Nobody 2 (2025) review

I liked the original Nobody, yet when I heard there was a sequel it took an effort to avoid being pessimistic. But I decided to keep an open mind. After all, the original was a good action flick but not really what I would consider a truly great movie, so it wouldn't really bother me too much if the sequel was much weaker.

Just as the original did, Nobody 2 starts off by establishing Hutch's current domestic situation. Only this time it doesn't need to play coy about Hutch being a dangerous man, hitting us with some violent yet playful action right from the start. And that's pretty much how the rest of the movie plays out: it echoes the beats of the original, only this time we already know who Hutch is so there's no real question about what to expect, no sense of discovery as we learn what Hutch is capable of or what makes him tick. Which was, to me at least, a big part of what made the original fun.

That's not to say that Nobody 2 isn't fun though, as I did enjoy it for the most part. It's funny, I liked and cared about the characters, and the action was entertaining while still being fairly brutal. I definitely felt Hutch's frustrations and was cheering for him when he stood up for himself. I would even say that I liked his character arc and the way he interacts with his family more than I did in the first one.

Unfortunately there were things that I thought weren't as good this time around. While I liked how the plot explored Hutch's relationship to his family, past and present, the "action movie" parts of the story felt a little forced, and (mild spoiler perhaps) were wrapped up a little too quickly and conveniently by the end. But more importantly, the action itself just wasn't as good. While it was still entertaining, I did find it less impactful; it felt more slapstick, and overall just less competently executed. Which is a problem since this is really an action movie first and foremost.

I also felt the climax of the action was very disappointing, though I'll talk more about that later. The end of the movie itself wasn't bad, wrapping up on a satisfying note, it was just a little undermined by the way the action didn't really deliver at the end.

Bob Odenkirk is still entertaining and relateable, though I felt like he wasn't handling the action scenes as well as he did last time. Christopher Lloyd seemed to be enjoying himself peppering the film with little moments of humor. Connie Nielson, John Ortiz, and Gage Munroe all did good work. Colin Hanks was surprisingly great as the self-important sheriff. Sharon Stone looked like she was having a ball, playing Lendina as this over-the-top, larger-than-life villain. It was cool seeing Daniel Bernhardt as a more menacing villain; funnily enough I thought I recognized him in the first movie but wasn't sure, seeing him here reminded me to verify that it was indeed him in the first one. It entertains me to see him play two different roles, like Bruce Campbell in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.


For me Nobody 2 earns a 7/10: it's a step down from the first movie, but still a good time.




#####SPOILER WARNING#####
The movie opens up the same way as the original, with Hutch in a police interrogation. But it didn't really do much for me the second time; there's no mystery about him anymore, and just retracing the same footsteps feels uninspired. Similarly he once again gets into a fight with a bunch of guys on public transport, tries to negotiate a peace treaty and ends up burning piles of dirty money, then finally has a big shootout on a booby-trapped home ground alongside his father and brother. I don't know why they felt the need to hit the same beats as the original. It was all fine, but none of it really worked as well as the first time. Partly at least it's just because it wasn't as fresh.


In my review of the first film I mentioned it's a little concerning that by the end of the movie his life was made better by embracing violence. Well, this time they acknowledge that when you get used to solving problems with violence, it becomes too easy to resort to it, and that that's a problem. Like how he sees that he's teaching his son the wrong lessions. They might not have explored the idea all that deeply, but I still think this was a big thematic improvement over the last film.


OK, let's call a spade a spade. At the end of the first Nobody, Hutch kills the big bad boss himself after a big shootout with all the villain's goons. This time? After he takes out all the heavily armed and armoured goons, the big bad boss lady sends her two femme-fatale bodyguards, wielding blunt sticks, at Hutch. And he goes down without even putting up a real fight. Then he's completely unable to move a single finger for the next ten minutes and has to be saved by his wife. Can you see the pattern here? The common denominator of the groups who are helpless in this scene, and the ones who aren't?

I will mention that the big bad boss lady also had a male bodyguard, but he was off getting killed by Hutch's brother. Hutch's brother who was protecting the children instead of fighting alongside Hutch the way he did in the original scene in the first movie. Which is weird, right? Why was the brother protecting the children at the safe location that the villains shouldn't have known about (and that it's NOT explained HOW they know about), while Hutch's wife - who was originally at the lodge with the children and who you would assume would prioritise the safety OF HER CHILDREN - was at the park? And how did she just walk up without running into any of the goons - which it turns out a moment later are still there? Like, that's very forced, right? It's also pretty convenient that Hutch was just casually walking around unarmed at this point.

