Mr & Mrs Smith review: Donald Glover and Maya Erskine shine in sensual and spiky spy remake

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s onscreen chemistry in the 2005 spy caper Mr & Mrs Smith was so legendary, everyone knows what happened after the cameras stopped rolling.

Surely any attempt to recreate Brangelina’s sizzle is in for a tough challenge. The only way to mount a Mr & Mrs Smith remake is to ensure it’s completely its own thing so that after 20 minutes, you’re not even making the comparison.

If you want a singular creative vision, you need to bring in a singular creative – and that’s Donald Glover, who co-created the show alongside Francesca Sloane, one of the writers on his distinctive, genre-free, almost anthropological series, Atlanta.

If you’re familiar with the mood of Atlanta, you’ll have a good idea of what to expect from this version of Mr & Mrs Smith. It’s not as mercurial as Atlanta but its vibe is lowkey and languid in the best way.

The premise is turned on its head. Instead of being a married couple unaware of each other’s real jobs as assassins, here, John (Glover) and Jane (Maya Erskine) are strangers who are paired up to pose as husband-and-wife while they carry out covert missions.

The plot arc is essentially a rom-com, from the contrivance of their meet-cute – they first encounter each other in the lift – to how these two people, forced to be in each other’s company, fall in love. The spy aspect is a framework to explore how they negotiate their situation, and their trust and communication issues.

Sometimes Mr & Mrs Smith feels like a talky New York movie as they learn about each other in their lushly appointed townhouse and the city’s cafes, parks and farmers markets. Other times it can come off as an international espionage thriller with its missions at high society auctions or in the Italian Alps and Lake Como.

They even have to contend with banal relationship dramas such as double-dates, in-laws, emotional baggage and couples therapy.

Glover and Erskine have a dynamic, spiky chemistry that evolves as the series progresses. They’re super watchable together because their onscreen presence is evenly matched. They pulse with energy and sensuality.

And every action sequence, especially the bruising one in its climatic finale, is in service to the characters and not just the story. Every bullet fired, every punch thrown, and every rapid foot chase is connected to how John and Jane are feeling about each other in that moment.

This remake is a significant departure from the fast-paced and commercial appeal of the 2005 movie directed by action man Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, American Made).

The TV remake’s directors include Emmy winner Hiro Murai, who helped establish Atlanta’s visual style, Amy Seimetz (The Girlfriend Experience), Karena Evans (P-Valley, Drake music videos), Christian Sprenger (Atlanta’s cinematographer) and Glover.

In other words, it’s a who’s who of cool Gen Y filmmakers, cementing Mr & Mrs Smith’s indie cred, even though it is being distributed by one of the biggest companies in the world, Amazon. While it’s slick with expensive production values, the overall feel of it is still indie chic.

And that extends to the rogues’ gallery of guest stars including Parker Posey, Paul Dano, John Turturro, Sharon Horgan, Alexander Skarsgard, Sarah Paulson, Ron Perlman, Wagner Moura and Michaela Coel.

In time, as the cultural moment that was Brangelina starts to fade from the collective consciousness, maybe this version of Mr & Mrs Smith will come to be the defining one. It certainly deserves to be.

Rating: 4/5

Mr & Mrs Smith is on Amazon Prime Video from Friday, February 2