Nobody 2 (2025)


Nobody was one of the more surprising movies I've seen.  It does owe a lot to John Wick, something I noticed once I had a chance to go through that whole series, which shouldn't be surprising as some of the same people were involved.  It has similar worldbuilding, many of the same types of stunts as well as the feeling that, with all the punishment the lead character takes, this is in some alternate dimension filled with superhumans.

What separated Nobody from John Wick is that the former has a goofy sense of humor.  It also took the time to introduced characters besides the guy on the poster and framed everything within a family dynamic.  That made it more than just a modern action retread, especially seeing Christopher Lloyd show up as the father and reveal that the whole assassination thing is akin to a family business.  It's not the first time this has been a central plot to an action film but it was handled in a way that kept the audience guessing as to what was next.

That leads to a major problem for a sequel.  After four John Wick films, how does one make the inevitable sequel to Nobody stand out?  Unfortunately, the answer is that the second time around it really doesn't. 

After burning 30 million dollars of money belonging to the Russian mob Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) is working it off, doing wet work for a shady organization that can use his skills.  However, even a hit man of Hutch's caliber needs a vacation, and he decides to take his family to a water and amusement park in Plummerville, Wisconsin.  He hopes to bond with his son Brady (Gage Munroe), who is having similar violent tendencies as Hutch, as well as spend time with his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) and father David (Lloyd).  It's a place he remembers going as a young boy with his brother Harry (RZA). 

The water park hides a secret.  Wyatt Martin (John Ortiz) not only inherited the park but also his father's debts.  Despite being the de facto big man in town it is Sheriff Abel (Colin Hanks) who calls most of the shots.  The reason David took the kids to Plummerville was as part of a mission, and all these years later it is still being used by an international crime boss named Lendina (Sharon Stone) to smuggle illegal goods.  When Abel and Wyatt get on Hutch's bad side he does his usual, and soon the family vacation becomes all-out war. 

Timo Tjahjanto has made a number of interesting and acclaimed action and horror films in his native Indonesia, and Nobody 2 is his U.S. debut.  He does bring some of his style to it, although his style of script, which has the action build throughout the movie, is missing.  Instead, Derek Kolstad and Aaron Rabin provide scenes that are akin to those in the John Wick movies, only paired down and with a bit of humor thrown in.  That is all good, as it is also what made Nobody work.  Problem is, Tjahjanto is a director for hire on this sequel, and Kolstad's script is more like an episode of Reacher than a worthy successor to the first film.

Despite that Odenkirk is still game, having trained to do most of the stunts himself, and it's good to see Lloyd enjoying himself as well. In fact, everyone seems to be having a blast on this film, putting that training to good use.  Many of the action scenes are well done and the final confrontation in the booby-trapped waterpark is thrilling.  The problem is there are never any stakes.  It is obvious that, despite how evil and dangerous Lendina is, that Hutch and his family are going to come out okay.  The first left some question as to how things would end, but this is just a bunch of action scenes strung together by the thinnest of plots.  

I know that the usual trend is that if it makes money there has to at least be one more, but sometimes an idea only works once.  Unless there is some plan to have John Wick and Hutch Mansell team up to take on every rime organization in the world then this is where this series should end before the original movie starts to have its reputation suffer due to its sequels.

Nobody 2 (2025)
Time: 89 minutes
Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath, RZA, John Ortiz, Colin Hanks, Sharon Stone
Director: Timo Tjahjanto

 

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