REVIEW: ‘Nobody 2’ Is A Killer Sequel

Derek Kolstad‘s Nobody was one of my favorite action films the year it came out. Having had a hand in John Wick, Kolstad’s action chops were on display with an actor audiences just didn’t see as an action star. But that was the catch, sure, he’s a killer, but Hutch is just a family man at the end of the day. In Nobody 2, we get to see him go on a family vacation, be a dad, and well, keep killing a whole bunch of bad guys now that he is back to work. 

The tagline of Nobody 2 is “Sometimes the most dangerous place for a dad is a family vacation.” And that one-liner sets everything up. Directed by Timo Tjahjanto (The Night Comes for Us, The Big 4) and written by Kolstad and Aaron Rabin, Nobody 2 picks up four years after the last film. After Hutch (Bob Odenkirk) inadvertently took down the Russian mob with his father and brother, he’s now working to pay off his debt to a criminal organization that bailed him out. 

He wakes up, goes to work, kills a couple of people, misses dinner, goes to bed, and repeats. With his wife, Becca (Connie Nielsen), waiting for him at the table, the kids now off living their own teenage lives, the house is empty, and everyone is feeling the growing distance. Hutch still loves his job, but like any workaholic, he’s forgetting to take care of his home, too. 

Nobody 2 keeps the humor and violence of the first, and doubles down on family.

In an attempt to get out of their funk, Hutch and Becca decide to stop drifting apart and take their kids (Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath) on a short getaway to Wild Bill’s Majestic Midway and Waterpark, the one and only place where Hutch and his brother Harry (RZA) went on a vacation as kids, with their dad (Christopher Lloyd) in tow, the family arrives in the small tourist town of Plummerville. 

With the kids not entirely invested in the trip, the family makes the most of the funhouse, arcade, and other things they can find. But when town bullies decide to make their bad attitude the family’s problem, Hutch finds himself choosing between two things.

Let the bullies get away without any repercussions, or, well, beat everyone in the arcade with rubber mallets and funhouse equipment? Hutch, of course, chooses the latter. This one altercation puts him in the sights of a corrupt theme-park operator, Wyatt Martin (John Ortiz) and a shady sheriff (Colin Hanks), and the unhinged, bloodthirsty crime boss, Lendina (Sharon Stone), ends the family’s vacation early. 

Before we get into what makes Nobody 2 truly special, we have to talk about the action. Director Timo Tjahjanto is known for his over-the-top displays of violence. A pioneer of Indonesian action cinema, Tjahjanto brings his love of chaotic fight sequences to the film, but what he nails is his attention to physical and situational comedy throughout it all. 

With fight sequences even larger than the first film, the mayhem and destruction are everywhere in Nobody 2, especially in the film’s bombastic finale. While the shaky cam usage can sometimes overwhelm, the action is pristine when it comes to pacing and Tjahjanto’s ability to tell a fight sequence without showing it all. The environmental storytelling throughout the film is one of its strongest points. 

Still, Bob Odenkirk remains one of my favorite people to watch on screen. He brings that mild-mannered appearance to action sequences that add an inherent humour to them, but more so, you can tell how much he his throwing his body into each situation. Add in the RZA with a katana, and it’s hard to leave the film without a smile. 

Timo Tjahjanto knows violence, but he also knows exactly how to make a crowd laugh.

Nobody 2 doubles down on everything that made the first film great, but leans in even harder on family. Hutch yelling “I’m on vacation while punching a goon’s face in” isn’t just in the trailer to get you to watch the movie. It’s there because the man just really wants to make his family happy. If the first film is about changing your career back to your passion (yes, even if it’s assassination), Nobody 2 is about the importance of work-life balance. 

Derek Kolstad and Aaron Robin have written a character that isn’t just a “nobody” because he blends into the crowd, but because he just wants to live his life, love his wife, and raise his kids to be better than himself. But right now? He’s obsessed with work, paying off $30 million debt he picked up when he set the Russians’ money on fire. But paying off that debt has made him miss games, dinners, and time at home. The opening of Nobody 2 plays just like the tired father being consumed by his work, just with more blood. 

The film has pinpointed banal elements of a family road trip comedy; Nobody 2 delivers on everything, not just the violence. Much of this sequel, like the first, doesn’t distance itself from tropes, but it does subvert them. Hutch isn’t a killer looking to leave his work to save his family; he’s a guy who was begging to come back and keep his family, too. 

Throughout the film, there are little character moments between Hutch and his family that sell their love for each other. One of them is when Hutch and his brother, Harry, are talking to their dad. After boobytrapping the space for the climactic third act final fight, the trio talks about the time that they went to ___ville. And Hutch questions if his dad had any regrets, and that he wants his son, Brady, to be better than him. To which his father grabs Hutch and Harry’s shoulders and says that they are an improvement on him. 

It’s a moment that we don’t often get in stories about killers, and honestly, it only works in Nobody 2 because this has never been an action story about just the violence. It’s been a story about the why and the how behind being a contract killer, but also how it’s not the only thing you have. 

In another moment, Hutch tries to tell his wife to run away from him to protect her. To which Becca replies that he can’t tell her what to do. It’s a minimal exchange between the married couple, but it speaks volumes to the kind of marriage that they have. And ultimately, what Hutch is going through to protect it and their family. 

Derek Kolstad and Bob Odenkirk can keep making Nobody films until the wheels come off.

Becca and Hutch love each other and know each other. And she just wants him to shut up, fix the problem he caused, and protect his kids. And yes, she knows he has to kill people to do it. The two are so well matched and understand each other so well that they can have that talk, and she can tell him that he’s being stupid. 

Nobody 2 wouldn’t be the same film without these moments and the many others like them. It’s a bloody adventure through a small town with a guy who really just wants to be on vacation but couldn’t abide someone hitting his daughter. But it’s also a little family story about burnout and maintaining a work-life balance for the sake of your family. 

That’s the magic that Derek Kolstad and Timo Tjahjanto bring to the film, and that the entire ensemble cast captures. The filmmaking duo embraces action cinema and a lot of its tropes. They’re students of the genre, but it’s how they ground them and subvert the lone man running from violence archetype that makes it interesting. Hutch is never alone in Nobody 2, and that’s what makes it special. 

Violent, heartfelt, and incredibly funny, Nobody 2 is a near-perfect return, and I don’t say this lightly, but I’ll take a third one. 

Nobody 2 is playing in theaters nationwide now.