Nobody 2 review: The novelty has worn off with this action franchise
As much as I was pleasantly surprised by Nobody back in 2019, it wasn’t exactly crying out for a sequel/franchise. The follow-up, Nobody 2, is better than I expected it to be, but it lacks the magic of the original.
As you may remember, Bob Odenkirk played Hutch Mansell, an ordinary family man who revealed his former assassin identity when his family came under threat. In the sequel, he’s now living that assassin life to pay off some debts and has been neglecting his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), son Brady (Gage Munroe) and daughter Sammy (Paige Cadorath). To make up for this, he takes them on holiday to the small-town resort of Plummerville, which just so happens to be the hub of organised criminal activity, led by the dangerous Lendina (Sharon Stone).
What made Nobody so fun and exciting was partly because it was so unexpected to see Odenkirk as an action star. It felt so fresh and new seeing an everyman like Odenkirk kicking ass and taking names the first time around, but in the sequel, the novelty has worn off, and it lacks a certain pizzazz as we’ve seen it all before.
Nobody 2, directed by Timo Tjahjanto instead of Nobody’s Ilya Naishuller, has some great moments of action and comedy, although I remember laughing harder and more frequently at the previous outing. The action setpieces are cool to watch, with some inventive weapons and gory deaths, but they are overly choppy and lack flow. Also, the water park and fun fair are fantastic settings for a major action sequence, with awesome moments in the hall of mirrors and on a water slide, but Tjahjanto could have maximised the potential of the location more.
The characters didn’t exactly have a ton of depth in the first film, but they’re paper-thin here, as is the uninspired script. Much more could have been made of Lendina, Stone’s wickedly unhinged villain, but she shows up only 30 minutes before the end, has a stereotypical arc, and doesn’t have enough screentime with Hutch. Equally, Christopher Lloyd and RZA return as Hutch’s father and half-brother, but they are given very little to do, although the latter has a promising fight scene.
While it’s no longer a novel experience, it’s still entertaining seeing an average man like Odenkirk taking on a group of bootleggers and coming out on top. He even puts himself in dangerous situations where he’s not needed, simply because he loves the thrill of the fight. Elsewhere, I’m glad Nielsen had slightly more to do, and I liked Colin Hanks as a smug, corrupt cop who needed taking down a peg or two.
Nobody 2 is an average action comedy that fails to replicate the excitement of the original. I’d recommend watching John Wick instead.
In cinemas from Friday 15th August