Look, I'm glad that they had the wife do something this time around. That's a really good thing, really. But Hutch just getting his behind handed to him? And then being completely unable to move after taking a few body shots from a couple of sticks? Do you even remember the cover of the first movie? Hutch can take a beating and keep on ticking, that's kind of his thing. But this one specific time he's just completely helpless? In a way that is completely at odds to how he's been portrayed for the entirety of this movie and the last?

If the final boss and her bodyguards hadn't all been women, if they had all been me, then this ending would still have been very frustrating because it was so poorly handled. He just suddenly had no fight in him. Honestly. I would have complained that it was poorly written if the whole scene was just men. But the actual scene that we got? You cannot tell me there wasn't some feminist manifesto nonsense happening here.

I mean, Hutch is acting pretty whipped all movie. He never stands up to his wife. I get that he really loves her, and he knows that he's put her through a lot, perhaps he's even scared of hurting her because of how his whole life is about hurting people. But still, his relationship is not healthy. He's not in an equal partnership, as relationships should be. It's OK to have them argue, it's OK to have him stand up for himself. But he never does. And it's a shame, because the rest of the movie is pretty entertaining, but it kinda ends on this sour note.


The dog is behind bars because it's wild? Then Hutch frees it, and it responds by saving his life and then attacking (and somehow defeating I assume) a group of trained and heavily armed men? Was this all just so that they could put the dog in the interrogation scene at the start? I dunno, the last shootout just felt rushed - like how they just come out of nowhere say "oh, there's a lodge here that where we think his family is hiding" with no explanation of how they knew about it. Maybe the production ran into issues or something, I dunno.


I feel like he should have been able to avoid losing that finger. And it's weird that NO-ONE AT ALL commented on his missing finger. It was like nobody thought it was important? Like, losing a body part is kind of a big deal, even just the tip of your pinkie. I dunno, it didn't seem necessary and didn't feel like it added anything to me. On the contrary, the fact that he lost a finger to these four losers was the first step of making Hutch feel like less of a big deal, less of a tough guy, less of a dangerous man. Eh, whatever.

KPop Demon Hunters (2025) review

I started to hear a bit of good buzz about this film, and saw a few seconds of clips - not a full trailer or anything, just enough to get a sense of the visual style - and that was enough to make me feel quite optimistic about this movie. The problem is that I don't listen to K-Pop, or much pop music at all to be honest; it's just not my kind of thing. What's more, I didn't get to watch this film under ideal conditions; let's just say I was watching on a smaller screen than I would like, and there was rather a lot of stopping and starting. And yet this was almost certainly the best movie I've seen this year.

Which I suppose isn't actually saying very much; it's been a strange year for me, and I've barely watched any movies. But still, this was VERY good. In pretty much every way, which is something that I realised I've been missing; most movies I've enjoyed in the last few years were good in some ways. Some films, ones that I liked, were silly but fun, others perhaps had great action but lazy stories. KPop Demon Hunters didn't require any concessions from me; it was just good. Full stop.

First off, this film is gorgeous, a real visual treat; so many times I was just amazed at the art of what I was watching. The action scenes were fast and fluid, but more than that they were incredibly stylish, a beautifully choreographed dance between the characters and the camera. Even when the music didn't do anything for me - like I said, not really my genre - I was still enraptured by the visual splendour and storytelling that always accompanied it. The animation really is wonderful, and I tip my hat to the animators behind it.

While the action and cinematography were beyond my expectations, the real surprise to me was how much I liked the story. I guess I wasn't expecting very much, perhaps because I haven't seen too many movies with really good stories that were my sort of thing lately, but this one just hit the right notes for me. It was funny, it was moving, I liked and cared about the characters, and the ending was triumphant yet bittersweet.

I found the titular demon hunters themselves to be very well written. Cool and confident, but human, with weaknesses and flaws that made them compelling, that made you care for them, that make you fear for them when they fall, and cheer for them when they rise up again. And the supporting cast were treated well too; they were likeable, had their own character traits, and weren't just there to be laughed at or put down in the mistaken belief that it would somehow raise the girls up. So many writers these days could really learn a thing or two about writing characters and drama from this film.

While there's a few elements I would have liked to see more of, details about the characters and nature of the demons, I think they weren't necessary, and getting bogged down in details might have hurt the pacing and flow; overall I guess the film felt fast-paced but not rushed. There are constant musical numbers, but they are always an integrated part of the storytelling - not just narratively but also visually, each song lasting the right amount of time for us to see what we need to see. The film doesn't stop whenever it wants to sing a song, rather it naturally sings songs as it goes about its business. It just felt smoother and more streamlined to me than is often the case for musical numbers in movies and shows.

