Courtney Howard // Film Critic
NOBODY 2
Rated R, 1 hour and 29 minutes
Directed by: Timo Tjahjanto
Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, John Ortiz, Sharon Stone, Colin Hanks, RZA, Christopher Lloyd, Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath, Colin Salmon, Lucius Hoyos
NOBODY’s initial (right) hook featured a mild-mannered family man pushed over the brink back into his former life as a lethal mercenary. But its subpar sequel – the imaginatively titled NOBODY 2 – doesn’t pack the same punch. While the original was perfectly self-contained, zippy and serious fun, broadening the world of this deadly assassin dilutes the once-promising franchise with its switch in tone to action-comedy, as well as its reductive narrative and lip-servicing thematic ties. Director Timo Tjahjanto’s actioner is a mess of fisticuffs that shockingly don’t connect and dramatic stakes that don’t either.
Hutch (Bob Odenkirk) has been incredibly busy working to pay of the monetary debt he owes his boss (Colin Salmon) after torching his Russian adversary’s giant stockpile of cash. His return to his former criminal underworld haunts has come at a cost to his family. His real estate agent wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), high-school son Brady (Gage Munroe) and teen Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) are all struggling in their own ways with his disappearance, whether it’s Brady getting in fights during games or Becca grappling with romantic neglect. Wanting to fix the family’s fissures, Hutch suggests they take a vacation to Plummerville, a Wisconsin amusement park from his youth.
Yet when the family arrives, trouble quickly ensues. Not only are their motel digs less than welcoming, the main attraction – the carnival/ waterpark/ arcade – has fallen into disrepair. The boss Wyatt (John Ortiz) is running a criminal syndicate, smuggling drugs, guns and bioweapons for infamous girl-boss Lendina (Sharon Stone). And he’s protected by a fleet of corrupt cops and other heavies, led by mullet-sporting blowhard Sherriff Abel (played by an absolutely miscast Colin Hanks). But when Hutch’s son tussles with Wyatt’s son Max (Lucius Hoyos), it ignites an onslaught Hutch never anticipated.
Screenwriters Derek Kolstad and Aaron Rabin (working from a story by Kolstad) ham-handedly set up the stakes and forget to pay them off by film’s end. Father-son conflicts from act one suddenly vanish by the midpoint. Marital strife is dealt short-shrift as it magically heals itself once Becca arms herself with a rifle, which makes no sense given she’s adamant about her husband walking away from anger-triggering scenarios. It’s a rushed resolution, punched up by a comedic needle drop on a Celine Dion chart-topping ballad. At least Nielsen seems totally game for these hijinks. Hope she got to keep her hat.
Whatever the filmmakers are attempting to execute through Hutch and Brady’s predicaments (with both characters tasked to learn lessons about the detriments of using violence to solve their problems) is completely negated by their actions during the climax (like when Brady chokes a baddie and his father lays waste to Lendina’s henchmen). Heavier thematic material of sons shouldering the sins of their fathers, from Wyatt’s struggle to pay off his deceased father’s debts to the damage Hutch is unwittingly inflicting on Brady, is hand-waved away for empty caloric nonsense. It’s exhausting.
The film’s antagonist is a nothing burger. Stone has played shiftier villains before without a hint of camp and without having to perform what’s akin to “the Elaine” dance in a designer suit. She does have an adorable little spike-collared French Bulldog sidekick, so all is not lost. Hutch’s daughter Sammy, whose stolen kitty cat bracelet became the catalyst for Hutch’s predicament in the first film, is ignored altogether. Despite RZA, playing Hutch’s wise, sword-wielding brother Harry, being given the best scenes of the film, Christopher Lloyd is sidelined, used far too sparingly this time around.
Most disappointing of all, there’s little to no aesthetic draw. Switching directors, in addition to its tonal shift leaning more into the goofy comedy in its action-comedy equation, has done this saga-in-the-making no favors. Tjahjanto’s usual brawling, ruthless style so expertly executed in the unrelentingly entertaining THE NIGHT COMES FOR US is muted for the mass market. Big action set pieces are shot in ramped up shaky-cam close-ups and medium shots, losing much of the weight of 87North’s crafted fight choreography. The one time it starts to deliver something interesting, as we overhear Hutch’s warehouse melee from a vantage point outside, it lasts all of 15 seconds before cutting away to inside the lair, witnessing Hutch’s smack-down from Max’s POV.
Tjahjanto and co. let the CGI blood burst and flow, yet the creativity behind the action, character pathos and comedic entertainment value is stifled. And nobody wants this.
Grade: 1.5 out of 5
NOBODY 2 opens in theaters on August 15.
