Nobody 2 (2025) Movie Review: The Midlife Crisis John Wick Returns, and This Time, He Just Wants a Break

The original “Nobody” (2021) is an utter delight of a low budget action film that dares to ask the question: ‘what if we made John Wick, but he was a suburban dad in the throes of a midlife crisis, throw in a cat, and manage to make it not derivative, but actually laugh out loud funny?’ Like its retired assassin protagonist, it is brutally efficient. Unlike him, it is impossible to take it seriously. To do so would be to view it as a sad story of an angry man saving his marriage and strained familial relationships by embracing his violent nature. And its combination of action and humour worked, grossing $57.5 million against a $16 million budget, successful enough to warrant a sequel. Four years later, here it is.

Picking up an undisclosed amount of time – at a guess, a few years – after the events of the original, everyone’s favourite killer turned family man, Hutch Mansell (Bob Odernkirk), is back in his old job, and seems to have overcorrected. Where “Nobody” had strained family dynamics because he was not doing what he was good at, “Nobody 2” has strained dynamics because his job has consumed his life. His wife, Rebecca (Connie Nielsen), is growing visibly frustrated at him once again as he is never back in time for dinner.

He is missing his son, Brady’s (Gage Munroe) American Football games. His daughter, Sammy (Paisley Cadorath), is also still here and has named their cat Lasagna. In need of a break, he decides to take his family for a vacation – or as he calls it, ‘making memories’ – to Plummerville, a town his dad once took him and his brother to as a child.

Along for the ride is David, Hutch’s dad (Christopher Lloyd), who pops in and out of the film, clearly having the time of his life, bringing an entertaining energy to proceedings. Behind the camera, Timo Tjahjanto (The Shadow Strays, The Night Comes For Us) replaces Ilya Naishuller as director, bringing his own identity to the action scenes.

Whilst keeping in line with the style established by Naishuller, Tjahjanto is more experimental with the camera placement, which often sells the frantic pace of the action, but sometimes just leads to the dreaded ‘shaky cam’, where it is hard to follow what is happening. Once or twice, I did wince at a particularly gory kill. The setting of the rundown town of Plummerville provides a sharp contrast as a brighter location than the original’s cold, harshly lit urban sprawl. It might not be the best shot film ever, but that is not what the crew is going for, and it looks very good. With all of the technical aspects, it is well-made.

Another still from Nobody 2 (2025) — A still from “Nobody 2” (2025)

For all the good visuals, the screenplay, penned like the original by Derek Kolstad, who is joined by Aaron Rabin (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan), falls into the pitfalls of many a sequel. Mainly, rehashing the original. It begins with an almost identical flash forward. But there is a dog this time. The first act is full of more minor callbacks: the bin, the weekday montage, the barber, and Hutch misremembering the make of the gun when telling a story.

Even the first properly extensive action scene occurs on a vehicle that Hutch is thrown out of, then drags himself back onto, to the surprise of the bruised and bloodied henchmen, just like in “Nobody.” Less successful elements, such as the occasional melodramatic voice-over monologue from Hutch, have been discarded, which is for the best. Bar one reference, the original’s plot is not referenced, so you do not need to have seen it to follow what is going on, which works in this film’s favour.

Of the new additions to the cast, the most memorable is Wyatt (John Ortiz), who at first seems like a one-note boss working under the main boss, then has more layers revealed as the plot develops. Sheriff Abel (Colin Hanks) would rather threaten people than take part in any action. The main villain, Lendina (Sharon Stone), suffers from a similar problem.

Despite a strong introduction and the charisma Stone brings to the role, in the grand scheme of things, she barely leaves an impression. With the runtime being just under ninety minutes, it feels like she is only in the film for five, and at a certain point, having your name mentioned with a scared reverence over and over is not enough. Again, in the unfortunate sequel trope, the film tells the audience that this new villain is so much worse than those from the original before failing to deliver on that statement.

Nobody 2 (2025) Movie — Another still from “Nobody 2” (2025)

Moreover, the film feels caught between two opposite directions. On one hand, it wants to follow the footsteps of its predecessor and be just another fun action film. On the other hand, it wants to explore the characters beyond the surface for a layer of personal stakes, adding in a thematic subplot of Hutch worrying that Brady will become just like him, making Wyatt and his teenage son Max (Lucius Hoyos) foils for the pair. It is also briefly explored with David and Hutch’s brother, Harry (RZA). This had potential, leading to characters having to make tough, interesting choices, with some genuinely emotional moments, not just between Hutch and Brady, but the rest of his family, too. The relationship between Hutch and Rebecca is far more fleshed out and stronger than in the first one.

Odenkirk and Nielsen have some fantastic and believable chemistry, and Rebecca gets a fun, literal Chekov’s gun moment. However, as it is attempting to be an entertaining action film at the same time, the execution is a subtle as being impaled on knives embedded in a surfboard. In trying to be more serious and have more of an edge, it loses some of the ridiculous charm of the original, although plenty of the humour still lands. It does make for a slightly disjointed experience, but when you are watching a theme park become a series of elaborate death traps, or a katana vs machete fight, or Hutch beating a henchman up whilst yelling at him to leave him alone because he is on vacation, you become willing to give the film a pass because it is succeeding at the action direction.

It is predictable, treads a near-identical path to its predecessor, but I would be lying if I said I did not have a great time. I would like a “Nobody 3” as soon as possible, please. Perhaps a fourth and fifth, too.