Latest news with #NationalLampoon'sVacation
Scotsman
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Nobody 2 review: 'National Lampoon's Vacation meets The A-Team'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Nobody 2 (15) ★★☆☆☆ National Lampoon's Vacation meets The A-Team in Nobody 2, a repetitive follow-up to the 2021 Bob Odenkirk-starring action movie about former black-ops agent hiding out in the suburbs as a mild-mannered family man. Nobody 2 | Contributed Now on the hook for the mafia money he destroyed in the first film, Odenkirk's Hutch Mansell has settled into another tedious routine, this time carrying out hit after hit to clear some of his debt, a Sisyphean task that's once again having a debilitating effect on his home life. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Resolving to take a vacation to reconnect with his family, they decide to visit a seen-better-days amusement park and promptly encounter a hotbed of Russian mafia activity orchestrated by a hamming-it-up Sharon Stone. Nobody 2 | Contributed John Wick writer Derek Kolstad once again comes up with plenty of elaborate set-pieces including, inevitably, a booby-trapped finale in the aforementioned theme park. But the routine violence, combined with Odenkrik's jokey dad-bod physique, just makes it seem like that gag in the recent Naked Gun movie where the hero gets bored punching out wave after wave of bad guys. Colin Hanks attempts to shake things up as a good ol' boy sheriff with a Forrest Gump haircut, but it's perfunctory stuff.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Somebody needs a holiday
The trailer for Nobody 2 has an ear-worm song on its own soundtrack: Lindsay Buckingham's Holiday Road, utilized in the 1983 Chevy Chase comedy National Lampoon's Vacation. As it happens, the trailer, and indeed the movie, has a lot of the same plot dynamic: a father takes his wife, son and daughter on a trip to the vacation paradise of his youth, only to have his nostalgic dreams dashed at every turn. Of course, Nobody 2 is much more action movie than comedy, befitting its 2021 origins. The sleeper hit Nobody introduced us to Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk), a seemingly nebbishy guy revealed to be a master assassin when he is provoked by a humiliating home invasion. Allen Fraser / Universal Pictures From left, Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath, Bob Odenkirk, Christopher Lloyd and Connie Nielsen just want to relax during a family holiday. By the end of that movie, Hutch burned down his life to start anew. But the sequel sees him caught in a different kind of rat race. Owing money to the organization for whom he toiled, he once again submits to a life of violence, this time on a deadening, nine-to-five basis. Feeling adrift from his family once again, he gets the idea for a getaway to the tourist destination Plummerville, where as a child he once enjoyed rare summer bliss with his own father (Christopher Lloyd returns) and brother (RZA). But like Chevy Chase before him, Hutch is destined for disappointment when it emerges Plummerville is a hub of scum and villainy, ostensibly run by its mayor (John Ortiz) but really lorded over by a deeply corrupt sheriff (Colin Hanks) in the employ of a deeply crazy crime boss named Lendina (Sharon Stone), who runs drugs and guns out of Plummerville with ruthless efficiency. Taking over as director from the first movie's Ilya Naishuller is Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto, a master of mayhem in his own right. Tjahjanto's previous films (see them on Netflix), The Night Comes for Us and The Shadow Strays are relentlessly downbeat, combining awesome fight scenes with chest-thumping melodrama. (No disrespect intended. They're both awesome bullet ballets.) The sequel at times feels bigger and certainly brighter, but Tjahjanto's participation notwithstanding, the film lacks the gravity of the former. Compare the obligatory one-man battle scene, with Hutch taking on a gang of thugs on a duck boat; it feels a little silly compared to the city bus scene in the first film, a self-contained gem of movie action. Weekday Evenings Today's must-read stories and a roundup of the day's headlines, delivered every evening. Odenkirk continues his streak as a late-in-life action hero. He maintains a wry sense of humour, but he is never spoofy. He holds his action responsibilities as one does a sacred vow. Universal Pictures Bob Odenkirk returns as Hutch Mansell Stone is enjoyable. She was always an actress who excelled in broad, cartoony films such as Total Recall, Basic Instinct and The Quick and the Dead, yet could hold her own in more serious film, such as Casino. She is certainly in cartoony mode here, but seeing her sinking her teeth into a role of such violent perversity is the most nostalgic element of the film. nnn Nobody 2 was shot in and around Winnipeg just a year ago, so expect a few home movie thrills, including a scene shot at the hot dog joint Skinners and various Winnipeg Beach locations. And keep your eyes out for local acting talent including Rodrigo Beilfuss as Ortiz's dad (in flashback) and a nearly unrecognizable Marina Stephenson Kerr as a magnificently disreputable-looking carnie. Randall KingReporter In a way, Randall King was born into the entertainment beat. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
