Nobody 2: Movie Review

Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Sharon Stone, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, Colin Hanks, John Ortiz, RZA
Director: Timo Tjahjanto

The sequel to the surprise 2021 hit featuring Better Call Saul's Bob Odenkirk, Nobody 2 has a lot to live up to.

The first film had the element of surprise and of uncertainty behind it, giving its former government assassin rediscovering his secret strengths an edge that saw it crackle in the movies.

But this time around, familiarity is the enemy as Hutch Mansell comes back again. Imbued with ennui as the monotony of his daily routine continues to eat into his soul, Hutch is prompted by his wife (Nielsen) to sort a family vacation rather than the morale-destroying need to pay off his $30million debt from Nobody.

And while Hutch picks the water park of his youth in a small mid-American town called Plummerville because that was the only vacation his father (Lloyd, scenery-chewing in the few moments in which he appears) chose for them, he soon finds himself accidentally mixed up in the local lowlife scene.

On a collision course with the inevitable, Hutch tries desperately to beat and brawl his way out of matters - but each attempt causes him to fall further into trouble.

Nobody 2 is a parade of fight scenes from the team who provided the best of the beat-ups from the John Wick TV series. But while Odenkirk's wearied and defeated demeanour provides a bit of an edge to proceedings, nothing can really lift it from the silliness that it pertains to.

Instead of the great inside-a-bus fight scene the first offered, there's a boat-set confrontation that doesn't pack as powerful a punch as it thinks it does. And while the fight sequences are strong enough and offer a degree of adrenaline-fuelled excitement, there's largely the feeling of indifference after they've ended.

Stone clearly laps up every OTT moment she's give, sneering and spitting her way through a gangland boss vibe but there's not much of a well-written antagonist to represent a challenge to Hutch.

Far more pertinent in Nobody 2 is the vibe of being unable to escape your true calling, no matter how much it destroys you and those around you. It's just a shame that while this is serviceable enough fare that has the decency to keep it all under 90 minutes, it lacks the frisson and the thrills of the first.