Nobody (2021 film)

Nobody is a 2021 American action thriller film directed by Ilya Naishuller and written by Derek Kolstad. It stars Bob Odenkirk as a mild-mannered family man who returns to his former life of an assassin after his family and he become the target of a vengeful crime lord. Connie Nielsen, RZA, Aleksei Serebryakov, and Christopher Lloyd appear in supporting roles. Odenkirk and David Leitch are among the film's producers.
Universal Pictures released Nobody theatrically in the United States on March 26, 2021, and in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2021. The film grossed $57 million on a $16 million budget and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the action sequences and Odenkirk's performance. A sequel, Nobody 2, is scheduled for release on August 15, 2025.
Hutch Mansell sits inside an interrogation room, heavily bruised and injured. Two FBI agents interrogate him about his identity; Hutch responds that he is simply "nobody".
In a flashback, Hutch leads an ordinary, mundane life as an office worker with his emotionally estranged wife Becca, teenage son Brady, and young daughter Sammy. One night, two thieves break into their house with a gun. Brady and Hutch confront them, but Hutch does not attack them despite being armed with a golf club, and the thieves depart with Hutch's watch and some loose cash.
Everyone thinks Hutch a failure for not fighting, but he reveals to his brother Harry that he held back because he knew the burglar's gun was unloaded. His brother-in-law Charlie offers Hutch a gun for protection, which he initially refuses. Hutch offers to buy out his father-in-law Eddie's business, but Eddie considers it a bad offer. The following evening, Sammy realizes her cat bracelet is missing, so Hutch sets out to find it. Suspecting one of the thieves took it, he tracks them down using a tattoo one of them had and demands they return the bracelet, but leaves in frustration after realizing they do not have it and were likely robbing to pay for their infant's medical bills.
While on a bus heading home, a group of intoxicated thugs boards the bus and begins harassing a young woman; Hutch calmly but brutally fights them off. Unbeknownst to him, the group's leader, Teddy, is the brother of Yulian Kuznetsov, a Russian crime lord safeguarding the mob's obshchak money (a common treasury used to settle disputes in the Russian mafia). During the fight, Hutch breaks Teddy's windpipe before performing a crude cricothyroidotomy with a straw to allow him to breathe, but he falls into a coma and dies, enraging Yulian. Hutch returns home and is bandaged by Becca, who knows of his past. He vents his frustrations about living a mundane life to her, before they reaffirm their love for one another.
Meanwhile, Yulian manages to identify and locate Hutch using his dropped metro card, and sends a team of mobsters to his home to capture him while blackmailing a United States Department of Defense official to uncover Hutch's past. Harry calls Hutch to warn him of Teddy's connection to Yulian and suggests he check with the Barber, Hutch's former government handler. When the mobsters arrive, Hutch hides his family and kills most of the attackers, but is tased and captured. While being transported in the trunk of a car, Hutch sprays a fire extinguisher into the car, causing a crash that kills the occupants and frees Hutch. Hutch returns home, sends his family away to safety, and monologues to the mortally-injured attackers that he is a former "auditor", an assassin employed by the United States Intelligence Community. On one job in Europe, Hutch spared a repentant target who later reformed and lived happily with a new family; wanting a similar peaceful life, Hutch retired and settled down.
Realizing the injured attackers have died, Hutch retrieves a hidden cache of gold and money, burns the house down to hide all evidence, and steals his neighbor's Dodge Challenger. Two assassins attempt to kill Hutch's father David at his retirement home, but David, a retired FBI agent himself, discreetly kills them. Hutch uses his gold to buy his father-in-law's metal fabrication factory and booby traps the building before attacking the Russian mafia's headquarters and burning Yulian's obshchak money. Hutch visits Yulian at his club with a Claymore mine and offers one last chance to end the fighting, but Yulian refuses.
Hutch leaves the club and is pursued by Yulian and his men to the factory, where he is met by Harry and David, who help Hutch kill several waves of mobsters. As they begin to recover from the waves of attackers, Yulian manages to get the drop on them, wounding Harry. All out of ammo, Hutch tackles Yulian armed with the claymore taped to a panel of bulletproof glass; the shield deflects the explosion, killing Yulian and injuring Hutch.
The police arrive and take Hutch into custody, returning the film to the opening interrogation. The agents suddenly receive simultaneous phone calls, and Hutch is released without charges. Three months later, Hutch and his family have returned to normal life and are buying a new house, when Hutch receives a call hinting that more trouble may be on the way.
In a mid-credits scene, David and Harry are shown carrying guns in their family campervan, presumably across the border.
