Colin Salmon Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Nobody 2,’ starring Bob Odenkirk

August 13, 2025

by Carla Hay

Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath, Bob Odenkirk, Christopher Lloyd and Connie Nielsen in “Nobody 2” (Photo by Allen Fraser/Universal Pictures)

Directed by Timo Tjahjanto

Culture Representation: Taking place in Michigan and briefly in Ohio and other parts of the United States, the action film “Nobody 2” (a sequel to 2021’s “Nobody”) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latin people, African Americans and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Undercover assassin Hutch Mansell goes on vacation with his family at a themed water park, where he battles against corrupt cops and a ruthless crime lord.

Culture Audience: “Nobody 2” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, 2021’s “Nobody” and action-packed fight movie that have touches of very broad comedy.

Sharon Stone in “Nobody 2” (Photo by Allen Fraser/Universal Pictures)

“Nobody 2” has violence and characters that are even more cartoonish than 2021’s “Nobody,” an action film about a father who is a secret assassin. There are no real surprises in this lively sequel. “Nobody 2’s” comedy elements make everything more watchable. Because the “Nobody” movies don’t take themselves too seriously and have a mostly appealing main character, viewers should not expect anything more than what these movies are: mayhem-filled movies with over-the-top stunts and a story about a man trying to be a good husband and father amid the chaos.

Directed by Timo Tjahjanto, “Nobody 2” was written by Derek Kolstad and Aaron Rabin. Kolstad wrote “Nobody,” which was directed by Ilya Naishuller. “Nobody 2” takes place mostly in the fictional small town of Plummerville, Michigan. The movie was actually filmed in and near the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Unlike many high-profile action movies that stretch a two-hour run time, “Nobody 2” is briskly and efficiently paced at 89 minutes.

Most of the story in “Nobody 2” takes place at a family-oriented amusement park, so the locations give a surreal campiness to the movie, compared to “Nobody,” which has a much darker tone. As if it isn’t clear enough that “Nobody 2” leans more into parodying family-oriented comedy than the first “Nobody” did, the trailer for “Nobody 2” uses the “National Lampoon’s Vacation” theme song. However, the patriarch in the “Nobody” movies is nothing like Clark Griswold, the patriarch character of the “National Lampoon’s Vacation” movies.

The central character of the “Nobody” movies is seemingly mild-mannered Hutch Mansell (played by Bob Odenkirk), who has settled in to suburban life in Ohio with his wife and two children. Hutch wants to leave behind his past life as an assassin, but he keeps get pulled back into assassin work, for various reasons. Hutch’s wife Becca Mansell (played by Connie Nielsen), who is a real-estate agent, knows about Hutch’s past. Much of the comedy in the “Nobody” movies comes from people not suspecting that Hutch (who looks like a harmless, middle-aged family man) can be such a vicious fighter and killer.

Is it necessary to see “Nobody” before watching “Nobody 2”? No, but “Nobody 2” is more enjoyable if you already know what happened in “Nobody.” That’s because “Nobody 2” has a plot that depends on revealing what happened at the end of “Nobody.” At the end of “Nobody,” Hutch burned $30 million in cash owned by the Russian Mafia. It’s explained near the beginning of “Nobody 2” that Hutch has gone back to being an assassin, in order to pay off this $30 million debt to the Russian Mafia.

“Nobody 2” has an opening scene that’s similar to “Nobody”: Hutch is being questioned by law enforcement officials in an interrogation room. They ask him who he is. And then, the movie quickly cuts to showing the events that led to Hutch being in this interrogation room, before circling back to the interrogation room scene.

In “Nobody 2” (which takes place three years after the events of “Nobody”), Hutch and Becca have been drifting apart because Hutch has been spending more time away from home. Becca knows that Hutch is $30 million in debt to the Russian Mafia, but she has a “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude about how Hutch has to pay off that debt. When he’s away from home, they text each other as if he has to spend extra hours at an office job.

Hutch gets his assassin assignments from a mysterious character named The Barber (played by Colin Salmon, reprising this same role from “Nobody”), who is emotionally detached but seems to secretly rooting for Hutch to succeed. The biggest detail that’s been revealed about The Barber’s past is that he used to work for the U.S. government. As shown near the beginning of “Nobody 2,” The Barber is somewhat displeased when he finds out that one of Hutch’s assassin jobs almost went off the rails.

