Somebody needs a holiday

The trailer for Nobody 2 has an ear-worm song on its own soundtrack: Lindsay Buckingham’s Holiday Road, utilized in the 1983 Chevy Chase comedy National Lampoon’s Vacation.

As it happens, the trailer, and indeed the movie, has a lot of the same plot dynamic: a father takes his wife, son and daughter on a trip to the vacation paradise of his youth, only to have his nostalgic dreams dashed at every turn.

Of course, Nobody 2 is much more action movie than comedy, befitting its 2021 origins. The sleeper hit Nobody introduced us to Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk), a seemingly nebbishy guy revealed to be a master assassin when he is provoked by a humiliating home invasion.

By the end of that movie, Hutch burned down his life to start anew. But the sequel sees him caught in a different kind of rat race. Owing money to the organization for whom he toiled, he once again submits to a life of violence, this time on a deadening, nine-to-five basis.

Feeling adrift from his family once again, he gets the idea for a getaway to the tourist destination Plummerville, where as a child he once enjoyed rare summer bliss with his own father (Christopher Lloyd returns) and brother (RZA).

But like Chevy Chase before him, Hutch is destined for disappointment when it emerges Plummerville is a hub of scum and villainy, ostensibly run by its mayor (John Ortiz) but really lorded over by a deeply corrupt sheriff (Colin Hanks) in the employ of a deeply crazy crime boss named Lendina (Sharon Stone), who runs drugs and guns out of Plummerville with ruthless efficiency.

Taking over as director from the first movie’s Ilya Naishuller is Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto, a master of mayhem in his own right. Tjahjanto’s previous films (see them on Netflix), The Night Comes for Us and The Shadow Strays are relentlessly downbeat, combining awesome fight scenes with chest-thumping melodrama. (No disrespect intended. They’re both awesome bullet ballets.)

The sequel at times feels bigger and certainly brighter, but Tjahjanto’s participation notwithstanding, the film lacks the gravity of the former.

Compare the obligatory one-man battle scene, with Hutch taking on a gang of thugs on a duck boat; it feels a little silly compared to the city bus scene in the first film, a self-contained gem of movie action.

Odenkirk continues his streak as a late-in-life action hero. He maintains a wry sense of humour, but he is never spoofy. He holds his action responsibilities as one does a sacred vow.

Stone is enjoyable. She was always an actress who excelled in broad, cartoony films such as Total Recall, Basic Instinct and The Quick and the Dead, yet could hold her own in more serious film, such as Casino. She is certainly in cartoony mode here, but seeing her sinking her teeth into a role of such violent perversity is the most nostalgic element of the film.

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Nobody 2 was shot in and around Winnipeg just a year ago, so expect a few home movie thrills, including a scene shot at the hot dog joint Skinners and various Winnipeg Beach locations. And keep your eyes out for local acting talent including Rodrigo Beilfuss as Ortiz’s dad (in flashback) and a nearly unrecognizable Marina Stephenson Kerr as a magnificently disreputable-looking carnie.

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