‘Nobody 2′: Better call brawl
Allen Fraser/Universal Pictures
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The creator of that fireball, Christopher Lloyd, reprises his role in 'Nobody 2.' He plays Hutch's dad, David, whom fans of the first film know is even more lethal than his kids. RZA also returns as Hutch's brother, Harry. In fact, the entire cast of '
Hell, even Michael Ironside shows up again as Becca's father, Eddie. You know what they say: Put the star of 'Scanners' in a movie, and somebody's head is bound to explode.
Skip the next two paragraphs if you've seen the first 'Nobody.'
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Bob Odenkirk as Hutch Mansell in "Nobody 2."
Allen Fraser/Universal Pictures
Hutch Mansell is a mild-mannered office worker whose secret past involves being an assassin. It's a family business that his wife knows about, but his children do not. After beating the tar out of a group of thugs connected to the Russian Mafia, Hutch and his family become targets of Yulian, one of the mob's head honchos. Hutch, Harry, and David take out an near-infinite amount of men sent to kill them after Hutch sets every dollar of Yulian's enormous cash supply on fire.
After defeating Yulian and his crew, Hutch returns to normal family life—at least until the final scene sets up a potential sequel that will send him back into action.
'Nobody 2' opens the same way 'Nobody' did, with Hutch sitting in an interrogation room. In the first film, he's holding a cute kitty cat as the cops ask 'who the BLEEP are you?' We then flash back to a montage of scenes of Hutch's daily routine of waking up, riding the bus to work, and putting out the garbage. The days of the week appear in big, bold letters as the montage recounts weeks of the same activities.
In 'Nobody 2,″ Hutch is now sitting next to some kind of wolf dog as a new set of cops asks the same question. The montage of mundane daily duties now includes killing people, as Hutch has returned to the assassination game to pay off the money he burned in 'Nobody.'
My heart sank at the rehashing of the first film's clever introduction. Thankfully, this sequel isn't as lazy as the folks who came up with its title. Kolstad and his co-writer, Aaron Rabin, create a smart plotline for Hutch that mixes ultraviolence with genuine emotion. The screenplay also gives Hutch a new nemesis, Lendina, played by a very game Sharon Stone.
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Sharon Stone as Lendina.
Universal Pictures
In addition to paying off his debts through increasingly complicated assassinations, Hutch has to deal with his son's anger management problem. Becca points out that there's a good reason Brady resorts to violence as a means to solve conflict: 'like father, like son.' Hutch's 'do as I say and not as I do' approach just isn't working, either.
Becca is also sick and tired of her husband not being home due to his constant string of contract hits. Sensing his marriage is in trouble, Hutch demands some time off for a vacation. He takes Becca and the kids to Wild Bill's Majestic Midway and Waterpark in Plummerville, the site of the one vacation David took him and Harry on when they were kids.
Unbeknownst to Hutch, Plummerville is a front for Lendina's nasty dealings. These include running drugs and weapons with the aid of a corrupt police force led by Abel (Colin Hanks) and Wyatt (John Ortiz). When Wyatt's baseball player son Max (Lucius Hoyos) bullies Brady, Brady breaks Max's arm, and Wyatt uses the entire police force to try and off Hutch.
Suffice it to say, things do not go well for the Plummerville police force — and that's before Hutch runs afoul of lethal Lendina, her dog, and her endless supply of disposable hit men.
The waterpark in this movie is a delightful piece of production design. It looks like a decrepit tourist trap that hasn't changed since the 1970s. Lendina herself is also an awesome visual throwback, a ruthless ice blonde who went to the same stylist Brigitte Nielsen's character used in 1987's 'Beverly Hills Cop II.'
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RZA as Harry Mansell.
Universal Pictures
Director Timo Tjahjanto is no stranger to outrageous violence. (See his 2016 film, 'Headshot.') He knows what the bloodthirsty audience wants, and that Odenkirk and company are just the right people to deliver it in under 90 minutes. Once again, Odenkirk is lots of fun as filmdom's most unexpected purveyor of brute force. And Tjahjanto gives RZA a scene where he brandishes a gigantic sword, which will certainly delight
★★★
NOBODY 2
Directed by Timo Tjahjanto. Written by Derek Kolstad, Aaron Rubin. Starring Bob Odenkirk, Sharon Stone, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, RZA, Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath, Michael Ironside, Colin Hanks, John Ortiz. 89 min. At AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport, AMC Causeway, suburbs. R ('Nobody' knows the trouble I've seen)
Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
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Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
‘Nobody 2': What Happens During The End Credits?
