By John Corrado
Bob Odenkirk returns as contract killer and family man Hutch Mansell in Nobody 2, the pretty good sequel to the 2021 pandemic-era action flick that did modestly well in theatres and found even more of an audience on VOD.
And this slightly higher-budgeted followup kinda feels like an old school action movie sequel, in that it mainly exists to be a little bigger and a little goofier than the first one.
The first film had Odenkirk’s Hutch trying to embrace an office job and his suburban family life, but reaching a point where he snapped and just couldn’t take it anymore. Now he faces the doldrums of life as a contract killer trying to repay his debts, but so busy with “work” that he barely has time to spend with his family.
Hutch is so tied up in his job dispensing bad guys, that he misses seeing his teenage son Brady (Gage Munroe) play football, and has to text his wife, Becca (Connie Nielsen), with blood still on his hands to let her know that he won’t be home for dinner. And he’s still trying to get the garbage out on time.
In need of a vacation, Hutch decides to take his wife, son, and daughter (Paisley Cadorath) to a water park. It’s the place he has fond memories of going to as a kid, but is now more of a kitschy, somewhat rundown tourist trap. He also doesn’t get much of a warm reception from the locals, including run-ins with the theme park operator (John Ortiz) and a crooked sheriff (Colin Hanks).
The film wastes no time with its setup, which is basically built around the somewhat gimmicky premise of redoing the first one, but at an old water park (i.e., the bus fight from the original is now restaged on a duck boat). The chief villain this time around is a female crime boss named Lendina, played by Sharon Stone. Stone is given the chance to chew up the screen, while paying tribute to her role in Martin Scorsese’s Casino thirty years ago.
Odenkirk ties it all together with his gruff everyman persona, his presence adding more gravitas to the material. Christopher Lloyd – a highlight of the first film – also returns as the lovably crotchety grandpa who is brought along for the family trip, alongside RZA as Hutch’s adopted brother. Nielsen is also given a bit more to do this time around as the long-suffering wife.
This one is from Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto, with John Wick creator Derek Kolstad returning to co-write the script. If it’s a little lighter in tone, Nobody 2 basically offers more of the same as the first, which isn’t a bad thing for fans. Yes, the plot is paper thin, even more so than its predecessor, and the film feels a little spotty in between the action scenes. But Tjahjanto, whose previous film was the Netflix action epic The Shadow Strays, knows his way around an inventively choreographed action set-piece.
The fight scenes are built around the enduring appeal of watching Odenkirk take on multiple guys at once with his fists and various weapons at his disposal (including a fun brawl in an arcade), which is entertaining enough to hold the movie together. Tjahjanto stages a series of satisfying set-pieces throughout, building to an all-out, Home Alone-inspired water park finale that makes up much of the film’s back half.
Like the first one, this film is also short at 85 minutes, so it doesn’t really test our patience (or bladders). Sure, it might lack some actual substance. But Nobody 2 very much embraces being a somewhat mindless end of summer action flick, and delivers well enough on that promise.
The Joy of Movies 