NOBODY 2 (2025)

Every so often, one needs to get away; away from the day-to-day of life and work and the familiar. A well-timed escape has the potential to be a reset, a promise of peace and/or adventure. Assassin/family man Hutch Mansel (Bob Odenkirk) is no different as he yearns for a break from his hectic schedule and root of the cross looks coming at an ever-increasing frequency from his wife Becca (Connie Nielson). And so the Mansel family decide to head to a small town waterpark to make memories, only there is no getting away for a killer family man. The violence in Hutch never rests and he’s at the ready when resident bad guys in the tourist town of Plummerville cross his lines. A succession of excessive, excellently and imaginatively choreographed fight sequences ensure, making for a delightful romp for those who welcome light-hearted violence mixed with family fare. And I count myself among them. Odenkirk and Nielson bring low-stakes and loving tension as heads of a fraying nuclear family, while Sherif Abel (Colin Hanks) and mob boss Lendina (Sharon Stone) threaten the rebuilding of the familial bonds with their criminal doings. Odenkirk is all of us and none of us; a cross between tropes: the long-suffering, albeit “world’s greatest” father figure – think John Candy in Summer Rental (1985) and The Great Outdoors (1988) – and The Terminator (1984). The man desperately wants to show himself and his family a normal vacay, but his directive is to mercilessly inflict pain and punishment to the deserved. And he’s great at it. Of course he weathers lickings like a wayward Timex, and though she starts off strong, Stone’s threat wafts unintentionally into the comical. Still, Nobody 2 is exactly what fans of the first film clearly crave, a reprieve from the logical and a, if somewhat forgettable, vacation to a place where justice is served by the everyman.

WATCH OR NOT: WATCH

Additional musings: The action and cast are all great, but its Odenkirk’s easy likability that truly fuels this franchise.