifer Garner, Zoe Saldana, and Mark Ruffalo. The Ryan-Reynolds-binge-fest looking pretty good, isn’t it?