San Francisco Chronicle
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Movie Review: Bob Odenkirk's assassin sequel 'Nobody 2' fails to hit the mark
The workaholic assassin Hutch Mansell is in a funk as 'Nobody 2' opens. He's sick of the daily grind, by which we mean he spends hours a day grinding people's skulls into mush. What about a family vacation? 'You need to have happy memories,' he tells his wife and kids. Unfortunately, no one in the theater will have a happy memory — or maybe even recall that they saw this C-level offering — by the time it's over, mercifully after less than 90 minutes. The movie opens in theaters Friday. Bob Odenkirk makes another awkward stab as an assassin-turned-nice-guy in a sequel that still isn't funny or stylish enough to be anything but 'John Wick Lite.' Is it a send-up? A riff? A new lane? In a departure from this summer dominated by insanely larger-than-it-needs-to-be sequels — like 'M3GAN 2.0 ' and 'The Bad Guys 2' — 'Nobody 2' concentrates not on global destruction but at a threadbare amusement park, Plummerville. (Christopher Plummer's estate really should sue.) Odenkirk's Hutch thinks he can reconnect with his doubtful kids and frustrated wife (a dutiful Connie Nielsen) by going to the same place he had so much fun when he was a young lad. But there, they accidentally uncover a corrupt town, a police force led by an unconvincing baddie in Colin Hanks and a deeply evil criminal syndicate. Time to get killing again, kids. Director Timo Tjahjanto, taking over from Ilya Naishuller, abandons the more dark, noirish vibe of the original in favor of a more 'National Lampoon's Vacation' feeling, only if that was drenched in blood and amputations. There's even duck boats now, albeit with goons impaled by an anchor and buoy. The lighter setting means we can see heads smashed into a pinball machine or a Whack-a-Mole game by an ordinary looking dad in a Hawaiian shirt. The violence escalates so fast that we are soon dealing with stacks of shrink-wrapped currency and huge oil drums helpfully labeled 'Explosive Material.' The screenplay by a returning Derek Kolstad — and Aaron Rabin — seems to want to talk about violence as an inherent trait and how it can pass through generations. When Hutch's son gets into a brawl, dad is unhappy. 'There are other ways to handle things,' he says. 'You have to be better than your old man.' Even the criminal organization head, who has Hutch working off a $30 million debt from the first movie, is unconvinced that his prized assassin can even stop killing. 'Nature always wins,' he tells Hutch. 'Nobody 2' draws from a rich mine of macho wish-fulfillment fantasy dug by the likes of Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood. But too often, Odenkirk is stuck in a no-man's land between real action hero and comic relief without a punchline. Fans of the 2021 original will note echoes — like the duck boat fight mimicking the bus fight of the first movie and another scene in which currency is lit on fire. The person having the best time seems to be Sharon Stone, who is an absolute psychotic in tailored men's clothes and slicked back hair as she pets a bulldog and stabs at people. 'Scorched earth,' she tells a flunky. 'No survivors.' Christopher Lloyd makes a baffling cameo — he has a few quick scenes and then simply disappears — and RZA returns for a Japanese-inspired martial arts battle tacked on at the end that feels forced onto a peanuts-and-Cracker Jack movie. 'Nobody 2' climaxes in a sort of R-rated 'Home Alone,' where the good guys make deadly all the things we love about amusement parks or county fairs: The Ferris wheel is booby-trapped to hit you in the face, the ball pit has a tripwire to a landmine, the water slide has knives sticking out of it and the hall of mirrors is a way to confuse the thugs as they unload all their bullets. Happy summer, America. 'Nobody 2,' a Universal Pictures release that's only in theaters Friday, is rated R for 'strong bloody violence, and language throughout.' Running time: 89 minutes. One star out of four.
