Nobody & Nobody 2
                                                                                              
Nobody
Director: Ilya Naishuller
Year: 2021
Rating: 7.0
Lately, I have been coming across the phrases dad music and dad joke. Meant in a kind of snotty obnoxious way from younger generations. But there is some truth to it. Well, this is a dad action film. A boring job, kids who don't respect you and a sexless marriage. Emasculated by life. But the fantasy is that beneath their suburban placid nuclear family is a killer. Just waiting for the right opportunity. But till then, TV and taking the garbage out. This film feeds intravenously into that fantasy. I could kill them all. With the Taken films this has become a genre. Just a dad now (and a mother in some cases),  but once you were a killer with special skills. And then shit happens and you have to remember those old skills. But they were never far away.



Hutch is such a guy as played by an emotionless Bob Odenkirk. The same routine day after day, a wife (Connie Nielsen) who is always asleep when he gets into bed, a boring job for his father-in-law (Michael Ironside) and a son who ignores him. Then one night two punk thieves break into the house at night, the son tackles one but Hutch refrains from doing anything. His son is disgusted with him, his wife gives him the what the fuck are you look and his insides are in a knot. Because he is a killer. An ex-assassin for the government who was sent in when there were no other solutions. He is just waiting to snap. To get back in the game.



And it comes on a bus when a group of Russian assholes get on it. Ya, he is so emasculated that he has to take the bus. He quietly gets up, locks the bus doors and tells them, I am going to fuck you up. Russians. I like them as the bad guys. The director too I guess and he is Russian (Ilya Naishuller - Hardcore Henry, Heads of State). The film goes full John Wick as he faces off against the Russian mafia (Aleksei Serebryakov). As a great addition, his father is played by Christopher Lloyd who has a few surprises waiting for the Russians. And his brother (RZA) shows up too in the finale. A family of killers.  A very enjoyable film. The action is of course ridiculous and over the top, but that has become the norm. And best, after killing God knows how many people, his wife wants to have sex with him again. Better than Viagra.


Nobody 2
Director: Timo Tjahjanto
Year: 2025
Rating: 7.0
As the old saying goes, the family that kills together, stays together. If there is a Nobody 3, I fully expect the young daughter to pick up a hatchet and kill a gang of sex perverts. The Mansell family may not be the Cleavers, but they are loving, loyal and true to each other. An All American family. In this follow-up to the 2021 film, the whole family gets in on the fun. Family Vacation!! A little skee-ball, the water park, hot dogs and killing lots of scumbags. Grandpa, uncle, dad, mom and the son. Little Sammy will just have to wait till the next time.



This one begins and ends just like the first film does. And admittedly, so does much of the rest of the film. Everyone is back from the first film except of course all the dead Russians. Different bad guys this time, but same result. Nice having Sharon Stone though as the psycho villain. No need for her to spread her legs. She will just put a knife through your hand and then kill all the witnesses. Hutch (Bob Odenkirk) is back to surburban family living with a small difference. He is working for the Organization (Colin Salmon) again, going out on missions for them. This universe is as absurd as the John Wick universe. People are killed in elevators, kitchens. retirement homes and parking garages and no one seems to notice and the cops never show up. But after one particularly bloody mission, Hutch needs a family vacation. Plummerville.



Where he has happy memories of a vacation he went on with his dad (Christopher Lloyd) and brother (RZA) as a young boy. The family including his father pile into the car and drive to middle America. What could go wrong. Other than it is a hub for a vast criminal enterprise run by Lendina (Stone) and Hutch in his charming way gets on their bad side and calls the family together to tell them that they have to kill them all. Yay dad! Better than the water slide. These are the sort of violent films I enjoy. It is all so absurd, tongue in cheek and unserious that it is almost comfort food. None of the kills hurt. Or are graphic. They are basically bowling pins to knock down. This is directed by Timo Tjahjanto, one of the Indonesian directors who have made a big splash recently with their action films. This film suffers from what a lot of sequels do in that it doesn't hold the same surprises that the first one did - we know his killing skills and have a pretty good idea where this has to go. but I enjoy where that is.