A flashback shows what happened: Hutch was in a hotel elevator with four criminals wearing business suits. Hutch tracked down these criminals because he was supposed to steal a computer drive from them before they could hand over the computer drive to someone else who is supposed to meet them at the hotel. Of course, this elevator ride turns into a bloody fight where only Hutch walks out alive. Hutch then had to fight off a gang of Corsican thugs with MP7 guns and then a group of Brazilian criminals with machetes.

Hutch is able to deliver the computer drive to The Barber, who tells Hutch that Hutch will get $800,000 as payment for this job. The Barber says to Hutch that at the rate that Hutch has been going recently with his assassin work, Hutch could have the $30 million debt by the following spring season. However, Hutch is feeling burned out from this line of work and guilty about neglecting his family.

Hutch tells The Barber that he wants a break. The Barber is skeptical that workaholic Hutch can stay away from trouble for very long. The Barber says Hutch can take a break, but The Barber gives this warning to Hutch: “This job is in your nature and nature always wins.”

Meanwhile, at home, Hutch awkwardly tries to reconnect with Becca and their two children: 17-year-old son Brady Mansell (played by Gage Munroe) and 12-year old daughter Sammy Mansell (played by Paisley Cadorath)—but there’s some emotional distance between Hutch and his family because of his long absences. Hutch sees a TV ad for Wild Bill’s Majestic Midway and Waterpark, located in Plummerville. This commercial triggers happy childhood memories of when Hutch’s father would take Hutch and his adopted brother Harry to this park, which is the only place they went on a family vacation.

Hutch decides that Wild Bill’s (which calls itself “the oldest water park in America”) will be the perfect place to take his own family on vacation. The Mansells take a road trip to the water park. Also along for the ride is Hutch’s father David Mansell (played by Christopher Lloyd), a retired FBI agent, who now lives in a home for senior citizens.

Wild Bill’s has an on-site motel that is a tacky dump with outdated decor. Hutch has booked a “honeymoon suite” for himself and Becca. It’s really just a room with cheap-looking tropical island decorations. Becca comments that the room “smells like cigars,” but she quickly gets over it because she’s just happy to be spending family time with Hutch.

There’s only one rule that Becca has for Hutch: no violence on this trip. There wouldn’t be a “Nobody 2” movie if Hutch stuck to this rule. On the day that the Hsells want to go to the water park, they find out that the park is closed “due to an incident,” and they get an admission coupon to make up for the inconvenience.

David is frustrated and leaves the other family members to spend some time at a remote cabin. The character of David is not seen again for long stretches of the film. It’s one of the disappointing aspects of “Nobody 2” that Lloyd (who is well-cast as David) is not in the film as much as some viewers might expect him to be.

Wild Bill’s is owned and operated by Wyatt Martin (played by John Ortiz), who inherited the park from his deceased father “Wild Bill” Martin (played by Rodrigo Beilfuss), who had a larger-than-life personality. Wyatt is a shady businessman who eventually crosses paths with Hutch. Plummerville’s law enforcement is overseen by Sheriff Abel (played by Colin Hanks) of Peary County. Sherrif Abel (whose first name is never revealed in the movie) also has run-ins with Hutch and quickly becomes Hutch’s enemy.

Hutch gets on the radar of law enforcement in Plummerville after and incident that takes place at a local arcade center. Brady and Wyatt’s bullying son Max Martin (played by Lucius Hoyos), who are about the same ages, get into a fight because Max accused Brady of trying to flirt with Max’s girlfriend. Brady threw the first punch because Max threatened Brady.

Max’s arm gets injured in the brawl. The arcade center’s security chief Toby (played by David MacInnis) breaks up the fight and blames Brady. Hutch and Becca, who are nearby but didn’t see how the fight started, are quick to defend Brady. It doesn’t matter to Toby, who order the Mansells to leave.

Sammy wants to get her stuffed animal that was dropped on the floor during the melee, but Toby won’t let her, and he slightly smacks Sammy on the head to get her to leave. Hutch sees this inappropriate touching and becomes silently enraged. And you know what that means: As already revealed in the “Nobody 2” trailer, Hutch goes back inside and raises hell by beating up Toby and other people who get involved in the fight.

This brawl results in Hutch getting arrested. Sheriff Abel interrogates Hutch and quickly figures out that Hutch is no regular tourist and wants to teach Hutch a harsh lesson. Meanwhile, Wyatt wants revenge on Hutch because Max is an aspiring professional baseball player, and Max’s arm injury could ruin Max’s chances of having a baseball career.

