Nobody 2 review – Bob Odenkirk's suburban tough guy beats action sequel into submission
This sequel from Indonesian action director Timo Tjahjanto, co-written by the writer of the original, Derek Kolstad, really doesn't have much of the humour and the storytelling chutzpah of the first film. But what it does have, inevitably, are endless gonzo fight sequences in which Hutch is unfairly matched against half a dozen or so humongous goons, and winds up reducing these bullies to cat litter. There was a big scene in the first film set on a bus, and it seems to have become the Nobody franchise's USP.
The idea now is that Hutch is still working as an assassin but neglecting his family, so he insists on taking them all on a summer break to a cheesy vacation resort with a goofy water slide and silly cabins – a place to which his dad, the lovably cantankerous grandpa played by Christopher Lloyd, who comes along too – once took him when he was a kid. Inevitably Hutch gets involved with local bad guys, including a corrupt sheriff (Colin Hanks) and sadistically mean crime boss Lendina, played by Sharon Stone.
And so the six-against-one punch-ups continue, to diminishing effect, with a massive war-zone-style finale in a funfair. The film does contrive to produce a dog for Hutch at the film's beginning and end, in an obvious attempt to pump up his family-guy relatability. Odenkirk sells it conscientiously enough, although his fans may still prefer to remember his harassed lawyer in TV's Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, or his psychotherapist in Arrested Development.
Nobody 2 is out on 14 August in Australia, and on 15 August in the UK and US.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
3 minutes ago
- The Independent
Bob Odenkirk isn't an action newbie anymore
Bob Odenkirk ducks into a West Village coffee shop wearing sunglasses and a Chicago Cubs cap. Some degree of subterfuge might have been necessary for Odenkirk years ago. Surely fans of 'Mr. Show' or 'The Larry Sanders Show' might have recognized him. But with time, Odenkirk has traveled from the fringes of pop culture to the mainstream. He's well-known now, but for what is a moving target. At 62, Odenkirk is not only a comic icon, he's a six-time Emmy-nominated actor, for 'Better Call Saul,' a Tony-nominated Broadway star, for 'Glengarry Glen Ross,' and, most surprisingly, an action star. He's not even a newbie, either. With 'Nobody 2,' the sequel to the 2021 pandemic hit original, Odenkirk's butt-kicking bona fides are more or less established. In the sequel, which opened in theaters Thursday, he returns as Hutch Mansell, the suburban dad with latent powers of destruction. This time, he and his family go on vacation to Wisconsin Dells, where they run into trouble. 'My goal is Jackie Chan's 'Police Story,'' Odenkirk says, sipping an iced tea before a day of promotion obligations. 'It exists to be funny. The disconnect is the lack of irony. Hutch has to mean it.' Odenkirk's unlikely but sincere turn into Keanu Reeves territory has, in a way, only illuminated the rage that bubbled throughout his comedy. Chatting casually but intensely, Odenkirk explained how all of these iterations of him make sense — and how 'Nobody' might have even saved his life. AP: Your friends in comedy, have they been funny about you as an action hero? ODENKIRK: The whole time I was training I was thinking: They're not going to make this movie, and I'm getting free exercise training. The second thing I was thinking: If they make this movie, David Cross, Conan O'Brien, Adam Sandler, David Spade, these people are going to see me do this thing and go, 'Really?' It's just so fundamentally discordant. I could have asked for more comedy in the first one. And I didn't want that. I wanted to either make a real action movie — which would blow my friends' minds — or don't do it at all. If you're just going to ridicule the form, don't do it. Or just do 'Naked Gun,' which is super fun, too. I thought the funnier thing — what I did — was to do it. That's a joke on a cosmic scale. I'm literally pranking the universe. I am, right? That's the big joke. Now, what do I do with it? That's the question. AP: With the 'Nobody' movies and your recent Broadway experience, you've set a high bar for surprising people with what you're capable of. ODENKIRK: I thought about the character of Saul. He never quits. He gets pushed around. He's clever. He's in a spot and he has to think of a way out. That's an action character. While it's true that it feels like, 'Oh, boy, you went so far away.' I didn't really go that far away. It's one step. It's a big step. Everything else is in Saul. I did think that for people who know my comedy, this is going to be a hard sell. But that's not that many people. That's a cult group. AP: And it might not be that hard of a sell to your comedy fans, either. The lie detector 'Mr. Show' sketch, in which you calmly confess to outlandish things, has a similar what's-under-the-surface quality like the 'Nobody' movies. ODENKIRK: (Laughs) Yeah, yes. AP: Maybe the most relevant sketch, though, is the one where you and David Cross playtough guys who bump into each other in a bar and then remained locked in mutual animosity through their lives, even through marriage. 