What makes Bob Odenkirk so enjoyable as an action protagonist is his ‘everyman appeal’. In Nobody, the character was well-written. The first major set piece, a taut bus fight scene kicked off a nice vengeance movie that harkened to the golden days of the 1980s. The film was received so positively that it begot a sequel whose title doesn’t pull any punches, Nobody 2. Nobody 2 knows the assignment and admirably fits in the box, and does so in a manner that audiences have come to expect from sequels.
Aside from Muppets Most Wanted and Empire Strikes back, the sequel is not as entertaining as the original. When it comes to action movies, the only one that comes to mind is Lethal Weapon 2. However, the action movie audience (as well as the horror movie audience) is not as discriminating as some folks. I say that, being a proud member of both camps, having sat through and enjoyed most films by Steven Segal, Jason Statham, and a couple from Liam Neeson.
The unofficial rule for action movie sequels is that they need to be at least half as enjoyable as their predecessor. Sure that means that by the fourth entry into the series their barely entertaining, but by that point it’s either been rebooted or gender-swapped. The bar for action sequels is set low. This is where the glass is half-full for Nobody 2. Looking at the film through that lens it’s far more than half as enjoyable as the first movie.
Nobody 2 is very familiar. It starts out in the exact same way as the first film, with Hutch in custody and held in a dank room. He’s being interrogated and has a lighter in his hand, but this time he’s got a dog beside him. Those who saw Nobody already know that this is where the film ends, so any suspension of the film’s final act has already stopped. But that’s not why action movie fans see sequels. Remind yourself of the unofficial rule for action movie sequels when you find yourself being too critical of Nobody 2.
Hutch is still the best cleaner in the world. The film opens with a short montage of him eliminating various bad actors in back alleys, closed rooms or an elevator. After this montage, audiences discover that Hutch is millions of dollars in debt to his boss. Remember that massive stack of Russian mob money that he burned in the first movie? Apparently, that debt has been passed on to his employer. Don’t ask questions about profit and loss or how their business tree works; just keep moving.
He’s spending so much time at work that his family life has fallen by the wayside. His wife is on the cusp of saying that they need help and should go to counseling. His son is engaging in the same dangerous and violent behavior as him. Hutch is pressed into a corner and decides to take his family on a vacation to the water park that his family went to when he was a kid.
The water park is a couple of hours away and hasn’t been updated in decades. Again, don’t ask how a decrepit water park can maintain operations 30 years later without any new attractions. He quickly realizes that the town is a water park and they’re both being operated by a corrupt police force and various criminal operations. After one of the arcade employees intentionally hits his daughter on the back of her head, the dominoes are set into motion.
Hutch goes back into the arcade, a fight ensues, which leads the family to get arrested. They are released, but the corrupt cops want revenge, so they hatch a plan to attack the family the next day. The family goes on the duck boat, but Hutch gets wise to their attack and boards a different boat. The cops get mauled and the town’s bad guy is revealed to be a businessman who is being controlled by an even worse person.
The big bad, as they are, is Sharon Stone, a mobster, drug dealer who is now smuggling some biohazard thing that will elevate her crimes even higher. Hutch calls a friend of his with information on where to find her and goes to the warehouse to make peace. It doesn’t go well; he shoots all but one corrupt cop, blows up the warehouse, and teams up with the businessman for a final showdown at the water park.
Audiences will find it hard to buy Stone as the big bad. There is one establishing scene where she kills someone who is cheating in her casino. Yes, it’s cruel, but her character’s behavior is so hammy and over the top that it’s more stranger than it is scary. The final battle at the water park is not horrible, but it’s nowhere near the quality of what’s in the first film. I need to remember the unofficial rule of action movie sequels.
What is most disappointing about action sequels is that they kind of look like the first one. That’s the film that kept you on the edge of your seat. The second one is kind of entertaining, has characters that you remember liking, but can’t quite understand why it’s not working now. At the end of the sequel, you’re doing some mental math to figure out the percentage of quality drop, because you know the unofficial rule of sequels. The percentage drop for Nobody 2 is around 30%, which is 5% below average for a sequel. At this rate, Nobody 3 will feature the two main leads with a young baby, but if it manages to be above 50% we’ll still be there and moderately enjoy it.
Nobody 2 is rated R for violence, gore, and language.
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