Winnipeg Free Press
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Movie Review: Bob Odenkirk's assassin sequel ‘Nobody 2' fails to hit the mark
The workaholic assassin Hutch Mansell is in a funk as 'Nobody 2' opens. He's sick of the daily grind, by which we mean he spends hours a day grinding people's skulls into mush. What about a family vacation? 'You need to have happy memories,' he tells his wife and kids. Unfortunately, no one in the theater will have a happy memory — or maybe even recall that they saw this C-level offering — by the time it's over, mercifully after less than 90 minutes. The movie opens in theaters Friday. Bob Odenkirk makes another awkward stab as an assassin-turned-nice-guy in a sequel that still isn't funny or stylish enough to be anything but 'John Wick Lite.' Is it a send-up? A riff? A new lane? In a departure from this summer dominated by insanely larger-than-it-needs-to-be sequels — like 'M3GAN 2.0 ' and 'The Bad Guys 2' — 'Nobody 2' concentrates not on global destruction but at a threadbare amusement park, Plummerville. (Christopher Plummer's estate really should sue.) Odenkirk's Hutch thinks he can reconnect with his doubtful kids and frustrated wife (a dutiful Connie Nielsen) by going to the same place he had so much fun when he was a young lad. But there, they accidentally uncover a corrupt town, a police force led by an unconvincing baddie in Colin Hanks and a deeply evil criminal syndicate. Time to get killing again, kids. Director Timo Tjahjanto, taking over from Ilya Naishuller, abandons the more dark, noirish vibe of the original in favor of a more 'National Lampoon's Vacation' feeling, only if that was drenched in blood and amputations. There's even duck boats now, albeit with goons impaled by an anchor and buoy. The lighter setting means we can see heads smashed into a pinball machine or a Whack-a-Mole game by an ordinary looking dad in a Hawaiian shirt. The violence escalates so fast that we are soon dealing with stacks of shrink-wrapped currency and huge oil drums helpfully labeled 'Explosive Material.' The screenplay by a returning Derek Kolstad — and Aaron Rabin — seems to want to talk about violence as an inherent trait and how it can pass through generations. When Hutch's son gets into a brawl, dad is unhappy. 'There are other ways to handle things,' he says. 'You have to be better than your old man.' Even the criminal organization head, who has Hutch working off a $30 million debt from the first movie, is unconvinced that his prized assassin can even stop killing. 'Nature always wins,' he tells Hutch. 'Nobody 2' draws from a rich mine of macho wish-fulfillment fantasy dug by the likes of Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood. But too often, Odenkirk is stuck in a no-man's land between real action hero and comic relief without a punchline. Fans of the 2021 original will note echoes — like the duck boat fight mimicking the bus fight of the first movie and another scene in which currency is lit on fire. The person having the best time seems to be Sharon Stone, who is an absolute psychotic in tailored men's clothes and slicked back hair as she pets a bulldog and stabs at people. 'Scorched earth,' she tells a flunky. 'No survivors.' Christopher Lloyd makes a baffling cameo — he has a few quick scenes and then simply disappears — and RZA returns for a Japanese-inspired martial arts battle tacked on at the end that feels forced onto a peanuts-and-Cracker Jack movie. 'Nobody 2' climaxes in a sort of R-rated 'Home Alone,' where the good guys make deadly all the things we love about amusement parks or county fairs: The Ferris wheel is booby-trapped to hit you in the face, the ball pit has a tripwire to a landmine, the water slide has knives sticking out of it and the hall of mirrors is a way to confuse the thugs as they unload all their bullets. Happy summer, America. Somebody, anybody, should drag Odenkirk away from this nobody franchise. 'Nobody 2,' a Universal Pictures release that's only in theaters Friday, is rated R for 'strong bloody violence, and language throughout.' Running time: 89 minutes. One star out of four.