The Bob Odenkirk crime comedy Nobody 2 has something going on during the end credits, but does it indicate whether the film will get a sequel? Nobody 2 is the sequel to Odenkirk's crime comedy hit Nobody. In the 2021 film, Odenkirk (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) stars as Hutch Mansell, a by-the-numbers working stiff who harbors a secret past as an off-the-books government assassin. After Hutch, his wife, Becca (Connie Nielsen) and kids (Gage Munroe and Paisley Cadorath) are held up in a home invasion, the seemingly mild-mannered office worker begins taking out the bad guys with his particular set of skills, leading him to a massive confrontation with a Russian mobster. Set four years after the events of the original film, Nobody 2 finds Hutch back at work as full-time assassin, mainly because a criminal organization bankrolled the $30 million Hutch needed to pay back the Russian mob after burning their gigantic stash of cash in the 2021 film. Knowing Becca is frustrated by him working all the time, Hutch takes his wife, kids and father (Christopher Lloyd) on a summer getaway to Plummerville, the location of an antiquated theme park where Hutch and his brother Harry (RZA) had their happiest childhood memories. However, when townies at the park mess with Hutch and his family, the undercover hitman snaps, which sets off a chain of events where he will eventually face off against Ladeena (Sharon Stone) — an evil mobster who uses Plummerville as a clearinghouse for her massive bootlegging operation. Note: The next section contains spoiler details from 'Nobody 2.' What Do 'Nobody 2's' End Credits Tell Us? Generally, end-credits and/or post-credits scenes either wrap up loose ends from a scene earlier in the movie or set up a sequel. Nobody 2 has something that occurs during the end credits, but it's not necessarily a scene, but a summation of what happens at Plummerville over the course of the movie. During the film, the Mansell family members share a disposable 35mm camera to take pictures of what they did on their very eventful vacation. At the end of the film, the Mansell family gathers in Hutch and Becca's house around a slide projector and instead of seeing the images from the camera on a screen on a wall, the photos show up alongside the end credits. The photos, however, don't have much to do with the murder and mayhem that happens when Hutch confronts Summerville's villains or Ladeena, but instead show the happy memories that Hutch was hoping for on the vacation. Only the last photo during the end credits pictures the fiery aftermath of Hutch's ultimate battle with Ladeena. There is no post-credits scene in Nobody 2. And while the photos that are shown during the end credits of the film give no indication of whether there will be another Nobody sequel, the odds are in favor of Bob Odenkirk and company if they decide to pursue it. To begin with, it won't take much for Nobody 2 to become profitable, since, according to Variety, it cost $25 million to make before prints and advertising costs, a number that is relatively low for a summer movie release. Perhaps the biggest requirement for any sequel potentially happening is whether what comes before it makes money. The next key is whether Odenkirk wants to do another Nobody movie, and if a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter is any indication, he's up for it. 'I'd do more [Nobody]. I'd love to do more of it, but I don't think I'm going to dig right in,' Odenkirk told THR. 'I have another action film called Normal that's coming out [at the Toronto International Film Festival 2025], so that's already in the can. But, right now, I think I want to do some comedy if they'll let me.' Also starring John Ortiz and Colin Hanks, Nobody 2 is new in theaters nationwide.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
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‘Nobody 2's' Inside Man: Why Indonesian Action Auteur Timo Tjahjanto Made the Leap to Hollywood
The director also shares his thoughts on a "Beekeeper" sequel and what franchise would make him stay in the U.S. Like the main character of 'Nobody 2,' a nebbish guy named Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) who has a secret identity as a nearly unstoppable killer, its director Timo Tjahjanto has a history. But instead of countless dead goons, Tjahjanto's past involves directing, in Indonesia, some of the most awesomely bone-crunching, blood-splattered action movies ever. And now, with 'Nobody 2,' he's finally come to Hollywood. In Indonesia, Tjahjanto started off by working with Kimo Stamboel as a filmmaking duo (they called themselves the Mo Brothers), on movies like 'Macabre' and 'Headshot' – films that gleefully combined elements of horror, film noir and action. His first film as a solo filmmaker, 2018's 'May the Devil Take You,' was a straight-up horror movie, while 'The Night Comes for Us,' also released in 2018, is a truly insane action movie that reunited two of the stars of 'The Raid' (Iko Uwais and Joe