Nobody 2 (2025)

Not sure if the world was crying out for a sequel to Nobody. I remember liking the first one when it came out as I like Bob Odenkirk and it was fun seeing him do the John Wick thing as Odenkirk. The set up is that Hutch and his family go on a vacation that Hutch went on when he was a kid. Turns out that the town is hiding illegal operations run by Lendina (Sharon Stone) who controls Sheriff Abel (Colin Hanks). Just because Hank stares into the distance remembering a happy childhood memory this annoys the Sheriff and Hutch gets on the wrong side of the law very quickly.

The film takes a while to get started as it spends a long time setting things up which is odd for a sequel but there we go. They decide to take David (Christopher Lloyd) because…..well he’s Christopher Lloyd and he was fun to see in the first film. The whole idea about a nice peaceful town having a criminal dark side isn’t really fleshed out but I suppose the screenplay is written by Derek Kolstad who wrote the John Wick films and as much as I love those films, they aren’t the strongest when it comes to the screenplay but you watch those films to see John Wick kill people and the same goes for this film. Also the character of Lendina felt slightly underwritten. I think because they spent too much time trying to make Wyatt and Sheriff Abel seem like the threats in the story. It was good to see some like Lendina come across as a total psycho but again she was underwritten and it didn’t feel like they went as far as they wanted to. They go to the trouble of showing why she is a psycho when she stabs someone in the hand for cheating before ordering everyone in the room who doesn't work for her to be killed. It’s an effective introductory scene but it happens quite late into the movie and meant that from that point on she was rushed yet we were meant to take her as the main threat. 

The best parts are when Hutch is killing people. It’s not a one sided fight so he does get hurt but it's always quite satisfying when the baddies are killed off. The two best fights happen on the duck boat and then the fun fair which both feature in the trailer so I sort of knew they were coming. The film is a 15 certificate so you know that there isn’t going to be an excess of gore but to be fair to the film the deaths did seem good and there was a fair amount of blood. The film is directed by Timo Tjahjanto who did my favourite segment of V/H/S/94 and also directed one of my favourite non-English language movies of 2022 in The Big 4 and he does well with the fights that take place. They have an energy and pace to them that make them feel like you're getting your money's worth. 

Nobody 2 isn’t as good as the first one. There was a fun factor to that film that made it such a surprise hit and it felt like they didn’t know what to do to justify the hassle of making this film (all films are a hassle but it has to be worth it!). They do seem to be setting up more with Brady seemingly stepping up to walk in his dads shoes and Becca showing that she knows how to handle herself but to be honest unless they return to what made the first one so good then I don’t know if we are just going to get the Taken films but with Bob Odenkirk. Don’t do that to Bob Odenkirk, he deserves better.