Hindustan Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Movie Review: Bob Odenkirk's assassin sequel 'Nobody 2' fails to hit the mark
The workaholic assassin Hutch Mansell is in a funk as 'Nobody 2' opens. He's sick of the daily grind, by which we mean he spends hours a day grinding people's skulls into mush. What about a family vacation? Movie Review: Bob Odenkirk's assassin sequel 'Nobody 2' fails to hit the mark 'You need to have happy memories,' he tells his wife and kids. Unfortunately, no one in the theater will have a happy memory — or maybe even recall that they saw this C-level offering — by the time it's over, mercifully after less than 90 minutes. The movie opens in theaters Friday. Bob Odenkirk makes another awkward stab as an assassin-turned-nice-guy in a sequel that still isn't funny or stylish enough to be anything but 'John Wick Lite.' Is it a send-up? A riff? A new lane? In a departure from this summer dominated by insanely larger-than-it-needs-to-be sequels — like 'M3GAN 2.0 ' and 'The Bad Guys 2' — 'Nobody 2' concentrates not on global destruction but at a threadbare amusement park, Plummerville. Odenkirk's Hutch thinks he can reconnect with his doubtful kids and frustrated wife by going to the same place he had so much fun when he was a young lad. But there, they accidentally uncover a corrupt town, a police force led by an unconvincing baddie in Colin Hanks and a deeply evil criminal syndicate. Time to get killing again, kids. Director Timo Tjahjanto, taking over from Ilya Naishuller, abandons the more dark, noirish vibe of the original in favor of a more 'National Lampoon's Vacation' feeling, only if that was drenched in blood and amputations. There's even duck boats now, albeit with goons impaled by an anchor and buoy. The lighter setting means we can see heads smashed into a pinball machine or a Whack-a-Mole game by an ordinary looking dad in a Hawaiian shirt. The violence escalates so fast that we are soon dealing with stacks of shrink-wrapped currency and huge oil drums helpfully labeled 'Explosive Material.' The screenplay by a returning Derek Kolstad — and Aaron Rabin — seems to want to talk about violence as an inherent trait and how it can pass through generations. When Hutch's son gets into a brawl, dad is unhappy. 'There are other ways to handle things,' he says. 'You have to be better than your old man.' Even the criminal organization head, who has Hutch working off a $30 million debt from the first movie, is unconvinced that his prized assassin can even stop killing. 'Nature always wins,' he tells Hutch. 'Nobody 2' draws from a rich mine of macho wish-fulfillment fantasy dug by the likes of Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood. But too often, Odenkirk is stuck in a no-man's land between real action hero and comic relief without a punchline. Fans of the 2021 original will note echoes — like the duck boat fight mimicking the bus fight of the first movie and another scene in which currency is lit on fire. The person having the best time seems to be Sharon Stone, who is an absolute psychotic in tailored men's clothes and slicked back hair as she pets a bulldog and stabs at people. 'Scorched earth,' she tells a flunky. 'No survivors.' Christopher Lloyd makes a baffling cameo — he has a few quick scenes and then simply disappears — and RZA returns for a Japanese-inspired martial arts battle tacked on at the end that feels forced onto a peanuts-and-Cracker Jack movie. 'Nobody 2' climaxes in a sort of R-rated 'Home Alone,' where the good guys make deadly all the things we love about amusement parks or county fairs: The Ferris wheel is booby-trapped to hit you in the face, the ball pit has a tripwire to a landmine, the water slide has knives sticking out of it and the hall of mirrors is a way to confuse the thugs as they unload all their bullets. Happy summer, America. Somebody, anybody, should drag Odenkirk away from this nobody franchise. 'Nobody 2,' a Universal Pictures release that's only in theaters Friday, is rated R for 'strong bloody violence, and language throughout.' Running time: 89 minutes. One star out of four. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