Taslim) and put them through the ringer. Tjahjanto also worked with 'The Raid' director Gareth Evans on a standout segment for horror anthology 'V/H/S 2.' More from TheWrap 'Nobody 2's' Inside Man: Why Indonesian Action Auteur Timo Tjahjanto Made the Leap to Hollywood Sophie Turner Describes 'Vile' Kissing Scenes With On-Screen Brother Kit Harington: 'Really Bad Moment in My Career' | Video What to Watch After 'Weapons': 7 More Movies That Are Actually Scary and Funny 'East of Wall' Review: Kate Beecroft's Sundance Sensation Isn't Horsing Around He subsequently released films in 2020 ('May the Devil Take You Too'), 2022 ('The Big 4') and 2024 ('The Shadow Strays'), which had its world premiere at last year's Toronto International Film Festival. These films further cemented him as one of the most exciting filmmakers working today and, thanks to his distribution agreement with Netflix, Tjahjanto's unique sensibilities gained purchase with a decidedly global audience. But 'Nobody 2' marks a test of whether his homegrown style translates to a theatrical mainstream Hollywood blockbuster distributed by a legacy studio in Universal and stocked with established A-list talent. Tjahjanto talked to TheWrap about what drew him to the project, cultural differences in filmmaking and what he has coming next. Getting 'Nobody 2' When Tjahjanto's agent sent him the screenplay for 'Nobody 2,' which follows the events of 2021's sleeper hit, which grossed more than $57 million on a $10 million budget, the filmmaker was intrigued. In the sequel, Hutch and his family, attempting to enjoy a vacation, are drawn into a small town's connections to a ruthless gangster (played, with aplomb, by Sharon Stone). Tjahjanto was struck by the tone, noticeably brighter than the films he's made in Indonesia. 'There's a family-friendliness to it,' he said. 'And that's not a bad thing, because the film is about a man discovering that he's not a lone wolf. That he also needs his family to exist, to be a whole person.' The theme of a family was one that he was particularly drawn to, especially since he to leave his own family to make the movie. 'I went to shoot 'Nobody' and by the time I went back to Jakarta, my eight-year-old is suddenly nine-years-old, and she's a different person,' Tjahjanto said. He discussed this constantly with Odenkirk, who is also a producer on the film and whose childhood trips to a Wisconsin water park as a kid inspired the story for 'Nobody 2.' 'I felt like I could make a dark, violent film or I could make this film that is somehow warm,' Tjahjanto said. 'I want to make something where people come out and are feeling good about it.' To Tjahjanto, 'Nobody 2' felt like challenge. 'Making this, which is out of my comfort zone, is actually a good starting point,' he said about his initial foray into Hollywood. He's already got his next project lined up – a sequel to the Jason Statham action movie 'The Beekeeper,' for Amazon MGM Studios. Tjahjanto admits that 'Beekeeper 2' will be a 'darker' film but one that he probably wouldn't have been able to tackle without his experience on 'Nobody 2.' One of the ways that 'Nobody 2' will prepare Tjahjanto for his next job is the experience gained by working with a bona-fide movie star. In the case of 'Nobody 2,' that's Stone. Tjahjanto was a huge fan of Stone's western 'The Quick and the Dead,' which she made with Sam Raimi. 'Just to hear that Sharon Stone is willing to do this role and tapping back into what makes her a great genre queen, that was a great experience,' Tjahjanto said. 'Sharon is a very smart woman. She always knows a lot about what makes a character great. She always said, 'Hey, Timo, like, if I do this thing with this knife, then it'll feel much more dangerous.' And she's right. Her instinct is always, usually right. I'm getting the fast lessons from her.' He'll take those lessons onto 'Beekeeper 2,' undoubtedly, and beyond. Action Adjustment Partnering with Tjahjanto on 'Nobody 2' was another action movie heavyweight – David Leitch. Leitch started in stunt work before transitioning to second unit photography and finally feature filmmaking. He co-directed the first 'John Wick' with his longtime partner Chad Stahelski before helming projects like 'Atomic Blonde,' 'Bullet Train' and 'The Fall Guy.' Leitch and his production company 87North produced both 'Nobody' films and have their own unique take on action filmmaking, favoring clear geography, defined spatial relationships and smoother camerawork. Tjahjanto described Leitch as 'one of the greatest action directors,' and said that their own takes on action filmmaking meshed well. 'He's strangely very generous when it comes to knowing what I am comfortable with, in terms of how I want to show my action,' Tjahjanto said. 'And he's usually acting more as a guiding voice if I'm stuck, rather than telling me what to do.' The filmmaker described Leitch, who produced the film with his wife and business partner Kelly McCormick, as always there and always watching – taking everything in and watching how Tjahjanto is progressing with things. 