Nobody 2 (dir. Timo Tjahjanto)

by Jack Martin | Aug 17, 2025

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 89 mins

UK Distributor: Universal Pictures

UK Release Date: 15 August 2025

WHO’S IN NOBODY 2?

Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, John Ortiz, RZA, Colin Hanks, Christopher Lloyd, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Colin Salmon, Billy MacLellan, Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath, Daniel Maclnnis, Cindy Myskiw, Zara Longe, Nolan Grantham, Pyper Braun

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Timo Tjahjanto (director), Bob Odenkirk (writer, producer), Umair Aleem, Derek Kolstad and Aaron Rabin (writers), Braden Aftergood, David Leitch, Kelly McCormick and Marc Provissiero (producers), Dominic Lewis (composer), Callan Green (cinematographer), Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A former assassin (Odenkirk) takes his family on an ill-fated holiday…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON NOBODY 2?

Funnily enough, nobody expected this sequel to be good. While the 2021 Ilya Naishuller-directed action flick Nobody was a hit with critics and performed fairly well at the box office, especially in the immediate post-COVID theatrical market, buzz for a follow-up was muted at best. Later, when it transpired that Nobody 2 would take the main characters (and the action along with them) on holiday, chances were good that this would be yet another action sequel that desperately tried and failed to recapture the original’s spark, while also giving the cast and crew a thinly-disguised excuse to relax in a nice location during production.

Yet, very much like its predecessor, Nobody 2 emerges as a nice surprise, the rare action-comedy sequel that not only retains the charm and enjoyment of the first film, as well as its brutal penchant for violence, but also ups the ante with much more impressive set-pieces that carry their own bonkers identity.

With Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto taking over from Naishuller, the film picks up with Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) – the former assassin turned suburban family man – still carrying out numerous hits to pay off the massive debt that he incurred after disposing of the Russian mob in the first movie. However, he’s reaching the burn-out phase of his reluctant side-hustle, as is his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) who along with their teenage kids Brady (Gage Munroe) and Sammy (Painsley Cadorath) has started to grow distant from him, so Hutch decides to take his family – and his elderly father David (Christopher Lloyd) – to the resort town of Plummerville, where he once went as a kid on his one and only holiday. Upon arrival, things seem to be going well until, inevitably, Hutch manages to violently find himself in the middle of the town’s criminal underbelly, which is overseen by corrupt sheriffs and shady theme park owner Wyatt (John Ortiz), who all report to their terrifying mob boss Lendina (Sharon Stone). Now, it’s left to Hutch and his family – and maybe a few unexpected allies – to do away with the corruption that is putting a serious dampener on their holiday.

If the first Nobody was a fun twist on the John Wick formula of a retired hitman returning to wipe out the Russian mafia after being personally wronged (just swap killing a dog for snatching his daughter’s bracelet), Nobody 2 is a violent action-centric take on National Lampoon’s Vacation, if Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold just completely snapped and started knocking people’s teeth in. It unexpectedly works, as director Tjahjanto approaches the material with the mindset that it does indeed take place within the same universe as the Vacation franchise, for while the movie isn’t designed to be out-right funny like a lot of those films – though it certainly has a sense of humour, albeit a rather dark one, which is still more laughs than one would get from the 2015 Vacation reboot – it retains the core appeal of a family trip gone horribly wrong at the hands of a patriarch who can’t help but make everything worse. What’s more, the director also balances some rather heartfelt moments of family bonding that at times make you believe you’re watching a full-on domestic drama, until things get brutal.

And boy do they, as Tjahjanto also brings a strong ferocity to action scenes where even our main hero is getting beat up pretty bad, often leaving battles with more scars and less limbs than some of his assailants. As in the first movie, the gamble of Bob Odenkirk’s unlikely casting as an action lead pays off, because the actor brings a grizzled and permanently burnt-out personality to a somewhat stock “aged assassin” role which makes him feel a lot more lived-in than most heroes of his type, so when he goes one-on-one with numerous henchmen it’s more believable that he would have his butt handed to him repeatedly than if he were to dispose of them without so much as a scratch. The director frames and choreographs his action with kinetic stamina, giving the viewer enough leeway to tell what’s going on amidst some chaotic camera movements, and at times has fun with the cartoonish aspects of this world, introducing villains like Sharon Stone – who is having a blast and a half as this completely unhinged psychopath that’s like if her character from Casino became the Joker – that revel in their evil nature without bothering to hide any of it.

Admittedly, it takes some time before the film finds its groove, with much of the first act dedicated to low-energy suburban strife, complete with a framing device that’s an almost shot-for-shot recreation of the one from the original movie. But once it gives Odenkirk’s Hutch a reason to finally start tearing into people, Nobody 2 establishes a hugely entertaining rhythm that escalates from a brawl on a duck-boat (clearly positioned as this movie’s equivalent to the bus scene from the first film) to an absolutely insane climax that gives an entire theme park the Home Alone treatment to glorious effect. The whole movie is honestly worth the ticket price just for this final act in and of itself, which gets pretty creative with how it incorporates regular amusement park staples like the ball pit and the water slide with utter carnage straight out of an 80s Schwarzenegger movie, and it is pretty amazing to see in action as it probably is to imagine.

While it’s hard to say whether Nobody 2 either matches or comes just short of matching the original, since they’re both equal in a surprising number of areas, you’re bound to have a good time whichever one you end up choosing, and that’s something nobody can take away from you.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Nobody 2 is a surprisingly enjoyable sequel that retains the charm and violence of the first film while upping the ante with a fun action riff on National Lampoon’s Vacation, complete with a relatable burnt-out hero, a memorable villain, and some absolutely insane set-pieces that new director Timo Tjahjanto packs plenty of energy into.