‘Nobody 2’ Review

After the unexpected critical and commercial success of ‘Nobody’ in 2021, a sequel was inevitable. So here we are with ‘Nobody 2’, once again centering Bob Odenkirk as the unlikely action hero Hutch, desperately needing a break from his life as a trained assassin paying off a debt. This isn’t a movie that will blow anybody away, but in its simplicity ‘Nobody 2’ is a lightweight action comedy and, at a brisk 89 minutes, even its flaws aren’t enough to discourage viewing.

The movie’s attempt at an emotional arc is established early on – Hutch’s work as a hired killer is keeping him away from home, leading to fractured relationships with his wife and two children. Seeing how his home life is on the verge of shattering, Hutch decides to take his family on a vacation to a quirky, rundown theme park called Plummerville. It turns out this theme park, and the town it’s in, is rampant with corrupt police officers, drug smuggling park operators, and a sadistic crime lord who rules over it all with gleeful violence. Hutch inadvertently crosses these villains, and must call in all the help he can to protect his family and make sure they all return home from this Summer vacation alive.

Bob Odenkirk is once again an absolute delight as a reluctant action star. Sharon Stone plays the main villain, Lendina, and gives a performance that feels ripped from a different movie. She camps it up, playing a comic book villain who doesn’t possess a trace of subtlety as she cackles, dances, and slashes her way through anybody unfortunate enough to get in her way. As a cartoonishly evil bad guy, Stone is memorable even as her over the top performance clashes with the more naturalistic acting going on all around her.

Produced as it is by the creators of ‘John Wick’, ‘Nobody 2’ often plays as a more comedic version of that self-serious action franchise but mostly withers in comparison with regards to its action and world building. The plot and emotional themes are an afterthought to the action set pieces, which are fun enough even while they lack the visceral, virtuoso choreography of the John Wick films. And while the world of John Wick feels fully realized, with a believable underworld where everybody profits from the murder economy, the rules of ‘Nobody’ are much less clear, so that when an entire casino’s worth of people are brutally murdered, I’m left confused as to why this isn’t a big deal to the outside world.

The family conflict is set up early, and yet seems to be discarded in favor of bonding through violence. Connie Nielsen, as Hutch’s wife Becca, is a wonderful actress but she is unfortunately tasked with playing the trite, emotionally wish-washy partner who flip flops between wanting to leave her husband, and insisting that she has always known he was dangerous and loving him all the more for it. Unfortunately, any family resentments and fractures are never fully explored, as the movie instead uses the action less as a means to interrogate and strengthen the family’s relationships than a convenient distraction; an excuse to not actually fix any problems. The film ends with the Mansells as one big happy family, and yet none of their conflicts are ever resolved in a believable, satisfying manner.

But ultimately, this movie doesn’t care about complex family dynamics. ‘Nobody 2’ feels like it started with a single idea: a climactic action set piece in a literal funhouse; ‘Home Alone’ at a theme park, with all the blood, gore and death intrinsic to an R-rated action franchise. The pacing is fast, the tone frivolous, and while the action is never groundbreaking, it doesn’t need to be to deliver a fun, fine, forgettable entertainment.

Nobody 2
Rated R for strong bloody violence, and language throughout.
Running Time: 1 hour and 29 minutes

Director Timo Tjahjanto
Writers Derek Kolstad, Aaron Rabin
Stars Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, John Ortiz, RZA, Colin Hanks, Christopher Lloyd, Sharon Stone
Rating R
Running Time 89 Minutes
Genres Action, Comedy, Crime