Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
The new curtains are hideous.
Valentines day is around the corner, and the easy way out for tonight’s review would be to pick some romcom to do. Really, Princess Bride is pretty much hands down the best romance movie around, and we’ve already done that - so instead of sitting myself through something that I, as a horror and action coded dude, would rather not watch I found myself a nice little improvisation. Actually, I found a different one that I had thought about but then found this one as something I didn’t need to spend cash to watch and reoriented to this one instead. We’ve got romance, we’ve got troubles, and we’ve got plenty of action to rock and roll to. It’s some time for spy versus spy, tonight we hit up Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
A couple are in some therapy talking about their marriage. It prompts a flashback to when they first met in a foreign land, quickly falling for each other in a whirlwind romance. We the viewers are quick to learn that everything isn’t as it seems, as we are quickly filled in on the fact that their day jobs are really just covers for the fact they both work for an assassination agency. In fact, they both work for rival assassination agencies. They go on rather blissfully unaware of this until on one fateful mission their paths cross with some violent efforts against each other while both going after the same target. What ensues is some mixed comedy and action as they need to either work through their situations or off one another before their time limit runs out and they both become the targets of everyone.
Actors here do great. It’s back in the prime time of our leads - but plenty of side folks and voices are recognizable here as well. The leads especially do a pretty good job of adding one level of mundanity to the roles - which helps play against them being super assassins and the likes. Their chemistry is quite good in the movie as well - although perhaps with real world changes it might be a bit awkward these days. Either way, people do a good job here with their roles - regardless of how absolutely sideline they may or may not be.
Characters both get to be interesting and also kind of lackluster at the same time. I don’t really feel like anyone breaks the enjoyment of the movie unless you perhaps don’t like one of the archetypes that are going on - like one of the main character’s buddies, or the neighbors. Most our enemy hitman are faceless to the max - to the point that the entire ending scene is mostly mask-covered types. Our leads have a good chemistry, and throughout you do get little tid-bits that add to them. It might not be the most elaborate, but the movie really is more oriented around the relationship of the main characters and the zinger of “what if you were a hitman who realized you married a hitwoman?” They work well enough to bring forth the comedy, action, and enough of fun to keep you interested, but not necessarily anything to write home about.
The action is pretty good too. Yeah, this is before the days of Wick, so you’ll have to not be the kind of person that can’t get past bullet counts and super realism - but you know what? I love old action flicks so this kind of action doesn’t bother me. There’s plenty of desstruction going on, bits flying through the air with all the bullets and knives, and sometimes it even really works into character moments that build out relationships some. Now, I wouldn’t go as far as to call it deep, and I’m sure someone out there is probably thinking it’s this disgusting thumbs up to domestic violence or something because that’s the day we live in and in fairness it’s no situation you’d want to be in either - but I also wouldn’t be surprised at all to see some of that action in the movie standing in as an allegory or somehing like that for the tensions and underlying stressors of a relationship, and in particular one where it hasn’t been working out the best and feeling like a lot of stuff is being supressed and lifeless. I don’t think it’s necessarily condoning it, but it feels somehow fitting as it goes, and it serves as a great “monster to beat” to find the meaning or depth of if they do or don’t actually love each other.
Costumes are pretty modern, althouigh there are some fun moments where people are fighting in their underwear, and some fancy body armor later on. Plenty of military style gear, and a couple of different costume changes throughout to keep it fresh. Yes - it’s not science fiction or fantasy movie with crazy out there and mind blowing elaborate stuff, but it’s still good for immersion of the movie and some fun moments. Props are good, looking the part and allowing for plenty of variety. Settings are varied despite being pretty normal - at least for the most part. The “man cave” or safe oven are pretty gnarly, but also don’t look incredibly out of place either. Our female lead’s little spy shop base probably is the most futuristic looking thing in there, and serves as another good contrast between our two groups. Plenty of houses, a few outdoor scenes including some car action, and even a home goods store final stand provide plenty of things that look visually different without being out of place.
Audio does it’s part. You get plenty of mood emphasis from the orchestral stuff but also the less “designed for the movie tracks.” Heck, there’s even some Flogging Molly in there - and yeah, I know them from before the movie so it’s cheating that I remember them. Most of it is gone as usual, but between that and some of the tunes lingering a little bit it may fair slightly better in me remembering things than other movies if I’m being honest. Line deliveries are very well done, and you won’t miss anything you were meant to. That said, the entire movie was slightly quiet despite my volume settings whilst I watched it on Hulu, but I think that’s less the movie’s fault and more just Hulu on my computer. For the thinking folk I’m sure there’s all sorts of relationship stuff they could pull good and bad, as well as some stuff on being truthful and I guess the dangers of being a hitman? I think some folks might not enjoy the particular fun it’s having with it’s content, but for me I enjoyed it - and I think the same will go for the humor as well. I mean, running your partner over with a car because you are mad they may or may not have accidentally just shot at you while you were in said car got a chuckle out of me, but some folks might think that’s sending the wrong message to impressionable minds.
I enjoy the movie, it’s good fun. It may not be the best thing you’ve ever seen, but it’s an interesting enough concept with good enough actors in there that it’s a good time. If I had to lodge one complaint against the movie it would probably be the absolute difficult in finding the scene with the minigun in it, as it’s in the trailer for an absolute flash but I’ve ever only seen it in a single television channel running it. The movie is still fine without it, but it’s one of those things that makes me sad anyways - and really I just have fun with this movie so it’s hard to come up with any real crazy stuff that I though was legitimately bad with the movie. Of course, I’m not one to really analyze a movie from a critical standpoint despite occasionally seeing the little bits - so from a casual easy to entertain person’s perspective - there’s a lot worse date movies out there!