'Nobody 2' kicks off with a similar encounter. ODENKIRK: It's a tap on the shoulder that sets this whole thing off. He agrees to leave. Then this little tap happens. Then he leaves. He's outside. He can keep walking, which is what you would do. You'd get home and tell your wife, 'That guy tapped her on the back of the head.' It would just sit with you forever. The whole thing could have been avoided if it wasn't for who Hutch is, which is a person who allows himself to go crazy. AP: Allowing yourself to go crazy isn't a radically different impulse in comedy. Did you always feel like rage or anger was fueling some of the funniest things you did? ODENKIRK: For sure. I remember sitting with David Cross in the morning. We would start our time at 'Mr. Show' trying to generate ideas, sitting around with the paper. Oftentimes, it was: 'This really pisses me off,' or 'Look at this stupid thing.' So, yeah, frustration, anger, those are the very raw materials of comedy. AP: You're just funneling that rage into a different place. ODENKIRK: Life conjures up this rage in you, but there is no place that deserves it. In the first film, the first place he goes to exact revenge, he realizes all these people have nothing, they don't deserve it. In the second film, he goes after this guy and he's like, 'I'm under her thumb.' It's really not something you're supposed to do in an action movie, and I love that. You don't just get to find a bad guy around the corner. You've got to go looking. AP: You've said you'd like to do a third one that ends with Hutch having nothing. ODENKIRK: Yeah, the moral would be that everything he loves is gone. He burned everything he loved. We let him get away with it because the movie is an entertainment and it's meant to tell you: Yes, you can let go of your rage in this magical world. But in the end, I would think that it's an addiction. And he does want to do it. He does want to have a go, and so does every guy. That's why we have movies. And that's why we have boxing matches. AP: How much credit do you give these movies for saving your life? After you had a heart attack in 2021 on the set of 'Better Call Saul,' you attributed your narrow survival to your 'Nobody' training. ODENKIRK: When I had my EKG, where you can see the heart, the doctor explained that I had almost no scarring from that incident. And that's kind of weird because of how long that incident went on and how drastic it was. They were like: 'This should all be scar tissue, and there's none.' They said that's because these other veins are bigger than we're used to seeing, and that's from all the exercise you've been doing. And, dude, I did a lot. I went from a comedy writer who exercised just by riding a bike three or four times a week to the action I did in those movies. AP: You told Marc Maron you saw no white light and tongue-in-cheek advised him to 'go for the money.' ODENKIRK: Well, I got nothing. Nothing. I did talk to my family the next day. I woke up the next day around 1:30 and talked to my wife and kids. I was talking to people for the next week, and I don't remember any of it, or the day that it happened. AP: But did the experience change you? ODENKIRK: (Long pause) It's a big component of my thinking about who I am and what I want to do with myself and my time. The thing that's driven me the most in my life is a sense of responsibility. Not just like, 'Oh, I have kids. I have to make money and take care of them.' But, like, responsibility to the universe. 'Oh, they'll let you do this action movie.' Well, then you better do a f------ great job. 'They want you do 'Better Call Saul.'' Well, let's go. The universe is saying: You can do this. And you owe that opportunity that's so unjustified and magical. I just feel responsibility almost too readily. But the heart attack, however you want to feel about everybody's expectations of you, I mean, you're going to be gone. The world's going to go on without you, just fine. So I don't know, man. Yeah, you've got to come through for people. But you've also got a lot of freedom to invite who you want to be.
