'Nobody 2' Will Be Remembered By Virtually Nobody
What started as a great, gritty, brutal comedy is reduced to generic sequel bait, robbing the original film of its identity. The action may still be bloody, but it's inferior to the stupendous bus showdown from the first Nobody. Nobody 2 is more like the love child of National Lampoon's Vacation and Beverly Hills Cop 3, taking the audience to a boring theme park that lacks the charm of Vacation, while retaining all the dull elements of BHC 3. The concept of the sequel is a family vacation trip that ends in violence. Sounds cool, right? Wrong.
Where Nobody was distinguishable for its extreme action, this movie is several notches below the beatings Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) takes in the first film. Aren't you supposed to raise the antics in the sequel instead of lowering them? The story is as basic as it can be. It starts with the typical morning routine montage. Already, it's getting boring. After owing $30 million to some shady individuals, Hutch decides to take his family on a much-needed vacation so he can escape and create memories for his kids. Taking the family to Plummersville, Hutch wants to rekindle the magic he felt when he was there as a boy. Yet as we grow up, the places we love age like us. The disappointment of the degrading park doesn't deter Hutch's motivation to make Plummersville a special vacation for his kids, until he screws it all up.
A bully at an arcade harasses Hutch's son, Brady (Gage Munroe). Instead of letting it slide, Brady uses the skills he learned from his father to teach the bully a lesson. When Hutch breaks up the fight, he's kicked out by the arcade owner, who just has to smack Hutch's daughter, Sammy (Paisley Cadorath), in the back of the head, causing Hutch to reciprocate through his fists. The ordeal leads to Hutch getting tied up in the middle of a large criminal operation featuring a villain of the week played by Sharon Stone.
It's interesting to see how Hutch gets himself into trouble. His profession causes him to be impulsive. He's not able to let things go. If you scream at him while in traffic, chances are that he'll punch your lights out. Hutch's behavior negatively affects his child's, putting his family at risk. Instead of continuing with this plot point, the movie dissolves into a series of forgettable action sequences. The movie may have been trying to convey a message about anger management, yet it rewards bad behavior with validation. Which is fine considering this is an action comedy, but pick a lane. If you're going to comment on humanity's aggressive nature, then stick with your theme or drop it entirely. Don't be hypocritical about it.
To make matters worse, the jokes are mediocre. Most films with test audiences have the crowds reacting like a sitcom laugh track. Not this one. It was almost a silent screening where you could hear a pin drop. None of the kills impressed the audience, nor were any of the gags memorable. If Nobody 2 followed through on its themes of crumbling nostalgia and unnecessary conflict, maybe it could have been somebody. Some movies aren't meant to have sequels. Once you get the concept of the everyday guy who's actually an assassin, where do you go from there? The movie seems to know where to take that direction, until it devolves into another tiring action flick with no discernable personality. Sadly, everything from the structure to the combat seems rushed through the door in a hastily made sequel that deserves to stay on vacation and out of theaters.
