The “John Wick” saga famously launched because Keanu Reeves’ character seeks revenge for the murder of his puppy. Writer Derek Kolstad’s newer saga boasts an even more relatable premise for its sequel, “Nobody 2”: Bob Odenkirk’s overworked Hutch Mansell wants a break.
Work-life imbalance
The gap between real-world plausible and emotionally relatable is amusingly vast in “Nobody 2,” which follows the 2021 film as a brisk (89 minutes!) mix of practical-stunt action, mini-revenge scenarios, fun locations (a theme park!) and sharply curated needle drops (yay for Jennifer Rush’s “The Power of Love”). It plays as a metaphor for the quest for work-life balance that can seem so unattainable.
“Nobody 2” doesn’t spend as much money on action, locations and stunts as this year’s epic “Wick” spinoff “Ballerina.” It’s a small film for one with a high percentage of action, but it’s efficient in character development and premise. Much of the shorthand storytelling also functions as dark humor, which doesn’t connect as often as Hutch’s gunshots or punches.
“Nobody 2” (2025)
Director: Timo Tjahjanto
Writers: Derek Kolstad (screenplay, story), Aaron Rabin (story)
Stars: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd
The grimness of a world of regular fighting doesn’t encroach on the genuine family bond. We feel some fracturing between Hutch and wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) because he’s always working. He has to pay off a debt to a mob boss for burning a bunch of dirty money in the first film; viewers are invited to use that as a cooler metaphor for manning a desk 8 hours a day to acquire things like food and shelter.
“Nobody 2” inches toward world-building when it introduces a corrupt sheriff played by Colin Hanks (trying to ham it, helped by a bad haircut) and then a black-marketeer uber-villain played by Sharon Stone (trying to ham it up more, and becoming yawningly detestable).
But gradually I realized Kolstad and co-writer Aaron Rabin are not going to grow this world much beyond Hutch wanting to make memories at a waterpark in the throwback town of Plummerville. Teen Brady (Gage Munroe) isn’t easily convinced, but younger Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) is up for it, and Becca is willing to try anything to tighten the family bond. Christopher Lloyd also returns as Hutch’s dad in what might’ve been a day or two of shooting, and Hutch’s brother Harry (RZA) is duly but smoothly added.
‘Wick’ with smaller stakes
The smallness of the story ends up enjoyable in a rote way. “Nobody 2” is essentially a series of “How far could you be pushed” moral conundrums. For example, what if a stranger whacks your daughter across the back of her head? Do you just walk away? It’s hard to say yes, and it’s hard to say no.
John Wick is a fantasy character in fantasy scenarios, but Hutch Mansell is a real person (emotionally speaking) in fantasy scenarios. The action can’t match “Wick,” but what we feel in each action scene (crisply directed by Timo Tjahjanto) often surpasses those grander movies. And while Hanks and Stone have to strain to add to their characterizations, Kolstad and Rabin pepper in enjoyable cliché-dodges, like a team-up between enemies who are smart enough to realize they should not be enemies.
I can see some corner-cutting. “Nobody 2” gets one sequence off the books by doing that thing of showing the outside of a warehouse as Hutch walks in. Then we hear curses and gunfire and explosions, and see hapless henchmen running out. Then we cut to the aftermath. I’ll allow it once in a fast-paced film like this.
While Odenkirk works to make it believable that Hutch can kick ass, Nielsen not so much – nor does the script ask her to. Another version of this saga might’ve made the Mansells into an action-movie equivalent of “The Incredibles.” But Becca is, without much explanation, a natural sharpshooter; there’s no backstory like there is for Hutch in the first film.
Hutch’s life is disposable to his bosses, and it’s too bad the “Nobody” movies are, too. But they are high-quality disposable products, something to look forward to watching when your brain is mush from a work shift. I’ll be back for “Nobody 3.” But you can take a break for now, Hutch.