Cinematic Releases: Nobody 2 (2025) - Reviewed

Images courtesy of Universal Pictures

Back in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian musician and Hardcore Henry filmmaker Ilya Naishuller, producer David Leitch as well as screenwriter Derek Kolstad of the John Wick series joined forces to unveil the director’s first non-first-person-POV feature Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk.  An intentionally tongue-in-cheek over-the-top ultraviolent action-comedy/thriller about a seemingly lowly family man trying to lead a normal life before eventually falling back to his old ways as a trained ruthless assassin when he attracts the unwanted attention of a Russian mobster, it was John Wick with the guy from Mr. Show and more recently Better Call Saul.  Co-produced by Odenkirk and co-starring Connie Nielsen, RZA, the great Aleksei Serebryakov and most notably Christopher Lloyd, it became a critical and commercial hit garnering $57 million against a $16 million budget.  Naturally, a sequel was in mind with more of the same.

 
However, Naishuller dropped out of the project and redirected his attention to the Amazon Prime action-comedy Heads of State starring Idris Elba and John Cena while Indonesian shock action-horror maestro Timo Tjahjanto (in his English language debut) of The ABCs of Death and V/H/S 2 took the reins of directing what shaped up to be Nobody 2.  With the story and screenplay co-authored again by Derek Kolstad and Aaron Rabin, the film picks up where the last film left off only this time the villain is played by Sharon Stone channeling an over-the-top Griselda Blanco type and it nearly sinks the film with her.  The story goes Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) is looking for a family summer vacation, aiming to take his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), daughter and son along in the touristy small town water park of Plummerville.  Its dumpy and scuzzy but for Hutch is a crime haven presided over by a scummy sheriff played by Colin Hanks, the shady theme park operator and the aforementioned femme fatale crimelord which must be infiltrated and destroyed, leaving ample room for many wild action set pieces and over the top kills which were likely toned down by the MPAA to pass with an R rating.

 
Still funny and entertaining but ultimately lacking the comic timing or buildup of Naishuller’s first iteration, Timo Tjahjanto’s take mostly works except for when Stone’s cheeseball Bond villain is on display.  I’ve liked Stone in many other things and get that she’s hamming it up here in an over-the-top evil Godmother but when compared to the palpable danger as well as comic charisma of Aleksei Serebryakov who has become over several movies one of my favorite actors, Stone’s psychotic and flamboyant femme fatale doesn’t measure up.  Basically a carbon copy of the first film (right down to the opening credits prologue-epilogue) moved over to a crummy vacation spot leaving room for Hutch to slice and dice people up with arcade machines, carnival theme park rides from boats to swings and even waterslides, it entertains but somehow is nowhere near as funny or rewatchable as the first.  Bob Odenkirk who suffered a heart attack after the first Nobody is great as always, even more physically built than previously and Connie Nielsen’s character is considerably more fleshed out as perhaps closer to her husband’s violent nature than either initially realize.  Christopher Lloyd has quite a bit of comic relief here too including being a distraction/protector for the kids who get into the action at different points themselves.  Also a real pleasant surprise in the film’s tight running time is John Ortiz as the corrupt theme park manager who himself might just be under the thumb of a bigger power. 

 
Another facet that’s noticeable immediately is something of a visual downgrade from the first film.  While Naishuller’s film was by no means high art, it was shot by Ari Aster’s cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski and many of the fluid action sequences which are beautifully staged and captured from early scenes to the impending over the top climax all have a sharp finish to them.  Here, they’ve gone with recurring television cinematographer Callan Green who is by no means bad and has nearly three decades of experience working in the film medium but somehow doesn’t have the patina and technical grace Naishuller and Pogorzelski brought to the first project.  The score, much like the first, is mostly okay while being enhanced by the frequent needle drops for comedic effect but again Naishuller who works in music as well as film had a better handle on that dynamic than Tjahjanto.  Again, not poor work and Tjahjanto is good for staging of the action sequences but somehow mismatched for the comedy aspects.

 
As a fan of the first film and an admitted fan of both directors and Bob Odenkirk, Nobody 2 was a mostly fun sort of Cannon Film sequel which still will give you an entertaining two-hour distraction with more misadventures of Hutch indulging in his addiction to doing violence against evildoers.  But if I had to choose between which of the two I’d sooner revisit, I’d absolutely pick the first film.  Better timing, building, presentation and finish from top to bottom.  So strong for what it was it built up some excitement around Naishuller’s career which also included music videos for The Weeknd and Russian pop singer Glukoza.  Tjahjanto’s penchant for extreme violence seemed like a good match replacement for the absurdly inventive kills needed for this kind of movie and many got audible reactions from the crowd in attendance.  And yet again they felt toned down compared to what this, when left unchecked, perversely transgressive director delivered in his short horror segments for The ABCs of Death and V/H/S 2.  Not bad but not nearly as fun or funny as what started the misadventures of Hutch unfortunately with a witchy Bond villainess who was clearly having fun in the part but kept getting in the way of the movie for me.

--Andrew Kotwicki