Review: ‘Nobody 2’ Offers More of the Same, for Better or Worse

What you think about Nobody 2 will depend largely on what you thought of the 2021’s Nobody. If you, like me, found the story of a middle-aged family man played by Bob Odenkirk unleashing his mysterious, murderous skills all over a bunch of thugs enjoyable, then good news! You’ll probably find the sequel, which follows the same man doing the same things, only this time at a theme park, pretty fun too.

If, however, you were hoping that Nobody 2 might deliver something new — a deeper exploration of the lore, or a wider range of threats, or even new family dynamics — you might be disappointed. Or maybe you won’t! Nobody 2 is so self-referential, so fervently adherent to the beats of its predecessor, that it becomes something fresh anyway: An old school B-movie sequel that doesn’t reinvent its own wheel so much as throw gasoline on it and light it on fire as it rolls down the road. It’s the same wheel, only brighter and more dangerous … and with dogs this time. And who doesn’t love dogs!

Like the original, Nobody 2 kicks off with a bloody, beaten Hutch Mansell (Odenkirk) being interrogated by government agents in a dark room, only this time he’s got a gorgeous wolf dog at his side. The film then rewinds to follow the events that landed him in custody. These days Hutch is back to his old ways, working for his handler, the Barber (Colin Salmon), and taking on dangerous missions to pay off his debt. The debt? It turns out that the Barber paid the Russian mob back for all the money Hutch torched in the first movie, and now he’s busting his ass to work it off as fast as possible. Unfortunately, his odd hours have made him something of an absentee dad and placed a strain on his relationship with his family, so he decides to make it up to them the only way he knows how: He plans a vacation to Plummerville, a fading amusement park he went to as a child, in hopes of making more memories with his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) and kids Brady (Gage Munroe) and Sammy (Paisley Cadorath). He even brings his dad, David (Christopher Lloyd), along for the ride.

It doesn’t take long for events to go sideways, in the way they almost always seem to for Hutch. Brady gets in a fight with some townie punks at the arcade after they destroy a stuffie he won for his sister, and the family is kicked off the premises — but not before someone takes a swing at Sammy’s hat. Unable to tolerate the slight against his kids, Hutch goes back inside and plays whack-a-mole (extremely literally) with the staff. His lack of impulse control lands him at the police station, where the sheriff, Abel (Colin Hanks), and the park owner, Wyatt (John Ortiz), tell Hutch to get out of town. Hutch, of course, doesn’t, and the next day Abel sends a group of men to ambush Hutch on a duck boat ride. Hutch loses half his pinkie while Abel’s men lose all of their collective teeth.

This is, for my money, the best action sequence of the movie, and the moment where incoming director Timo Tjahjanto really begins to put his stamp on the proceedings (the director of Nobody, Ilya Naishuller, couldn’t return because he was making Heads of State). Tjahjanto does an admirable job sticking to the assignment (make Nobody again, but MORE) rather than making this a showcase for his own instincts. As such, he’s operating more in the explosive action/comedy pitch of The Big 4 rather than the more viscerally excruciating The Night Comes For Us. His flair for chaotic melee action is still on full display, but fans of his work may wish this felt more like his movie. For a director who has already landed his next big sequel assignment (The Beekeeper 2), however, Nobody 2 proves to be an effective demonstration of his ability to work within the Hollywood franchise machine, and in this case the John Wick style established by Nobody producer David Leitch.

Anyway, Hutch discovers that Plummerville is a bootlegging town, with the cops and the park both under the thumb of a terrifying boss named Lendina (Sharon Stone, having the time of her life). Realizing he’s stepped on a bigger hornet’s nest than he realized, Hutch decides to de-escalate the situation to protect his family — by torching Lendina’s cache of cash. By the time Lendina arrives to eliminate the threat of this strange tourist personally, Hutch has teamed up with Wyatt, David, and his brother Harry (RZA, having more fun than Sharon Stone) to boobytrap the amusement park for a climactic confrontation.

So, to recap: Hutch is worn down from his job and disconnected from his family, just like the first movie. His lack of impulse control when it comes to protecting his family leads him into a war with an organized crime syndicate, just like in the first film, and the only way he can end the conflict is through a Rube Goldberg-ian last stand with Christopher Lloyd and RZA, just like the first movie. And Hutch rescues a wolf dog who joins the fight, which is more of a John Wick nod but hey, that’s still par for the course.

So much of the movie is familiar that it’s easy to lose sight of what’s new, like Becca’s increased presence. Turns out she’s a crack shot with her own mysterious past (tying into how the met Hutch), and the payoff is Connie Nielsen going toe-to-toe with Sharon Stone in the finale. If the novelty of seeing Bob Odenkirk, the writer/comedian turned dramatic actor, go full action star has worn off, watching two Women Of A Certain Age close out a big, bloody battle offers a satisfying twist all its own. And I don’t know what movie Sharon Stone thought she was signing up for - a cartoon, maybe? - but her Lendina is the sort of mindlessly venomous, scenery-chewing baddie we don’t see often enough these days. Perhaps her performance, more than anything, makes me think that Nobody 2 is a very intentional throwback to a style of sequel that doesn’t exist anymore. It isn’t interested in expanding the mythology or adding more merchandising opportunities to the mix. It’s the full-movie equivalent of calling Die Hard 2 “Die Harder.” This is just… “Nobody-er.”