Daily Mail
3 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Chrissy Metz reveals if she's on weight loss drugs after 100-lb weight loss amid Hollywood's Ozempic craze
Chrissy Metz addressed her 'very complicated feelings' surrounding weight loss drugs after reportedly losing 100 pounds. While clearing up some misconceptions about her health journey, the actress, 44, reflected on the use of medicines like GLP-1 amid Hollywood's Ozempic craze. 'If you're diabetic and need to lower your A1C, these are things that are important to take care of. But if you already have a restrictive eating disorder and take something that minimizes your appetite, it can become a very slippery slope,' she told People. Still, the star, best known for her role as Kate Pearson in This Is Us, stated that if she does end up using one it'll stay her own business. 'I never said I was the poster child for body positivity. I just want to do what I can do to live the longest, healthiest life,' Metz noted. While speaking about her father's tragic death from sepsis after getting gastric bypass, the Florida native said she does not want to endure the same fate. 'I'm at a stage in life where I don't want that to be me. I wonder if he'd had GLP-1s whether he'd still be around,' she said. As she continues to prioritize her health, Metz said she and her boyfriend, an electrical engineer, meal-prep together on weekends and she's started lifting weights. 'I need to strength-train, eat more protein. I want to be mobile. I'm relying on intuitive eating and asking myself, "Is what I'm putting in my body harmful or helpful?,"' Metz explained of her choosing to focus on lifestyle changes rather than just the number on the scale. She added: 'I want to be health-positive. It's not that I condone morbid obesity or heroin chic. I condone a healthy body. There are plenty of people who are bigger-bodied and perfectly healthy.' Metz, who recently opened up about struggling with disordered eating, reminded fans that too many people mistakenly think if 'they're not thin enough, they're not good enough.' 'I've had thin, beautiful women with their jogging strollers tell me, "You don't know how much your story helped me,"' she said, with a laugh. 'I'm just like, 'What?!' But you realize that everyone has their struggles, their anxiety or depression or grief over losing someone. Skinniness doesn't equal happiness.' Ultimately, Metz explained she is doing her 'best' and practicing being kinder to herself. 'If I say that everyone is deserving of happiness, that must mean that I am too,' she told the outlet. In an exclusive interview with she shared that she's been newly consistent with weight lifting. 'I have always enjoyed strength training. I've always enjoyed lifting weights,' she explained, noting that she prefers it to cardio. 'I don't want to run unless I'm being chased,' she said while promoting her second children's book, called When I talk to God, I Talk About Feelings. Chrissy's trainer, who remains anonymous, endured a weight loss journey himself, which is what the star says she enjoys about working with him. 'We have things in common where it's not just like, "Why are you doing this?" Like, I don't want to be yelled at. I want to be lovingly supported in whatever it is that I'm doing,' she said about her training sessions. What also motivates her — apart from one-on-one sessions — is knowing that her fitness will help in the long run when it comes to aging. 'I want to age the best way that I can, and I want to be strong. And that's really the impetus behind any of it,' she emphasized. The Nashville-based entertainer noted, 'I'm literally doing it because I am nervous about aging, about osteoporosis or arthritis, you know, and because they are now discovering so much about health overall [and] it's really about being and staying strong and flexible.' Her workout sessions vary depending on her schedule, but when she's interested in something — be it 'gardening, painting, woodwork' — she 'loves to go ham, all in,' and 'chip away just a little bit every day.' Asked for her take on Ozempic, Metz told 'It's something I feel is so personal.' She added, 'I think if you're not hurting anybody, and you're not hurting yourself, you should do what you feel is right for your body or your mind or whatever.'