Becca is furious with Hutch for breaking her “no violence on vacation” rule. Hutch talks to his brother Harry (played by RZA) on the phone. And that’s how Hutch finds out that Plummerville is a gateway for smuggling contraband (drugs and weapons), and Plummerville’s corrupt leadership is actively involved in many of these criminal activities.

Plummerville’s crooked officials are under the control of a ruthless crime boss named Lendina (played by Sharon Stone), who is described by an unpredictable loose cannon. Lendina, who has slicked-back hair, walks around like a combination of Scarface and a spoiled socialite who likes to carry around a pet dog. Lendina almost always has her French bulldog near her. One of the movie’s flaws is that it doesn’t tell enough about Lendina, although Stone seems to be having devilish fun playing a two-dimensional villain.

The rest of “Nobody 2” goes exactly like you probably think it will. The movie makes great use of music (including Des Rocs’ cover version of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”) for the most adrenaline-pumping scenes. One of the more amusing fight scenes takes place on a tour boat, where the tour guide (played by Callum Anderson) keeps talking during a bloody brawl, as if he’s unaware of or simply tuning out all the chaos happening on the boat.

Even though “Nobody 2” has a lot of unrealistic fight scenes, what holds this movie together is the believable family dynamics in the movie. Odenkirk and Nielsen give solid performances as spouses whose marriage is put to the test. RZA also has his moments to shine as Harry. Ortiz capably handles his performance as Wyatt, who is more complicated than he first appears to be.

At its core, even with all the bombastic fights, “Nobody 2” is a movie about parenthood—especially relationships between fathers and sons—and the legacies that could be passed down through generations. Monroe, Cadarath and Hoyos are give perfectly fine performances as the movie’s main adolescent characters, who are somewhat generic. But make no mistake: “Nobody 2” is a movie made for adults. The adults—not the kids—have the most fun in the movie, for better or worse.

Universal Pictures will release “Nobody 2” in U.S. cinemas on August 15, 2025. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on Septembe 2, 2025.

Review: ‘Prey for the Devil,’ starring Jacqueline Byers, Colin Salmon, Christian Navarro, Lisa Palfrey, Nicholas Ralph, Ben Cross and Virginia Madsen

October 27, 2022

by Carla Hay

“Prey for the Devil”

Directed by Daniel Stamm

Some language in Latin with no subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Rome and an unnamed city in the United States, the horror film “Prey for the Devil” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latinos and black people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A Catholic nun defies the Catholic Church’s policy of forbidding women to perform exorcisms, around the same time that the nun develops an emotional bond with a 10-year-old girl who is believed to be possessed by the devil.

Culture Audience: “Prey for the Devil” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of exorcism horror movies, but the movie’s often-silly plot and sluggish pacing diminish any horror that would have had more of an impact.

Posy Taylor in “Prey for the Devil” (Photo by Vlad Cioplea/Lionsgate)

“Prey for the Devil” is yet another half-baked horror movie with a scattered plot, made worse by a very weak ending. The exorcism scenes only provide occasional horror that has been used in many similar movies. The acting performances range from watchable to forgettable, but these performances are undercut by a lot of very hokey dialogue. If 1973’s “The Exorcist” is the gold standard for exorcism horror movies, then “Prey for the Devil” is like a wooden, counterfeit coin.

Directed by Daniel Stamm and written by Robert Zappia, “Prey for the Devil” (which is titled “The Devil’s Light” in some countries outside the U.S.) is a movie that seems to want to say and do a lot in the story, but it’s the equivalent of someone telling a story while mumbling and going off on different tangents, with occasional outbursts that might catch people’s attention. Some characters and subplots are introduced, and could have been intriguing additions, but nothing really happens with these characters and subplots, which ultimately go nowhere. The movie also has very unrealistic portrayals of the lifestyles of Roman Catholic nuns and priests.

“Prey for the Devil” begins by showing an American girl named Ann Kraja (played by Debora Zhecheva), who’s about 7 or 8 years old, praying intensely in a room. The door is locked from the inside, and her unnamed mother (played by Koyna Ruseva) is pounding vigorously on the door and demanding that Ann let her inside. The mother uses her fists to pound on the door. And then, the mother uses her head to try to break down the door.

The movie then abruptly cuts to a scene showing an adult Ann, who is now a 25-year-old Catholic nun in an unnamed U.S. city. (“Prey for the Devil” was actually filimed in Sofia, Bulgaria.) Sister Ann (played by Jacqueline Byers) is being interviewed by a psychiatrist named Dr. Peters (played by Virginia Madsen) in a private office meeting.

