Released: 17th October
Seen: 29th November
In 2021, a little film called Nobody was released to the public. The film could be basically described as a mass-appeal suburban version of John Wick, filled with some truly incredible action sequences, a captivating lead performance by Bob Odenkirk and enough charm to elevate the already excellent material. It was a genuinely glorious little film that easily was one of the best of 2021 (and while being a good film in 2021 was a low bar because of how that year was still a pandemic recovery year for the movies, believe me when I say that Nobody was still genuinely fantastic). It was the kind of film that seemed like it was destined to be a franchise and deserved a sequel just to see what this little family did now that their father’s clandestine history had been revealed. Well, in Nobody 2, the Mansell family decide that the way they’re going to handle things is by going on a summer vacation… it will go exactly as expected.
Nobody 2 picks up a few years after Nobody, with Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) taking on jobs as an assassin to pay off the debts he racked up after the events of the last film. Doing these jobs naturally means he’s out of the house before anyone else, misses dinner, and in general just starts pulling away from his family. Wanting to try and maintain the relationship with his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) and son Brady (Gage Munroe), Hutch decides that they all should just pack their things and go on a trip to a theme park that Hutch went to in his own childhood. Of course, once there, Hutch ends up getting on the wrong side of a corrupt cop named Abel (Colin Hanks), who works for the criminal mastermind Lendina (Sharon Stone), so they end up deciding to take out Hutch. Hutch, meanwhile, just wants to enjoy his goddamn vacation.
The original Nobody was an absolute balls-to-the-wall joyride of a film, and Nobody 2 pretty much matches that energy beat for beat. Without having to hold back the big reveal of just what it is that Hutch is capable of doing, the film starts the incredible action as quickly as possible, and it only gets more and more extreme the longer the film goes. Since everyone knows what Hutch is we can just kind of revel in it, have some fun with the idea by letting him show off all his skills as an assassin pretty much right at the start and then throw him into weird locations to push it even further. Do you want to see an assassin fight a bunch of guys on a duck-themed boat tour? This film will give you that. One guy against a bunch of people in a cheesy arcade? One of the best action set pieces I’ve ever seen. How about a climax at a water park where ball pits become deadly? Sign me the fuck up, this film has everything you could ask for when asking for a film about an assassin on a family vacation.
It helps that you can feel that Hutch wants nothing more than to just be able to enjoy his vacation, Nobody 2 feels like one of those classic cheesy “Family goes on a vacation that goes badly” movies where the dad is desperate to make sure his kids have a fun time even while it’s clear they’re hating every second of it… only with more people being punched in the trachea than you might see in one of those films, which naturally improves things substantially. It manages to somehow hold onto that earnest intent for the entire runtime, even when things are blowing up everywhere, and people have guns pointed right in their faces. It works hard to establish and maintain that tone which elevates the comedic elements substantially. It also allows the film to at least nod in the direction of a core story element where Hutch notices his son getting violent and wants to stop him from turning out like his dad, and sure, this story isn’t the most well-handled thing ever, but it’s still helped by the tone the film sets up.
It also doesn’t hurt Nobody 2 that they have much more interesting villains this time around in the forms of Colin Hanks and Sharon Stone. Colin Hanks is actually intimidating, which is not a phrase I thought I would use about one of the Hanks kids, and meanwhile, Sharon Stone just devours scenery anytime she’s on screen. It’s a performance that you can tell she was enjoying, and getting to see this cinematic icon play and have more fun than anyone reasonably should is a treat. Honestly, the entire cast gives great performances that really make the material sing. The kids really give their minor plotline a lot of weight, Connie has a few moments that’re just badass, and Bob Odenkirk just delivers exactly what he did before, only with a lot more fun in every moment, but the movie is pretty easily stolen by Stone.
Now, the problem Nobody 2 has is that it’s just not as good as the first; it just isn’t. Now part of that is because the first movie is not only damn near perfect, it’s loaded with surprises and scenes we hadn’t seen or imagined before and managed to keep the audience on its toes… but that’s not really a thing here. There’s no real chance to wonder what’s going to happen; we kinda know because the opening scene pretty much tells us everything, and while we might not know specifics, you can pretty much tell that this vacation only ends in fire and death. It takes away the element of surprise that made the first movie so special, and obviously, that can’t be helped; a sequel is naturally going to lose that element of “I didn’t expect that” when all you’re doing is putting the same scenes in a new location, but it does kind of make the film a little less. Not a lot less, it’s still really good, but it’s an unavoidable problem.
It’s still hard to resist the urge to just yell “It’s good, go see” about Nobody 2, the same way it was hard to resist yelling that about the first one. If you enjoyed the first one, this is more of that but with a really fun new location that allows the movie to try some fun new set pieces that it wouldn’t have been able to do in the suburban setting. It’s just a really good, uncomplicated, silly little action film that has a ton of fun with what it has to offer. If they make another one of these, I really wouldn’t be that surprised, but if they don’t, then this is one heck of a fun note to go out on.
Movie Meister Reviews 