"Nobody 2" - Review

Long after his rough and tumble tangle with the Russian Mafia brought mild-mannered super-killer Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk, which I still cannot get over) back into the game, he has been doing contract work for The Barber (Colin Salmon, nice) to settle affairs. But this has all alienated him from his family, so he decides to arrange a holiday! Alongside ballsy wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), gangly rebellious son Brady (Gage Munroe), endearing daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) and unhinged father David (Christopher Lloyd); Hutch decides to head off to beloved theme park/waterpark of his youth Plummerville! But you can never fight the tides, and soon Hutch finds himself trying to simply enjoy his holiday and avoid the orbit of sleazy weirdo sheriff Abel (Colin Hanks), scuzzy owner Wyatt (John Ortiz) and mysterious maniac Lendina (Sharon Stone) - easier said than done.

(Photo Credit: Amazon Prime Video)
The first film is rather fun and a pleasant surprise where action movies are concerned, marketed largely successfully on it being from minds behind "John Wick" and Bob Odenkirk in the leading role. This one keeps that momentum going but also seems unsure where to go with it. Having Indonesian Timo Tjahanto behind the wheel adds an askew crookedness to standard Americana, which is welcome and adds to the quirk: it's a nice twist on the setup and brings spark to the tale. When blood and vicious gore of the director's previous efforts like "The Night Comes For Us" begins to get spattered across the faded All-American theme park and other such things, it's a tad jarring but spices up things.
Otherwise it's a rather busy movie, with lots of characters bouncing around the place, scheming, counter-scheming and having mini-arcs which get kind of dropped and forgotten about; and Sharon Stone's villain is given little guidance or things to do so sort of has to pull a Matt Smith in "Morbius" and make up quirk as she goes along (including a dance sequence); but the whole affair is bloody fun and comes into its own on a boat fight and during the finale at the theme park. Much like Hutch's holiday (hell, the film even uses Cliff Richard...) it's fun while it lasts, and it won't be as good as you remember when you look back on it, but enjoy the ride.
Plus RZA gets to be the samurai of his dreams in the final act and gets the best, pulpiest line against legal-requirement bad guy Daniel Bernhardt.

"Nobody" Review - From the Vaults

"Nobody"

Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) is a mild mannered, middle class man in suburbia with an excruciatingly ordinary life: he lives in the suburbs with his real estate agent wife Rebecca (Connie "I Speak 8 Languages" Nielsen), teenage son Blake (Gage Monroe) and daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath); and works as an accountant at a workshop owned by his father in law (Michael Fucking Ironside!) .

But when he is burgled in the night, and does nothing about it, he feels humiliated, and it awakens something inside of him. He embarks on a quest for revenge, self-discovery and violence, which ends up placing him in the path of a Russian mobster and his own past...

Off the bat: yes, this is indeed a "John Wick" knockoff, right down to sharing a producer; and an appearance by Daniel "Bloodsport Sequels" Bernhardt as a henchman of the mob.

One more step closer to the Bloodsport Expanded Universe

But if you're going to rip off anything, I'm happy it's "John Wick", because that movie rules.

And it does enough stuff differently to stand out. It's funnier for starters, taking itself far less seriously whilst simultaneously showing off Odenkirk's range and really embracing some of the visceral violence.

Oh yeah, it's from the director of "Hardcore Henry", and it shows. RZA is in this and he kills three men with the same bullet with a sniper rifle in close combat; we get claymore mines to the face, faces planted into buses. This movie is great fun.

Michale Ironside is in this!

Do you have any idea how happy that makes me?!