Movie Review: Nobody 2

In the four years since director Ilya Naishuller’s Nobody was released, the film’s unlikely hero, “retired” assassin Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk), has been moonlighting in his old profession to pay off a long-standing debt. Now, in that film’s sequel, Nobody 2, as Hutch and his family embark on a critical family vacation to get away from his clandestine activities, he finds himself caught in an underworld conspiracy that he must help expose before he is able to put together his broken family and move on with his life.

Director Timo Tjahjanto (perhaps best known for his segments in both V/H/S/2 (2013) and V/H/S/94 (2021), as well as the feature Killers (2014)), takes the reigns of the franchise from Naishuller. Working from a script penned by Aaron Rabin alongside series creator Derek Kolstad, Tjahjanto embraces the everyman aspect of the story and infuses it with the aesthetic of the Asian assassin genre to create a wholly unique sequel that delivers on the promise of its predecessor yet also builds on the property’s mythos to create something wildly entertaining.

Again, Odenkirk excels as the everyman turned wrecking ball after he is pushed just a little too far. This time, his path crosses with a psychotic crime boss named Lendina (played with ferocious glee by Sharon Stone), who mistakenly wages war against Hutch he crosses paths with one of her hapless henchmen, Sheriff Abel (Colin Hanks). Things quickly escalate from bad to worse as Hutch is simultaneously hounded by a wife (Connie Nielsen) and son (Gage Munroe) who are both wildly disappointed with him to begin with. Soon, Hutch finds himself aligned with an unlikely ally – as well as some familiar faces (Harry Mansell [RZA] and David Mansell [Christopher Lloyd]) – in a battle to eliminate Lendina and her forces before they reciprocate the action.

Bob Odenkirk in “Nobody 2.”

Everyone involved is all in on the free for all that the film ultimately becomes and that makes for an incredibly enjoyable experience. This film harkens back to cathartic revenge films that were once the stable of genre pictures and perhaps overstayed their welcome due to never-ending sequels and rehashed plots. With Nobody 2 however, the approach feels more fresh than stale and that makes it all the more pleasing when all is said and done.

While Nobody established Odenkirk as a legitimate action star, Nobody 2 strengthens the character’s mythos and embellishes the series by providing an adventure that not only revisits the exploits of the character from the first film, but also moves the story forward with a satisfying sequel that simultaneously does justice to and outshines its predecessor.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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