When you have a cast with the likes of Christopher Lloyd, Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielson, RZA, Colin Hanks, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside and some of the creative minds behind the John Wick universe, you’d think we would be in for a super fun action flick. Instead, it feels like the B-team for all involved was in charge of this project.

Hutch (Odenkirk) is back in his old ways to pay off some debts, while simultaneously trying to hold down his at home family life.  The smartest thing this movie did was play off the job of an assassin as an everyday 9-5 job and all the issues that came with it. It made the family dynamics funny, relatable, and added a nice contrast to the first half of the film. Having more of the family was a nice touch overall that only added to the allure for an unconventional action hero. Said action hero is still the best part about this franchise. Odenkirk’s believable demeanor is super fitting and he surprisingly looks spry in the action scenes when it easily could have looked like Liam in Taken 3.

Now the big issue with this movie isn’t the fact that it’s sub 90 minutes, it’s that they waste most of that runtime. About halfway through you realize we’ve spent a lot of time setting up something that unfolds into something else that could have been its own movie. It goes way too deep, too fast, right in the middle of everything. If it would have just stuck with the particular storyline of the small town, we probably would have been in for a more tight script and fun time. This is clearly supposed to be a John Wick spin off, or spoof, or homage (I don’t think they know either). I wish they would have known more because its commitment to being serious and unserious at the same time makes things feel incomplete.

I know it’s a movie made for entertainment purposes and I’m supposed to just shut up and have fun, but when I see a dozen movies like this a year, something has to give. The action is pretty great and there will be a nominee for best kill of the year from this movie, I just wish there was a lot more of it. The focus felt more on explosions and wacky characters than earned action sequences. Slow motion action scenes backed by fun songs can only take a movie so far.

The last thing I’ll touch on is the characters. I don’t quite understand what they were going for with Connie in this one. It was almost like they wanted her to be involved like Skyler White is in Breaking Bad once she finds out, but couldn’t quite figure out what to do with her. RZA was great and needs to be in more action films and Colin Hanks plays the perfect heel. I have big issues with Lloyd and Stone as Chripsther Lloyd was in the first so he obviously had to come back, but he deserves his chance at retirement because that was brutal to watch, even as a fan. I was shocked to find out that Sharon Stone was in this once the movie ended and she might go down in the “doing too much” hall of fame (sorry, love you).

It’s a short movie where Odenkirk does a lot of the heavy lifting. The action that’s around is not important enough to the story and Nobody 2 ultimately felt like a tourist in its own genre.

4.8/10