Back in 2021, Bob Odenkirk was a pure delight in Nobody. He was set up as an average-looking guy who happened to be a badass action hero. The movie was a popular hit, so naturally, it got a sequel. This time around, the trailers suggest Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell is trying to get himself a relaxing vacation with his wife, kids, and elderly father. Characters like Hutch can’t avoid problems just by going on vacation, so what’s he going to do about a woman crime lord running a small vacation town?
Well, I mean, I was going to go see the movie and find out anyway…
Life is rough for Hutch. He’s deep in debt and taking hit jobs to pay off the debt, but now he’s rarely home, and it’s putting a strain on his marriage to wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) and putting more distance between him and his teenage son Brady (Gage Munroe), a boy who prefers his father’s more violent ways than Hutch would want him to be. The chance encounter with a bumper sticker reminding Hutch of his only childhood vacation to the small town of Plummerville. Becca and daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) are all for it while Brady is less enthused, but the family is off, bringing along Grandpa (Christopher Lloyd) to complete the family unit.
But for a man like Hutch, it is really hard to get away from the life of violence because, it turns out, Plummerville and its main tourist attractions act as a cover to an international crime lord, Lendina (Sharon Stone). With help from a wannabe badass doofus of a sheriff (Colin Hanks with a really dorky haircut), and the owner of the local amusement park (John Ortiz), the town is under Lendina’s complete control. It won’t take much for some entitled criminals to get under Hutch’s skin, and when one guy messes a little bit with Sammy, well, the gloves will come off. Can’t a man just have a relaxing vacation with his family?
In many ways, this is the sort of movie that fans of the original will like. It’s not as good as the first one, but it has some good action scenes involving Odenkirk, Lloyd, RZA as Hutch’s brother Harry, and a whole lot of henchmen. Hanks makes for an amusingly pathetic tough guy, and Stone seems to be having fun going as over the top as she wants to. The returning cast is fine, but I somehow was not as satisfied as I was hoping I would be. It might be due to some weaker aspects of the story. Hutch’s family all knows what he does for a living, so there’s less tension there, and there may even be a plot point or two that seems to be less developed than it could be, such as the wolf-dog Hutch is seen with in the opening scene when the animal doesn’t really do that much during the rest of the story.
I think the reason I was less satisfied this time around may have a lot to do with the movie itself and where I saw it. I saw the first at home on HBO Max (I think), and Nobody 2 does feel like the sort of movie that works better as something to maybe do a digital rental for. I still think it’s a fun movie and worth a look, especially if you enjoyed the original movie, and coming in at under 90 minutes, it certainly tells the story it wants to tell without getting too much clutter, but I think this really is a movie that will work better if you see it at home. It’s not a recommendation I have ever given before, but it’s one I feel comfortable giving now, so maybe I will make this recommendation more often in the future.
Grade: B-
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