2021’s Nobody, which starred Bob Odenkirk as a suburban family man who is actually, basically, John Wick, was a breakout hit during the Covid days. A genuinely and gleefully violent thriller-comedy, Nobody wisely decided that it’s more fun when the hibernating badass actually enjoys his work rather than moping about how killing people is wrong, and the payoff was a blast. We all knew Odenkirk was a fine actor and comedian, but it turned out he was also a more than capable action hero, and the level of violence on display made it a welcome addition to the canon. A sequel was inevitable.
Now that sequel is here, and sadly, by and large, it’s just not very good. After the events of the first film, Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell is now in thrall to the government, taking on one hatchet job after another while his family — and especially his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) — never gets to see him. The solution is clear: a family vacation. For some reason, Hutch decides that the perfect place for the clan to party is a sort of shitty-looking water park called Wild Bill’s in quaint Plummerville. It’s got something to do with how Hutch’s dad (Christopher Lloyd) took him there as a kid. But hey, wouldn’t you know it, Wild Bill’s is actually a cover for a vicious criminal cartel! That’s right, the sheriff (Colin Hanks) and the owner of the park (John Ortiz) are all part of a group of baddies led by crime princess Lendina (Sharon Stone, clearly having a blast).
None of that has anything to do with Hutch, but for some reason these slimeballs immediately decide to give him a hard time on his family trip, so he really doesn’t have any choice but to single-handedly dismantle their entire operation and kill anyone who happens to hover into his field of vision. And that’s a perfectly reasonable clothesline for a bunch of action sequences — which, for good or ill, is exactly what and all that Nobody 2 is. No problem, right? Plenty a memorable actioner has built success from a similarly spare, straightforward setup that delivers little more than a playground creative ass-kicking. The problem here, however, is that there simply aren’t enough of said actioner sequences, and the relative quality fails to rise to the standard set by the first installment.
What’s most disappointing and surprising about this development is that by all accounts Nobody 2 should be trading up, ditching Hardcore Henry helmer Ilya Naishuller for this film’s director, actual menace Timo Tjahjanto. Tjahjanto is known mainly — and with very good cause — for directing the heavyweight martial arts films The Night Comes for Us and The Shadow Strays, with the former being a to-this-day unmatched face-melter that makes the Raid movies look like restrained baby food for cowards. But while the action this time around is nothing less than clean, and the violence certainly a slight notch above what we’re used to from Hollywood action outings, there simply isn’t that patented Tjahjanto-level of delight in endless escalation of maiming, chopping, and other bodily harm. Despite the gonzo potential of its premise and the promise offered up by the first film, Nobody 2 somehow manages to feel perfunctory rather than rambunctious. One of the best action filmmakers of his generation should not have to be slumming it with weak sauce like this.
DIRECTOR: Timo Tjahjanto; CAST: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, John Ortiz, RZA; DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures; IN THEATERS: August 15; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 29 min.
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