Ilya Naishaller’s Nobody derived most of its pleasures from the disconnect of watching a seemingly workaday father kick ass like John Wick. Now, Timo Tjahjanto’s Nobody 2 tries to turn the same trick—to diminishing returns. This is a breezier, goofier film, but it still feels as if there’s no real stakes to the proceedings, and that the filmmakers wholeheartedly believe that masculinity is inextricably connected to violence.
Sure, a couple of scenes make space for the subtheme of how fathers want their sons to be better than them. And the moment where Hutch (Bob Odenkirk)—after getting arrested for beating up a group of men, one of whom lightly pushed his daughter—tells his son, Brady (Gage Monroe), that there are better ways to deal with things than violence is amusing enough. But Nobody 2 isn’t a film that’s particularly interested in its characters, their relationships, or the morality of their actions, so perhaps it’s no surprise that we get virtually no exploration of this idea, or of Brady’s rising aggression, which initially troubled both Hutch and his wife (Connie Nielson).
While the baddies in Nobody 2, among them Sharon Stone as a drugpin and Colin Hanks as a corrupt sheriff, are taken aback by Hutch’s skill at turning anything that happens to be lying around into a lethal weapon, for anyone who saw the original film, there are relatively little surprises in store. This is just the same ol’ action-fantasy, only set during an ostensibly perfect family vacation to PlummerVille, “the oldest water park in America.”
This allows for a few humorous visual gags, such as Hutch beating a smarmy park manager with a Whack-a-Mole mallet, and the final showdown involving some of the booby-trapped rides at the park is expertly staged. But behind the violence and gore, Nobody 2 only offers the skeleton of a narrative. And whether or not you get a kick out of someone who looks like Odenkirk cracking bones while wearing sandals and a Hawaiian shirt, and set to a gratingly ironic needle drops like Celine Dion’s “The Power of Love,” will depend on your tolerance for dad jokes.
Since 2001, we've brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications like Slant have been hit hard in recent years, but we’re committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or fees.
If you like what we do, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a donation.
