Review: 'Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard' is a routine action comedy where everyone seems bored — except for Salma Hayek, who gives a smart comic performance.

In these last 15 months, as we’ve locked ourselves in our homes, done our work and school via Zoom calls, worn masks and lined up to be vaccinated, I’d bet there isn’t a soul who said, “This will all be worth it to watch Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson trade insults for 99 minutes.”

If anyone did say that, “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” is going to be a major letdown.

Reynolds and Jackson are back, reprising their roles from their 2017 action buddy comedy “The Hitman’s Bodyguard.” Reynolds played Michael Bryce, the one-time “executive protection agent” whose life was upended when he was forced to partner with the guy he was usually working against, paid assassin Darius Kincaid, Jackson’s character.

We find Bryce trying to cope with life without bodyguard work, as he annoys his therapist until she suggests he take a sabbatical from all forms of gunplay and violence. No sooner does he land at a vacation resort than he’s pulled back into his old life with Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek), Darius’ tempestuous wife, forces Bryce to help her rescue Darius from some nasty Mafia killers.

Bryne and Sonia rescue Kincaid, who’s not thrilled to see his old frenemy Bryce on the scene. But soon the trio are pressed into service by Bobby O’Neill (Frank Grillo), a Boston cop on loan to Interpol, who’s trying to stop a data breach that will cripple all of Europe — a crime being set up by a Greek tycoon bent on restoring his country to the top of the world’s influencers for the first time since Socrates took hemlock.

The villain here, though Greek, is played by the Spanish-born actor Antonio Banderas — which means we’re getting a reunion of the screen pairing behind two-thirds of Robert Rodriguez’ “El Mariachi” trilogy, “Desperado” and “Once Upon a Time in Mexico.” This thought becomes noteworthy because viewers may find themselves asking, “Why didn’t I stay home and watch those movies?”

No, instead we get director Patrick Hughes, back from the first movie, running through generic sequences of stunts and shootouts, interrupted by the ostensibly comical bickering among Bryce and the Kincaids. But neither Reynolds nor Jackson seem to have their hearts in it.

The one star who acts like she’s having any fun is Hayek, who puts a great comic spin on Sonia’s ferocious violent streak and her rather manic quest to become a mother. Hayek’s performance in “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” is a reminder of what a deft comedian she can be — even in a movie where those gifts aren’t appreciated.

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‘The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’

★★

Opening Wednesday, June 16, in theaters everywhere. Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, pervasive language, and some sexual content. Running time: 99 minutes.