Director: Timo Tjahjanto
Writers: Derek Kolstad and Aaron Rabin
Stars: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd
Synopsis: Former assassin Hutch Mansell takes his family on a nostalgic vacation to a small-town theme park, only to be pulled back into violence when they clash with a corrupt operator, a crooked sheriff, and a ruthless crime boss.
Over four years after the 87North’s Nobody surprised audiences with its brutal action set pieces and iconic performance from Bob Odenkirk, a sequel finally arrives with director Timo Tjahjanto now at the helm. Many sequels will often try to outdo what worked about the first, to the point where the overall film is lost in trying to forge a different path or follows the original too closely. Luckily for Nobody 2, Tjahjanto manages to spice things up in the director’s chair. Nobody 2 is an absolute blast of a sequel that takes the simplicity of what worked so well in the first film’s story and cranks the blood-soaked chaos to new highs. Many will say it’s to a fault as the often repetitive story beats within action screenplays, and even more thin plotting than its predecessor, make it less impactful on the whole; but the sequel clearly knows what it is and doesn’t waste any time providing solid laughs and brutal dismemberments at a healthy rate. All of that, tied together with Bob Odenkirk’s signature charm and the usual relentlessly pulpy action sequences from Tjahjanto, and you’ve got a pretty decent 89 minutes of fun, even if it pales in comparison to his other directorial efforts.
This continuation, more or less, has very little story to work with as we follow Hutch Mansell (Odenkirk) as he yet again struggles to connect to his two children and wife, Becca (Connie Nielsen). Every day, he’s often in fist fights working to pay back the debt he owes to The Barber (Colin Salmon). Still, when he decides to take a vacation and spend time with his family at his childhood spot of Plummerville, it isn’t long before the fighting finds Hutch again, and he is in the midst of more violence and clashes with another corrupt crime world. Considering that these two films likely exist due to the success of John Wick and the recent surge in secret assassin action films, I usually don’t mind recycled plot points and emotional beats as long as the elements surrounding them contribute to a great experience. However, this sequel can often come across as a retread. From the entire opening minutes repeating the same interrogation and days of the week scene from the original, to melodramatic beats of tension between Becca and Hutch, the film plays it a bit too safe. While there are differences like the setting change, the more playful tone overall, the story ends up as less of a fresh take on the concept in comparison.
However, despite the presence of rushed and barely present story beats, the action and film setting are still exciting, thanks to one of the next great directors of action films being behind the camera. While never quite reaching the level of scrappy rawness found in Tjahjanto’s Indonesian action films, such as The Night Comes for Us and The Shadow Strays, the sequel captures a similar kinetic energy that was absent in its predecessor. The camera is never stagnant and always finds new ways to creatively showcase a body being thrown into a car window or a katana going straight through someone’s face, and it’s amazing to witness. What manages to be even more creative in its use here is the theme park setting, especially within the funhouse madness of the film’s third act. Crane games, wack-a-mole machines, water slides, and even a full funhouse mirror sequence are all used for Home Alone-like bloody kills galore, in a similar vein to the first film, but in a much more unique environment.
These scenes are aided immensely when you have the talent of an actor like Odenkirk as the lead of your film, who could even read a phone book entertainingly. Christopher Lloyd as David Mansell and RZA as Harry Mansell also return to play their scene-stealing roles from the first film, but I was most surprised at the acting showcase of Sharon Stone as the main crime boss, Lendina, in the film’s driving antagonistic force. She doesn’t get much to do aside from face value generic villain one-liners and unmemorable interactions with her corrupt goon police men within Plummerville, but I at least appreciate the silly nature that she brought forward in an otherwise placeholder villain role. She clearly knew the type of film she was in and rolled with it in the time she had.
Nobody 2 doesn’t quite match the fresh juice of the first film due to its redundant story beats and lack of depth, but it still manages to capture enough of the fun B-movie action tone that is promised, thanks to a brisk runtime and a great director crafting it all. With plenty of head-bashing, bloodied brawling, and gunplay to spare, it’s hard not to be satisfied with this sequel as a whole.