Telegraph
10 minutes ago
- Telegraph
The proof that Kate's the perfect British princess that Meghan could never be
Anyone out there nursing fond memories of Barbenheimer? That was the inspired portmanteau for the cultural phenomenon of 2023, when cinemagoers gained kudos for watching bubblegum movie Barbie the selfsame day as the nuclear weapons endurance test that is Oppenheimer. I didn't manage it for sound medical reasons; namely I would have run the very real risk of Revels poisoning. But all credit to those who were rewarded with a thought-provoking examination of a brilliant yet conflicted character and also got to see Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer. I thought of that highly entertaining mismatch when both the Duchess of Sussex and the Princess of Wales released blockbusting sequels on the very same day this week. What were the chances? Quite high I suppose, given neither of them are on speaking terms but still, what a moment to be alive! Surely, the least I could do is have a quick squint at them both. So I did. And, Dear Readers, it was quite the rollercoaster, especially because Kate's ode to Mother Nature featured a beekeeper and everyone knows that Meghan bagsied all the bees. Awkward. Earlier this year, in the first promo for her Netflix lifestyle show With Love, Meghan we saw the Duchess of Montecito, 44, stocking up on honey from someone else's garden (don't ask) with a view to flogging it at £5,000 (or whatever) for a royal – or at least royal-adjacent – jar. So imagine my surprise that Kate's only gone and pointedly filmed loads of British bees collecting patriotic pollen in Britain. Uh-oh. I expect Harry's lawyers are already onto it. That man lives to litigate, bless his huffy heart. He doesn't make an appearance in the new With Love trailer, although his missus cheekily blows the gaff on her bozo prince by confiding that he doesn't like eating lobster. Cue wild laughter. Such a shame the director cut the next scene of him tucking into a swan, but that's showbiz. As a promo, Meghan's reel works well in an unapologetic does-what-it-says-on-the-tin sort of way. Yes, I feel quite sad she still can't seem to summon up any of those bewildered famous acquaintances she invited to her wedding to share in the joy of making cheesy crackers, but I have to hand it to her: self-advertising is her forte. Kate's new offering, entitled Summer, on the other hand is far from obvious. In truth, it's so nuanced, it's (whisper it) initially hard to see the point, which is really rather lovely – that we should reach out to others and enjoy our beautiful landscape and coastline in the height of summer. 'It has never been more important to appreciate the value of one another, and of Mother Nature,' she writes at the end. 'Here's to Summer. C.' It follows on from Spring, filmed on the Isle of Mull, in which she spoke of the way nature had provided a sanctuary during her cancer journey and how it nourishes, revives and renews the human spirit. In recent times, the Princess of Wales has become the de facto ambassador of Britain's countryside and in many ways Summer is the perfect party (un) political broadcast for the Royal family, summing up the quiet yet essential values of continuity and community against a sylvan backdrop that may indeed heal the soul, but doesn't really exist anymore. But she doesn't make an appearance, which frankly is a big mistake. Huge. I have the feeling that she didn't want to make it about her, which is admirable and indeed on brand. Now, cards on the table, I could watch bees all day but I lost interest when it came to the picnicking families and little ballerinas in pale dresses and pumps skipping carefree in the grass. Maybe in Sandringham. Out here in broken Britain, they'd get dog muck on their shoes and a telling-off from the illegal immigrants who live in that tree. This paean to cherishing 'the bonds of love and friendship' presents such a soft-focus view of Britain, I was expecting the sound of leather against willow. I can only assume old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the mists of the autumn mornings will be in the follow-up. But next time can we have Kate gathering windfalls? Treading grapes? Driving a 16-ton combine harvester? Please? Yes, a great deal of Kate's charisma derives from her instinctive ability to let those about her shine, whether they are charity bosses or little children. Facilitating connection and community is the unique power of the House of Windsor at its best. But we need an intervention by some venerable retainer who can kindly, authoritatively reassure her that her calm, collected presence could never be construed as showboating. By comparison, Meghan is a natural performer who will always be – crave to be – the star. The camera loves her smile but allowing others to have their moment simply isn't in her skill set. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But it is a thing. This latest foray into film provides further proof she would never have fitted in at The Firm, where team playing is the order of the day. Team playing and not saying nonsensical things like 'There are easy ways to show up, lovingly', while wasting fancy packaging on jammy biscuits so remedial a seven-year-old would roll their eyes. Her late, great Majesty Elizabeth II once sagely observed 'we have to be seen to be believed', an adage that has seen many a working royal through tedious civic engagements or gruelling overseas tours. As a working royal, this embodies Kate's role – subject, of course, to health considerations. She is, after all, our future Queen. Meghan has never enjoyed playing second fiddle, but if she wants to rehabilitate herself, she would do well to take her cue from the Princess of Wales, who unerringly shows that respect is earned, not through TV specials and triteness, but acts of service and thoughtful contributions to national life.