Dr. Peters is asking Sister Ann to describe Ann’s mother and Ann’s childhood. (Ann’s father is not seen or mentioned in the movie.) It’s revealed in this interview and in flashbacks that Ann’s mother, who is now deceased, had schizophrenia and was very abusive to Ann. For example, Ann’s mother would tear out Ann’s hair while brushing it. Ann’s mother would also frequently beat her.

Sister Ann explains that she knew since she was a child that her mother had some type of mental illness. However, Sister Ann believes that something else was behind her mother’s abusiveness: “It was the thing inside her. She was possessed.” Sister Ann also vividly remembers that her mother would sing a particular song around the same time that the mother would inflict abuse on Ann as a child. This “demon’s song” becomes a recurring plot device throughout the movie.

Why is Sister Ann undergoing a psychiatric exam by Dr. Peters? Dr. Peters works with the Catholic Church in preparing clergy who will be learning about how to perform exorcisms. The clergy people who want to perform exorcism rituals must pass a psychiatric exam to make sure that they are mentally fit for these rituals. Near the beginning of “Prey for the Devil,” captions mention that the Catholic Church began formally teaching exorcism rituals in 1835, and the Catholic Church began teaching exorcism rituals outside of Rome in 2018.

The Catholic Church only allows male priests to perform exorcisms, but Sister Ann is eager to learn what she can, so she is allowed to attend exorcism classes on an audit basis. She’s one of only a few nuns in a classroom full of priests. The chief instructor/professor is Father Quinn (played by Colin Salmon), a Brit who likes to talk as if he’s always giving a sermon and doling out his own proverbs. At first, Father Quinn is reluctant to let Ann attend his classes, but he gradually learns to respect Ann for her determination to learn and willingness to be as helpful as possible.

Father Quinn is the type of priest who will say in his class lectures: “Demons are the foot soldiers of the devil … We have to understand the correct points of attack.” But if Father Quinn is a wannabe military-like general in this war against the devil, the movie presents some scenarios where Father Quinn is made to look woefully inept when it comes to handling real exorcisms, not simulated training sessions.

Sister Ann soon ends up becoming friendly with two priests in the class: Father Dante (played by Christian Navarro) and Father Raymond (played by Nicholas Ralph), who are both in their late 20s or early 30s. Father Dante is a former gang member who looks at Sister Ann often as if he’s physically attracted to her. Just because Catholic priests and nuns take vows of celibacy doesn’t mean they lose the ability to experience sexual attraction.

Father Raymond also seems to find Sister Ann attractive, but he isn’t as obvious about it as Father Dante is. Sister Ann is very aware that these two men think that she’s pretty, and she somewhat flirts with them in a scene where she winks at both of them in class. Does any of this sexual tension have anything to do with the exorcism story? No, but it’s an example of how the “Prey for the Devil” seems like it’s starting a subplot, and then just leaves it to dangle unresolved.

Around the same time that Sister Ann begins attending these exorcism classes, she meets a patient in a local psychiatric hospital named Natalie (played by Posy Taylor), a 10-year-old girl whose single mother is convinced that Natalie is possessed by the devil. One of the oddest things about “Prey for the Devil” is that Natalie’s mother (played by Yana Marinova) is essentially a background character who’s barely in the movie. Most of Natalie’s scenes in the movie show Natalie without any parental supervision.

Natalie is an inquisitive and precocious girl who seems to have an instant connection to Sister Ann when they first meet each other. Natalie tells Sister Ann within minutes of meeting her in the hospital, “You’re my favorite person here.” Something from Ann’s past is eventually revealed. And as soon as it’s revealed, it becomes very obvious why Natalie formed an immediate bond with Ann.

Sister Ann’s first impressions of Natalie are that Natalie is a sweet and harmless child. But it isn’t long before Natalie has a demon possession episode that Sister Ann witnesses with Father Quinn, Father Dante and Father Raymond. Father Quinn has instructed Father Dante and Father Raymond to perform the exorcism rituals on Natalie, but things get out of control, and someone in this group gets seriously injured when the demon-possessed Natalie attacks.

This exorcism scene is one of the best in “Prey for the Devil,” because it has the type of horror that should have been more prevalent in this movie. There are the expected wild-eyed hissings and extreme body contortions (through visual effects) that demon-possessed people usually have in exorcism movies. A visually striking scene involves Natalie’s hair that plunges down her mouth and then seems to have the ability to strangle. It’s the closest that “Prey for the Devil” comes to having an original scare, which is probably why this scene is featured in the movie’s poster.