'He's always a giving producer,' Tjahjanto said. When he found himself saying, 'I guess I'm happy with this,' it was Leitch who would say, 'Why don't we push it a bit more?' There's a moment in the movie where bad guys swarm the waterpark where Hutch is hiding out. It was Leitch who suggested a moment where Hutch sets up spikes in a water slide in order to off some baddies. Tjahjanto remembers Leitch saying, 'We already have a water slide here. Why not make a meal out of it?' 'All we need is a bunch of spikes and we can relive, like, people's most, the biggest fear, which is, like, getting a freaking nail stuck in your leg as you are sliding down the water. But this is the extreme version of it,' Tjahjanto said. Leitch, Tjahjanto said, is 'the kind of person who get excited when you do the explosion and then you see him like a kid, he's so excited for it. I love that in him.' Learning Curves The transition from the way that Tjahjanto was used to making movies in Indonesia to how things are done with a western production, wasn't totally frictionless. He said that 'Nobody 2' was a movie where he learned a lot – chiefly 'the difference between how we run things over in Asia and how Hollywood do things.' Tjahjanto added, 'I think the fine line is always to be able to marry what's the best from the two.' While he appreciates the discipline of Hollywood, he prefers the cohesive mindset of Indonesia. 'Okay, once we are settled with this idea, let's all move together,' he said. According to Tjahjanto, Hollywood is more splintered, sometimes literally, in its approach, as he found out with his second unit team. Instead of chaffing against it, he found the process of second unit — with a smaller film team shooting things like inserts or parts of whole action sequences – 'the most interesting thing.' 'I'll be shooting Bob Odenkirk doing the water slide, while our talented second unit guy will be shooting John Ortiz [as the owner of the water park who gets wrapped up in Stone's criminal empire] killing a bunch of guys in the ball pit,' Tjahjanto said. In Indonesia, he'd shoot everything. Tjahjanto joked that he would shoot a tire rolling down asphalt, so he would ask the second unit team how they were accomplishing similar shots. 'I'd just do that myself. It's a totally different system here,' Tjahjanto said. Sometimes it's good to have somebody else shoot the tire rolling down the street. What's Next Tjahjanto said that, since he is directing 'Beekeeper 2' next, he's worried about being known as 'the sequel guy.' But what really drew him to the project was Statham. 'This one stems from me being a huge fan of the 'Crank' movies,' Tjahjanto said. 'Statham is one of those actors who are secretly underrated in a weird way, because he has so much presence with his physicality but he's also a very funny.' Statham's character in the films, to Tjahjanto's reasoning, 'is a version of the Punisher,' the Marvel Studios character known for doling out violent justice (In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he's played by Jon Berenthal). 'What draws me with this one is, especially, is you're going to see some really cool villains this time around. I'm trying to kind of push the boundaries a bit more where the villains can feel manga-inspired in certain points. And some of the choreography that we have in mind is going to be very, very cool,' Tjahjanto explained. When we joked that Statham killed 80 people in the first 'Beekeeper,' Tjahjanto, without missing a beat, said, 'This time he's going to kill 82 people.' Tjahjanto is adamant that he won't be sticking around Hollywood, making sequels to popular western movies forever. Recently on social media, he stated his desire to return to Indonesia and focus on original movies that he developed from the ground up, including making some more horror movies. 'I'm trying to balance things out, just because I do miss shooting in with my friends over there in Indonesia,' Tjahjanto said. 'Plus I could use some time to be around my kids. That'll help.' But there is one franchise that could get Tjahjanto to stay put. 'If suddenly somebody says to me, 'Timo, they're offering you to make a 'Terminator' movie, then I'll say goodbye, Indonesia,' Tjahjanto said. 'I'll do 'Terminator' any day, any second.' One of the reasons that he wanted to be in the film business was because he grew up watching Arnold Schwarzenegger films (He dropped a reference to Schwarzenegger's Mars-set 'Total Recall' earlier in the conversation.). Tjahjanto will even defend more controversial entries in the franchise, like 'Terminator: Dark Fate' and 'Terminator: Genisys.' 'With 'Dark Fate,' I think it's a great film. I love them and I do think in some way or another, Arnold could still have a part in 'The Terminator' universe,' Tjahjanto said. 'Fingers crossed.' In other words: he'll be back. The post 'Nobody 2's' Inside Man: Why Indonesian Action Auteur Timo Tjahjanto Made the Leap to Hollywood appeared first on TheWrap.