Additionally, Humberly González and Edsson Morales portray Lupita and Luis Martin, the thieves who break into Hutch's home. The thugs on the bus are played by Daniel Bernhardt, Alain Moussi, and Stéphane Julien, while the young woman is played by Megan Best. J. P. Manoux plays a Pentagon employee who is blackmailed by the Russian mafia. The FBI agents in Hutch's interrogation are portrayed by Kristen Harris and Erik Athavale. Director Ilya Naishuller and musician Sergey Shnurov appear as Anatoly and Valentin, respectively, the hitmen killed by David.
In January 2018, Bob Odenkirk was announced to be set to star in the film, with Ilya Naishuller directing from a screenplay by Derek Kolstad. Odenkirk also served as a producer, alongside David Leitch. Kolstad executive produced, along with Marc S. Fischer, Annie Marter, and Tobey Maguire. STX Entertainment was set to distribute the film. In April 2019, Universal Pictures acquired distribution rights to the film from STX as part of an overall first-look deal with 87North Productions. In October 2019, Connie Nielsen and Christopher Lloyd also joined the cast. Odenkirk spent two years training with stuntman Daniel Bernhardt for the role and avoided bulking up as he didn't want to look like a superhero.
Principal photography began in Los Angeles in September 2019. Production moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba in October 2019. Filming lasted 34 days.
Nobody was originally scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on August 14, 2020, by Universal Pictures. After being repeatedly rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was ultimately released in theaters on March 26, 2021. The film was released in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2021.
The film was released digitally via premium video-on-demand on April 15, 2021, on digital on June 8, 2021, and on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 22, 2021. The film became available on HBO Max on January 21, 2022, and as part of the streaming deal for Universal Pictures, the film permanently left the library on March 31, 2023.
Nobody grossed $27.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $29.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $57.5 million, against a production budget of $16 million.
A week prior to its United States release, Variety estimated the film would gross around $5 million in its opening weekend, compared to its expectation that it would have opened to around $15 million in a pre-COVID marketplace. The film made $2.5 million on its first day, and went on to debut to $6.7 million, topping the box office. 62% of the audience was male, with 56% being under the age of 35. The film fell 56% to $3 million in its second weekend, finishing third.
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 84% of 282 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critics' consensus reads, "Nobody doesn't break any new ground for the genre, but this viscerally violent thriller smashes, shatters, and destroys plenty of other things – all while proving Bob Odenkirk has what it takes to be an action star." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100 based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 83% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 69% saying they would definitely recommend it.
The Hollywood Reporter's John DeFore praised the film's "enjoyably absurd violence", and wrote, "Taking itself much less seriously than the Taken series and its predecessors, it's a wish-fulfillment romp just as ludicrous as any of them, but more fun than most." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, writing, "Most impressive of all is Odenkirk, who looks and sounds nothing like an action star until it's time for Hutch to become an action star, and we totally believe this physically unimpressive, normally mild-mannered guy as a simmering cauldron of rage who could take that teapot over there and kill ya with it."
In March 2021, Connie Nielsen expressed interest in reprising her role for a sequel. The actress stated that she would like to learn more about Hutch and Becca's backstory, while stating that discussions regarding how the two characters met took place on the set of the first film. In June of the same year, it was announced that Kolstad was in the process of writing a sequel, although it had yet to be green-lit by the studio. In March 2022, 87North Productions announced on social media that the studio was looking forward to working on Nobody 2, though no official production date was announced at that time. By August of the same year, Leitch confirmed that work on the script was ongoing, while stating that the studio had committed to releasing a sequel.
In December 2022, McCormick announced that a sequel was officially happening, with principal photography scheduled for 2023. In January 2024, Nielsen confirmed that developments on the sequel were ongoing while confirming that she would reprise her role from the first installment. In March 2024, producer David Leitch confirmed production was set to begin by the end of 2024. In June 2024, Timo Tjahjanto was confirmed to be directing the sequel from a script written by Derek Kolstad, Aaron Rabin, and Umair Aleem, with Odenkirk reprising his role, as well. In July 2024, Sharon Stone was confirmed to have been cast in the sequel along with an August 15, 2025, release date.
In March 2021, Kolstad was asked about the potential for a crossover between the John Wick franchise and Nobody. As the films are distributed by different companies (Lionsgate and Universal, respectively), Kolstad indicated this was unlikely and stated the franchises were "very different"; at most, he would like to see it done in a small and subtle Easter egg-reference manner. Later that month, director Ilya Naishuller was asked about a potential crossover, and pointing out that two different studios are involved, said, "That's all I'll say. I mean, everything's possible. Stranger things have definitely happened, but... yeah."
In June 2021, Kolstad stated that if any crossover occurred, he would prefer it in a minimalist fashion, and opined that he would prefer John Wick and Hutch Mansell be on the same side should the characters share more screen time.