Title: Nobody 2
Director: Timo Tjahjanto
Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, John Oritz, Colin Hanks, RZA, Christopher Lloyd, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside
Where: In theatres near you
Rating: 2.5 Stars
Sequels are like leftover cake: familiar sweetness with a slightly stale bite. Nobody 2 doesn’t entirely escape that fate. Screenwriter Derek Kolstad, still mining the same trigger-happy action template, dusts off his blueprint, gives it a fresh coat of violence, and lets Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk), a suburban everyman with the reflexes of an assassin, loose again.
The plot is, well, comfort food: Hutch is once more the mild-mannered family man who cannot resist getting his knuckles bloodied. This time, the holidaying Mansells stumble into another Russian-mafia-flavoured stew of crime, cash, and chaos. Add a theme park straight out of the ’70s, a fight on a duck boat, and some jugaad-style booby traps, and you’ve got yourself déjà vu in Dolby Surround.
Yet, here’s the rub: despite the predictability, Nobody 2 works in spurts. It is lighter, sillier, and self-aware in ways its predecessor wasn’t. It winks at its own absurdity, and that saves it from tumbling into pure parody. Think of it as a violent family vacation gone very, very wrong.
Actors’ performance
Bob Odenkirk remains the film’s saving grace. He plays Hutch as though he’s a sad-eyed Labrador forced into a gladiatorial arena; reluctant, weary, but lethally efficient. His transformation from fumbling dad to casual killing machine is still bizarrely convincing, and you can’t help but root for him.
Christopher Lloyd and RZA return as Hutch’s trigger-happy father and unflappable brother, providing comic seasoning. Connie Nielsen as Becca oscillates between simmering exasperation and reluctant support, though the script gives her little beyond furrowed brows.
And then there’s Sharon Stone as Lendina, the mob boss. Let’s just say subtlety isn’t her weapon of choice. With slick hair, power suits, and dialogue that drips venom, she doesn’t just chew scenery, she swallows it whole and asks for dessert. Depending on your tolerance, this is either gleefully camp or painfully overwrought.
Music and aesthetics
If the first Nobody lurked in shadows, its sequel steps firmly into daylight. The action is staged with clarity, no more squinting through murky lighting, and director Timo Tjahjanto embraces a kitschy brightness that feels oddly refreshing. The set piece on the duck boat is as ridiculous as it is entertaining, and the climactic showdowns are choreographed with the kind of gleeful silliness that belongs in a video game arcade.
Musically, the film doubles down on retro cheek, even staging mayhem to the breezy ’60s pop tune “More Today Than Yesterday.” The score knows when to swell and when to retreat, lending the carnage a playful rhythm.
FPJ Verdict
This isn’t high art. It isn’t even fresh storytelling. But as guilty pleasures go, this film makes a strong case for being exactly what it says on the tin: a nobody that somehow becomes somebody.