Forbes
4 hours ago
- Forbes
When Is Bob Odenkirk's ‘Nobody 2' Coming To Streaming?
Nobody 2 — the sequel to Bob Odenkirk's 2021 hit crime comedy Nobody — is new in theaters. When is the film coming to streaming? Directed by Timo Tjahjanto and written by Derek Kolstand (John Wick), Nobody 2 opens in theaters nationwide on Friday. Rated R, Nobody 2 is set four years after the first film. Odenkirk (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) stars as Hutch Mansell, who, after taking on the Russian mob and burning $30 million of the organization's cash, is indebted to another criminal organization to pay the money back by going on one hit job after the next. The official summary for Nobody 2 reads, 'Much as he likes the slam-bang action of his 'job,' Hutch and his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) find themselves overworked and drifting apart. So, they decide to take their kids (Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath) on a short getaway to the one and only place where Hutch and his brother Harry (RZA) went on a vacation as kids. With Hutch's dad (Christopher Lloyd) in tow, the family arrives in the small tourist town of Plummerville, eager for some fun in the sun. But when a minor encounter with some town bullies yanks the family into the crosshairs of a corrupt theme-park operator (John Ortiz) and his shady sheriff (Colin Hanks), Hutch finds himself the focus of the most unhinged, blood-thirsty crime boss he (or anyone) has ever encountered (Sharon Stone).' Right now, the only place you can see Nobody 2 is in theaters, so check your local listings for showtimes. Once Nobody 2 comes to the home entertainment marketplace, the first place it will be available will be on digital streaming via premium video on demand. Generally, Universal Pictures films debut on PVOD anywhere from 18 days to a month after they appear in theaters, with some rare exceptions (Wicked took six weeks to arrive on PVOD). For example, Universal's horror movie M3GAN 2.0 arrived on PVOD on July 15, just 18 days after it opened in theaters on June 27. However, Universal's summer blockbuster Jurassic World Rebirth debuted on PVOD on Aug. 5, just a month after its release in theaters on July 2. Before that, the studio's hit live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon arrived on PVOD on July 15, again just over a month after the movie opened in theaters on June 13. As such, viewers can expect Nobody 2 to debut on PVOD anytime between Sept. 2 and Sept. 16, since new films typically arrive on digital streaming on Tuesdays. When Nobody 2 comes to PVOD, it will be available to purchase or rent on such streaming platforms as Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Prime Video and YouTube. Prime Video already has Nobody 2 available for pre-order for $24.99, which is also the film's purchase price. Since digital rentals are typically $5 less than purchase prices, viewers can expect to rent Nobody 2 for 48 hours for $19.99. Which Streaming Service Will Get 'Nobody 2' First? Since Nobody 2 is a Universal Pictures release, it will debut on streaming video on demand on NBC Universal's Peacock streaming platform. Generally, there's a three-to-four-month window between the time a Universal Pictures release opens in theaters and arrives on SVOD on Peacock. For example, Universal's Wolf Man debuted on Peacock on April 18, just over three months after the movie opened in theaters on Jan. 17. Also, Drop arrived on Peacock on July 11, three months after it premiered in theaters on April 11. Wicked, however, arrived on Peacock on March 21, just over four months after the blockbuster movie musical opened in theaters. In all likelihood, Nobody 2 will arrive on Peacock in about three months, placing the prospective release date sometime around Nov. 14, since new films on the streaming platform arrive on Fridays. If the film takes the Wicked route, however, that places Nobody 2's release date sometime around Friday, Nov. 12. Rated R, Jurassic World Rebirth is new in theaters on Friday.