I know that I've unfortunately become very opinionated, very quick to nit-pick, when it comes to media. Even if I'm enjoying a movie enough to not be bothered by small issues, I usually still notice them. So it's kind of surprising to me just how little I saw that I could find anything to complain about. I really am surprised and very impressed by how much I got into the this movie; I was just glued to the screen, and when it was over I felt just a tiny bit lost, like I needed more.


I'm giving KPop Demon Hunters a 9/10. A little generous perhaps, but it's been a long time since I've seen something that I felt worked so well on so many levels.




#####SPOILER WARNING#####
I've just realised I haven't seen an animated movie is a long time. I believe I once wrote about how consistently good animated movies were, but I feel that has changed in the last few years, as a number of very promising animated films turned out to be disappointments. So perhaps a few years ago I wouldn't have been so surprised that this animated film was so good, but I guess things have changed since then.


It's a little strange to me that a movie about three characters who initially seem to have equal billing, ends up being far more focussed on the one "main" character. I'm not complaining, it worked. I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed though if we get more focus on the others in sequels - or perhaps in a TV show?


I really loved the exaggerated facial expressions so many characters exhibited, that was a lot of fun, and I think it gave characters, including our main trio, a lot of personality.


I'm surprised they didn't go into more details on some things. The nature or origin of these demons for one thing, initially it didn't seem important but as we learned Jinu's story it raised a lot of questions with me. Likewise the origins of the Demon Hunters, why there's always three, how they are found or chosen, etc. I should mention that it is slightly concerning to me that we get so little detail about the whole "stealing souls" thing. That's kind of a big deal to me that the movie pretty much glossed over; a LOT of people disappear, and we never see what happened to them in the end. But at the same time, getting too deep into a topic like that would likely be a mistake; I just would have liked a quick of "With Gwi-Ma dead, all the souls he consumed were freed" sort of thing, like the end of the original 1995 Mortal Kombat film. That would have been enough.

I'm also surprised that we didn't see Rumi's parents at all, or learn anything about them. I also wanted to know more about Celine, to actually see her interact with the trio, but more importantly I wanted to have more closure on her relationship with Rumi. The last interaction we saw between Rumi and Celine ended very poorly, I want to know what happened afterwards, whether they were able to mend their relationship. Celine made mistakes, and those hurt Rumi, but I wanted to see Rumi understand and forgive her. After all, Celine was in a very difficult situation, one she was never equipped for, and she handled it as best she could. No, she wasn't perfect, she made mistakes, but that's understandable, her mistakes were very human. I think her story is really quite compelling, and I think she deserves a happy ending too.

On a related note I thought Jinu's story was very strong, and perhaps unlike with Celine or Rimu's parents, I think we saw just the right amount of it. The shame and regret that he feels, the sacrifice that he makes at the end; it was quite powerful, he's a very sympathetic character.


In the scene where her friends finally see her demonic marks, I was a just little surprised they were so stand-off-ish right from the start. I expected them to assume something had been done to her, for their first instincts to be to help her, rather than keeping their distance and demanding an explanation. But it worked very well for the plot, so I think it probably had to be that way. Genuinely this was one of the very few things that felt a tiny bit off to me during the movie, but when I think about it I do understand it. Ultimately that sort of "breakup" scene is not uncommon and often feels quite forced and preventable, frustratingly so; here I think it was handled quite well overall, so I won't complain.


I was a little surprised when Rumi showed up at the end with her mind already made up, her convictions in place, without needing another character to give her a push. But I kind of liked it; the way this usually works out in film is that we need a conversation with another character in order to see the mental processes work themselves out, to have the themes and narrative arcs verbalised. And there's a good reason for that. But at the same time, I do like for characters to display agency, to make their own decisions by themselves, without needing someone else to essentially give them the answers, to set them on the path that they just need to follow. So Rumi just deciding what to do on her own, and just doing it without needing a pep talk or cheerleader, was something that actually hit me kind of hard.


I don't know what the deal is with the cat and the bird, or why they were able to stay in the world when the other demons weren't, but I liked them and I'm glad we got a final glimpse of them.


The demon king Gwi-ma being an almost formless ball of flame felt a little unimaginative to me. And yet it did make him feel completely distinct from the other demons in a way that suggests he really is something different; an elemental force, somehow unknowable and unfathomable. So I think it worked, even if it meant he didn't have as much character as some animated villains of the past.


We see the girls spend two weeks trying to write and rehearse a song. And yet we see the demons, with no prior experience, trot out choreographed musical numbers at the drop of a hat. If writing a song was so hard for the girls, how did the demons seem to do it so easily? Obviously the answer is that it worked better for the movie this way. I'm just saying is all. Nit-pickers gonna nit-pick, amirite?