Nobody 2 (2025) is the third film produced by the high-octane action factory 87North Productions, the studio created by David Leitch and Kelly McCormick. Co-credited as the home for the John Wick franchise, the studio focuses on action films led by big stars featuring elaborate, often stunt-oriented action sequences.
Their other two films this year were Love Hurts (2025), a lazily constructed vehicle for Ke Huy Quan, and Ballerina (2025), a desperate attempt by Lionsgate to spin off their money-making cow in the John Wick universe. Ending the summer season with Nobody 2, a film that doesn’t improve on its predecessor but recycles the absurdly comedic sensibilities of watching a grizzled and roughed-up Bob Odenkirk punching goons, feels the most ineffectual outing the studio could ask for. It’s Clark Griswold’s third-act breakdown in National Lampoon: Vacation (1983) turned up to the extreme. It’s as marginally entertaining as it sounds, as opposed to the dour self-seriousness of 87North’s prior films this year.
Taking over directing duties for Nobody 2 is Timo Tjahjanto, best known for his Indonesian brutal action films featuring bloody carnage and maximalist filmmaking to make the viewer feel as though they’ve been in a fight. Odenkirk returns as Hutch Hansell, the mild-mannered, unassuming nobody who is back in the game of contract killing to pay off the debts of destroying the Russian mafia’s treasury in the first film. Now, he finds himself stuck in the banal drudgery of focusing too much on his work and not enough on his family.
In a fit of desperation to reconnect with his children and wife, Becca (Connie Nielsen), Hutch proposes they all take a vacation to the one theme park he loved as a kid, Plummervile Water Park. After a heated fight in an arcade, Hutch finds himself at the center of another crime syndicate involving the theme park owner, Wyatt (John Ortiz), and a campy drugpin bootlegger, Lendina (Sharon Stone).
If the plot description sounds like a retread from any action movie ever made, it’s because it is. The plot serves as a platform for what made the first film memorable: incredibly fun action scenes with dazzling stuntwork and comedic undertones. It’s hard to say if Tjahjanto succeeds, as the elements of his previous efforts that made him one of the best action directors feel absent. Gone is the crazed ultra-violence compounded by bloody viscera and manic camerawork. It feels like a sad result of the studio restraining a genuine artist from unleashing their hard-R tendencies to appease a mass audience.
Whenever a person is punched, the camera enacts a warped jolt effect to emphasize the impact, but it comes off as someone bouncing the camera during a hand-to-hand fight scene to induce the feeling of chaos rather than visualizing it effectively.
The fun element of surprise is also gone, now that we’ve seen the funnyman Odenkirk embrace a new side of himself as an action hero. Now, it feels lackluster. The biggest challenge for this sequel was being able to retain or replace the novelty of a casual suburban dad being discovered as a bad-ass with a particular set of skills. It sadly does neither. Rather, it continuously punctuates just how unwavering Hutch is when confronted in violent situations; groups of bad guys beating him up will never be enough.
The excitement fizzles out as action scenes play out expectantly with no sense of surprise. The third act, too, is a regurgitation of the bonkers Home Alone booby traps of the original film, and Hutch calling on his Grandpa (Christopher Lloyd) and brother, Harry (RZA), to assist in more comedic violence. Even as explosions ensue, there’s no palpable danger to make the scenes feel anything but robotic and monotonous.
Co-writers Derek Kolstad and Aaron Rabin don’t seem interested in carving out more depth or significance, other than thinly written conversations between Hutch and Becca reconciling their marriage and love for each other, or Hutch’s children knowing the true nature of their father. This delicate balance of cartoonish violence and tender warmth is jarring, as the shortened 87-minute runtime isn’t interested in expanding these characters beyond their archetypes. Even a half-baked attempt at making Hutch and Wyatt relate to each other over paying off debts and loving their children felt like another attempt to sand off the sharp edges of this already dull knife of a film.
There’s no denying how committed Odenkirk is to embracing the challenge of playing Hutch. A human punching-bag with swagger and self-assuredness, the real magic is witnessing Odenkirk’s magnetism shine as Hutch oscillates between vacation dad and steadfast killer. Even if the element of surprise is nonexistent, what is apparent is Odenkirk’s ability to act like he’s been bruised up, yet unrelenting in having the last punch (and laugh).
Nielsen has a more substantial role than the first film, and by virtue, gives a more compelling performance of a strained, exhausted wife yearning to connect to the man she loves. This subplot encompasses the film’s whole desire to elevate Hutch’s family in prominence, yet the drama always feels perfunctory. It’s all in service of Hutch needing a reason to be the unflappable hero of the day.
Stone feels slightly wasted, as her addition comes halfway through the film. Meanwhile, side-jerks like Wyatt and a punk sheriff played by Colin Hanks act as set-dressing rather than imposing figures of conflict. Stone certainly contrasts simply due to her sheer screen presence, but also performs Lendina as a maniacal sociopath who gives off camp energy without any context to explain it. It’s memorable and identifiable, and that seems fitting for the whole of Nobody 2. An action film containing isolated, noteworthy moments led by talented actors that can read their lines competently enough to feel exciting, but in context, it feels jagged and wobbly.
87North may be succumbing to a numbness of familiarity and routine, the complete opposite qualities that made their initial projects electrifying. The rote template they follow — a secret action star embodied by an established, respected actor is thrust into well-choreographed action stunts, operating within a repetitive pattern of story beats — would make great fodder for A.I. content generators.
The effect this production company is having on action films may produce a deleterious effect of watering down the thrills of top-tier action movies. The box office results of Ballerina, The Fall Guy (2024), or Love Hurts suggest that audiences may have grown tired of the schtick. 87North will continue to have its fans, and great action talents will participate and expand their horizons. Yet the exhilarating sensation which began with the first Wick film is worn out to a conveyor-belt of action vehicles.
The real litmus test for audiences of Nobody 2 will come at the second action set-piece involving a boat ride. In an unambiguous manner to replicate the infamous bus fight scene from the first film, Hutch is pitted against corrupt cops on a boat that is meant to induce hilarity and shock at the intervals of violence.
If you find yourself completely on board (pun not intended) with the novelty of Odenkirk continuing his trajectory of displaying his physicality in these stunt fights, Nobody 2 appeases that exact craving. But in the grand scheme of 87North films that are trying to recapture the zest of John Wick-style genre films, Nobody 2 feels like a dire warning at the conventionality and sameness this production house is finding itself in.
Review Courtesy of Amritpal Rai
Feature Image Credited to Universal Pictures via The Hollywood Reporter
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