But these horror moments come in stops and starts. “Prey for the Devil” has long stretches where not much happens except that Sister Ann becomes more rebellious about what she’s not allowed to do as a nun learning exorcism rituals. She has a stereotypically stern Mother Superior named Sister Euphemia (played by Lisa Palfrey), who is appalled that Sister Ann doesn’t want to follow the traditional gender roles of Catholic Church clergy. Father Dante also has a rebellious streak, so it’s easy to figure out what will happen when Sister Ann and Father Dante become close friends.

Sister Ann’s determination to continue to learn exorcism rituals gets to the point where an emergency meeting is held with a church official named Cardinal Matthews (played by Ben Cross), who has to decide if Sister Ann can continue her exorcism studies under Father Quinn’s tutelage. (Cross died in August 2020, at the age of 72, which gives you an idea of how long ago “Prey for the Devil” was filmed. The movie lists a brief dedication to Cross during the end credits.)

Just when you think that Natalie’s demonic possession will be the focus of the movie …. surprise! “Prey for the Devil” throws in a subplot about Father Dante’s younger sister Emilia (played by Cora Kirk) experiencing demonic possession too. Emilia was an unwed expectant mother whose pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. Or did it? She’s been bedridden with what appears to be depression ever since. You can easily predict how Emilia’s pregnancy issues will be used in a horror scene.

One of the biggest problems with “Prey for the Devil” is that it plays fast and loose with depicting the lifestyles of Catholic nuns and priests. Sister Ann is probably the most glamorous nun her parish has ever seen, with her shoulder-length platinum blonde hair (which is very flashy by nun standards) often styled like the actress that Byers is. Catholic nuns are supposed to have modest appearances when it comes to their hair, which is why most Catholic nuns wear their hair short or cover their hair with veils. Although Sister Ann does wear veils sometimes, when she doesn’t wear veils, she looks like she’s an actress about to go on a Hollywood audition.

The travel and leisure time of Catholic nuns and priests are usually strictly regulated and require their church’s approval. But there are scenes in the movie where Sister Ann and Father Dante seem to have an unrealistic amount of leisure time to globetrot like jet-setting clergy. Considering some of the things that Sister Ann and Father Dante do to get reprimanded by their clergy superiors, it’s unlikely that Sister Ann and Father Dante would have the type of travel freedom that’s depicted in the movie. All of this might sound like nitpicky details, but “Prey for the Devil” gets it wrong in these details—all indications of carelessness in the filmmaking.

Mostly, what’s disappointing about “Prey for the Devil” is how dull and unimaginative it is for the majority of the film. Byers looks like an actress who’s role-playing as a nun, which is why she isn’t completely convincing as Sister Ann, who wants to be taken seriously as a nun. Madsen’s Dr. Peters character is underdeveloped and is basically just in the movie to give Sister Ann pep talks telling Sister Ann not to give up.

Taylor’s portrayal of troubled child Natalie has some effectively creepy moments that are the few highlights of this boring horror movie. Salmon, Navarro, Ralph and Cross give competent performances as the male clergy, but none of these performances stands out as special. There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of the cast members’ acting, but it barely elevates the mediocre-to-bad material.

“Prey for the Devil” makes quasi-attempts to make social commentaries about sexism against women in the Catholic Church, as well as how some religions (such as Catholicism) will teach people to feel guilty about dictated morality, such as putting a stigma on pregnancy out of wedlock. But the movie has nothing clever to say about these social issues. Sister Ann wearing a priest’s robe and collar near the end of the movie doesn’t count as a clever statement of female empowerment.

The movie’s big climactic scene is a huge letdown, considering how “Prey for the Devil” could have ended in ways that are far superior to the movie’s underwhelming and very predictable conclusion to the final showdown. The movie’s visual effects are adequate, but visual effects are wasted if the overall story is subpar. And the movie’s very last scene looks like the filmmakers just ran out of ideas on how to end the film.

“Prey for the Devil” is ultimately a forgettable exorcism movie that doesn’t seem to care about bringing anything new or exciting to the sub-genre of exorcism horror. It squanders and fumbles many opportunities that shouldn’t have been squandered and fumbled. Therefore, viewers shouldn’t feel like “Prey for the Devil” is a “must-see” exorcism movie, because it’s not.

Lionsgate will release “Prey for the Devil” in U.S. cinemas on October 28, 2022.