Nobody 2 (2025) Universal/Action-Thriller RT: 89 minutes Rated R (strong bloody violence and language throughout) Director: Timo Tjahjanto Screenplay: Derek Kolstad and Aaron Rabin Music: Dominic Lewis Cinematography: Callan Green Release date: August 15, 2025 (US) Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, John Ortiz, RZA, Colin Hanks, Christopher Lloyd, Sharon Stone, Colin Salmon, Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath, Daniel Bernhardt, Lucius Hoyos, David MacInnis.
Rating: ***
It’s August and I know better than to expect much from the movies dumped into cinemas after all the big hitters have had their turn at bat. I went into Nobody 2 in that frame of mind. I love the first movie; I’d even say it’s awesome. I didn’t think the sequel would be as good. I was afraid it wouldn’t be any good. This, thankfully, turned out not to be the case. While it’s not great like the 2021 film, it’s a solid sequel and a damn good actioner.
Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) returns as Hutch Mansell, a suburbanite husband and father with a special set of skills. He used to be a top government agent. He tried to do the family man thing, but he got pulled back into the life after a home invasion indirectly resulted in him taking on the entire Russian mob. He won that battle, but his victory came at a cost. He now has to pay back the $30M he burned to ashes. This means he has to go back to work for his old handler, a guy known only as “The Barber” (Salmon, Resident Evil).
His busy work schedule leaves him little time for his wife Becca (Nielsen, Gladiator 1 & 2) and two kids, teen son Brady (Munroe, The Shack) and tween daughter Sammy (Cadorath). Looking to rectify that, Hutch comes up with the idea of a family vacation. He wants to take them to Plummerville, a seaside town with a popular water park. His own father David (Lloyd, Back to the Future) took him and his brother there for the only vacation they ever went on as a family. He wants to make new memories with his own family.
Shortly after they all arrive, Hutch learns it’s not the same as he remembered it. It’s actually a front for a criminal organization run by park owner Wyatt (Ortiz, Peppermint) and corrupt sheriff Abel (Hanks, Jumanji: The Next Level). It doesn’t take long for Hutch to run afoul of the men in power. It starts with a brawl in an arcade and snowballs from there. It reaches a point where the mastermind of the operation, crazed crime boss Lendina (Stone, Basic Instinct), has to get involved. It leads to all-out war and a high body count.
In keeping my expectations modest, I ended up really enjoying Nobody 2. Sure, it’s silly and simplistic and way OTT. It’s also a lot of fun. What other movie offers a fight scene on a duck boat? While it doesn’t reach the glorious violent heights of the infamous bus scene from the first movie, it does allow Hutch to make good use of a boat anchor. The arcade fight, instigated by a local bully (Hoyos, Awake) squaring off on Brady and exasperated by a security guard smacking Sammy across the back of her head, is satisfying. Hutch shows everybody a new way to play Whac-A-Mole. He also makes good use of a crane from one of those prize machines.
Strange as it sounds, Stone is the real MVP in Nobody 2. She camps it up wildly as the villain, a true-blue psycho who kills with gusto and glee. Her preferred weapons are knives and little switchblades hidden in her fingernails. She protects what’s hers. When she learns of the situation in Plummerville, she gathers her troops and mounts an invasion. Stone doesn’t just chew the scenery, she devours it! It’s a wildly exaggerated cartoonish performance that feels completely right. I’d even say it’s one of her best.
The rest of the cast does a fine job even if they seem a bit tired. Lloyd tones it down slightly as the elderly dad still not to be f***ed with. He may reside in an assisted living facility, but he hasn’t lost his touch. He can still fire a machine gun with the best of them. Odenkirk, still an unlikely action hero, is still good as Hutch. He plays a convincing milquetoast with a deadly dark side. Nielsen provides ample support as the supportive wife losing patience with her husband’s workaholic ways. She’s upset that he brought his work with him on vacation; this was supposed to be family time. Hanks gives a rather goofy performance as the ineffectual lawman.
Wu-Tang Clan member RZA (The Man with the Iron Fists) returns as Hutch’s brother David, a killer with a thing for spiritualism and swords. He gets off the movie’s best line when he says to an opponent, “Don’t bring a f***ing machete to a katana fight.”
Director Timo Tjahjanto, an Indonesian filmmaker making his American debut, crams plenty into 89 fast-moving minutes. The action scenes are well coordinated, especially the finale in the water park. Some of the booby traps Hutch and company set up are truly awesome. One of them will make you never want to ride a waterslide again. He injects humor into the mayhem with bits that recall the first movie like the opening scene in an interrogation room.
Nobody 2 is the kind of movie that requires no brainwork on the part of the viewer. It hasn’t a single high aspiration. It’s simply a fun ride through Crazy Town.
