Nobody 2: A Clone of the Original That Repeats Its Mistakes (Blu-ray)

The Film:

Back in 2021, screenwriter Derek Kolstad attempted to replicate the great success he had achieved with "John Wick" by delivering a rather similar film called "Nobody," which featured Bob Odenkirk as Hutch Mansell, a seemingly-regular man trying to live an ordinary life with his family after retiring from a career of being an assassin for the intelligence community. He tries to make it work, but soon finds himself pulled back in after getting entangled with some dangerous people. The film featured some decent action sequences in the form of fights, shootouts, and other chaotic scenes, but in the end, it felt like nothing more than a string of these sequences held together by a rather loose plot thread.

However, while the film received mixed reviews, it did pretty well at the box office, making over three times its modest $16 million production budget, so naturally plans for a sequel were made pretty quickly. This brings us to "Nobody 2," in which Hutch once again stumbles into a rather dangerous situation that has him trying to keep his family safe. Will Kolstad and co-screenwriter Aaron Rabin be able to take this opportunity and fix the problems from the first film to deliver something a little more engaging & memorable this time around?

As the film opens, we find Hutch (Bob Odenkirk) going on missions for The Barber (Colin Salmon) in order to pay off his debt after burning the Russians' money. Seeing the toll it's taking on his family life, he determines that he needs a break, so he decides to take his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), kids Brady (Gage Munroe) & Sammy (Paisley Cadorath), and father David (Christopher Lloyd) on a vacation to Plummerville, where he had gone as a child. He promises Becca that he will leave his work behind while they're away, but an altercation at an arcade soon has him entangled in another perilous situation involving a syndicate and a vengeful mob boss (Sharon Stone), forcing him to fight for his and his family's lives once again.

When it comes to "Nobody 2," the hope was that the filmmakers would take their time and put a little more effort into the story & characters in order to better complement the action that seemed to completely dominate the first film, which, again, felt like little more than a string of fights & shootouts barely being held together by a threadbare plot. After all, if you can't get invested in the characters who are fighting for their lives, or the story that has them doing so, it's going to be rather hard to care about any of the big action sequences they go through in order to do it, making it imperative to develop them enough to bring the entire project into balance.

That said, it would appear that Kolstad & co. didn't learn much of anything from the first film, for not only did they not put any effort into fixing the original problems, they actually tried to duplicate the success of the original by basically making a clone of it. Granted, the plot & circumstances surrounding it are altered just a little, but the structure is almost entirely the same, featuring the same opening & ending, Hutch stumbling into another situation that forces him to use his skills to save himself & his family, and concluding with a chaotic fight that has plenty of shooting & explosions.

As you can expect, with the film once again emphasizing action over its more important elements, it turns out to be another forgettable and somewhat tedious experience that's all "sound and fury" and not much else. Some of the action is well-done, but in the end, it just can't help feeling like an attempted "John Wick" knockoff once again, which is not to say that those films were that heavily-plotted either, but they were definitely more stylized and had far more intriguing characters, both of which made up for the heavily-emphasized action sequences. Overall, "Nobody 2" was the chance for these filmmakers to churn out a more meaningful sequel, but sadly they simply opted not to take it, ultimately making for another actioner that leaves no impact.

Video/Audio:

"Nobody 2" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.39:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of outstanding quality. The picture is quite sharp & clear throughout the brief 89-minute runtime, perfectly highlighting its multitude of action sequences. Likewise, the Dolby Atmos audio track is marvelous, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in excellent quality. Overall, Universal has done a wonderful job in both areas for the film's Blu-ray debut.

Special Features:

Nobody 2: The Fight Continues (11 Minutes): A look behind the scenes at the making of the film.

Nobody Does Stunts Like Us (12 Minutes): A featurette that explores the film's stunts.

Deleted Scenes (8 Sequences, 8 Minutes)

Conclusion:

"Nobody 2" may feature some well-done action sequences throughout its brief 80-ish minute runtime, but instead of fixing the problems prevalent throughout the original, the filmmakers have sadly opted to make what is basically a clone of the first film, bringing with it the same lack of story & character development as before, and ultimately leaving us with another forgettable action flick that needed far more effort put into its fundamental elements.

Score: 2.5/5

Now available on Blu-ray.

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