Review: Vacation-themed ‘Nobody 2' goes to new action comedy places

San Francisco Chronicle​

3 days ago

Funnier, sunnier and even more violent than its predecessor, 'Nobody 2' ups the ante in the cinematic action department as well. With more modest means, this sequel makes mayhem look better than much bigger films have this summer.
Director Timo Tjahjanto, who's made a name for himself with such stylish Indonesian crime fights as 'The Night Comes for Us,' brings a grounded and personal quality to otherwise outlandish set pieces. This approach complements Bob Odenkirk's persona as Hutch Mansell, typical suburban dad and weapons grade assassin. You almost feel the pain of stabs and head butts while wondering if Hutch will make it home before dinner gets cold.
In the 2021 'Nobody,' Hutch came out of professional killer retirement to take revenge on some Russian mobsters and burn up huge piles of their operating cash. Since then, he's had to pay off that debt to the remaining mob by taking down rival gangsters several times a week. He digs it — and wiping out a hotel elevator full of thugs releases the aggressive steam that gets this normally placid everyman in so much trouble — but the workload is taking its toll.
Hutch rarely sees his realtor wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) during waking hours. His 17-year-old son Brady (Gage Munroe) and 12-year-old daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) ignore him. What the Mansells need is a summer vacation together, Hutch decides. His boss, the Barber (Colin Salmon, smoothly intimidating as before) grants the time off, but warns his operative 'This job is in your nature and nature always wins.'
Truer words and all that. With retired FBI agent granddad David (Christopher Lloyd) in tow, the fam heads to a tacky waterpark in fictional Plummerville, Wis. It's the only place David ever took Hutch and his adopted brother Harry (played as an adult by RZA again) when they were kids, and the faux tiki resort doesn't exactly live up to Hutch's idealized recollections.
Plummerville is also a swamp of criminal activity, overseen at various levels by crooked Sheriff Abel (Colin Hanks with a whitewall haircut and uncharacteristically nasty), theme park heir Wyatt Martin (John Ortiz) and sadistic queenpin Lendina (Sharon Stone, having a ball chewing up scenery and expendable extras). When an arcade confrontation escalates thanks to Hutch's basic nature, the true Mansell vacay begins. Plummerville will never be the same, if any of it remains standing.
Odenkirk is an expert now at toggling from well-meaning and mild-mannered to incredibly fast, harmful and ingenious about it. The 'Better Call Saul' star also effortlessly wrings laughs out of lines like 'I'm here with my family, making memories' before dispatching assailants with a duck boat anchor. He sounds so sincere.
Hutch genuinely wants to keep Becca happy and guide Brady away from solving problems with his fists, both things the man's ferocious default setting impedes. None of this is particularly insightful character work, but franchise creator/co-scripter Derek Kolstad tries harder than most action film writers to generate a semblance of human interaction.
The real life in 'Nobody 2' comes from Tjahjanto and his department heads. Cinematographer Callan Green gets cameras in close and shrewdly choreographed with the stuntwork. Michael Diner's production designs are a downscale Middle American dream; the aging amusement park proves a witty setting for the film's climactic booby-trap battle.
Odenkirk is also one of these movies' producers, and he has a knack for giving distinctive international filmmakers their first Hollywood shots. Russian 'Hardcore Henry' director Ilya Naishuller went from the wintry first 'Nobody' to the recent, globetrotting thriller 'Heads of State.' Tjahjanto's future looks just as bright. Odenkirk is certainly somebody when it comes to spotting talent.