This is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures.
Director Timo Tjahjanto’s deplorably violent thriller is palatable solely because of the macabre dark humor in Derek Kolstad and Aaron Rabin’s crazy script, and the hilariously stoic performance by star Bob Odenkirk.
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| Four men get into an elevator, followed by the apparently mild-mannered Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk, center). How many will survive the trip? |
In this film’s 2021 predecessor, Hutch Mansell (Odenkirk) was introduced as a mundane office worker whose bland life concealed the fact that he was a former “auditor” (assassin) employed by the U.S. Intelligence Community. His ordinary existence — alongside emotionally starved wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), teenage son Brady (Gage Munroe) and adolescent daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) — was interrupted by “events beyond his control.” In the aftermath, he and his family began anew.
Except not really, as this sequel quickly makes clear. A fleeting prologue, mimicking an identical scene in the earlier film, finds a bruised and badly damaged Hutch being interrogated by FBI agents ... this time alongside a large dog with a soulful gaze.
One bewildered agent asks, “Who are you?,” prompting Hutch to respond via a long flashback.
Things having gone very wrong during the intervening years, Hutch now spends his days “processing” assignments for “The Barber” (Colin Salmon), his former government handler. Hutch is slowly working off a $30 million debt incurred when he earlier destroyed the Russian Mob’s cash reserve.
Sadly, the constant daily grind — skirmishes, fights, all-out melees — have taken a toll on Hutch’s marriage and home life. He barely sees his wife and children, and Becca — fully aware of what he does, although this is kept from their children — flirts with the notion of leaving him.
Hutch isn’t blind; he recognizes the need to make amends. He therefore proposes a vacation to Wild Bill’s Majestic Midway and Waterpark, a family-friendly theme park in nearby Plummerville. It was the one and only place where Hutch and his brother Harry went on vacation as kids. In short, it’s one of Hutch’s few happy childhood memories.
(Filming actually took place in Winnipeg, Manitoba; production designer Michael Diner was inspired by classic Midwestern Americana burgs like the Wisconsin Dells, where Odenkirk’s family vacationed when he was a kid.)
The Barber tolerates this brief respite, albeit with a warning: “Wherever you go, you’ll be you.”
Meaning, Hutch can’t help finding trouble that needs to be extinguished.
He initially keeps his promise, and the charmingly retro amusement park includes tiki-themed hotel rooms that enchant Becca; Hutch even remembers to bring their favorite wine.
Alas, a routine visit to a local arcade prompts a ruckus when Brady unknowingly provokes the anger of a local bully. Hutch attempts to defuse the situation, but a) the kid shreds a stuffed animal that Sammy had just won; and b) one of the adult arcade operators intentionally smacks the girl’s head as the family departs.
Well, hell; what’s a father to do?
Unfortunately, in the aftermath Hutch discovers that the now-damaged bully is the son of corrupt theme park owner Wyatt Martin (John Ortiz), who is in league with the equally shady Sheriff Abel (Colin Hanks). Worse yet, they’re both dealing massive quantities of drugs, explosives and some sort of nasty “biological entity” on behalf of Lendina (an all but unrecognized Sharon Stone), a totally unhinged, vicious and gleefully blood-thirsty crime boss.
What follows is an escalating series of 13 distinctive, dog-nuts skirmishes with all manner of baddies, as Hutch reluctantly works his way up the criminal food chain. The last fracas is an explosive orgy of violence cleverly staged late one evening, on the entire grounds of Wild Bill’s Majestic Midway and Waterpark (a marvelous setting, to be sure).
Stunt designers/coordinators Greg Rementer, Kyle McClean and Kirk Jenkins orchestrate increasingly improbable fights, enlivened by Hutch’s quick-witted ability to make defensive weapons from “found” objects such as conduit flex, life preservers, pool noodles and anything else at hand.
The mayhem often is choreographed to screaming pop tunes such as The Human Beinz’s “Nobody But Me” and Mrozu’s “Jak Nie My To Kto,” which are countered strikingly — during quieter moments — by happy anthems such as Tony Bennett’s “The Good Life” and Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” (performed here by Des Rocs).
Odenkirk is marvelous as Hutch. He gets maximum use from his deadpan reaction to each fresh crisis, his weary expression screaming, “Oh Gawd, must we do this again?” Nielsen adds a bit of dramatic heft as the conflicted Becca, who proves unexpectedly talented in her own right, during the third act climax.
Munroe also injects minor dramatic heft, as the conflicted Brady struggles over whether to emulate or loathe his hair-trigger violent father. Cadorath, alas, is little more than window dressing as the meek and oddly childlike Sammy. (Heck, she isn’t that young!)
Stone is extravagantly hysterical as the gleefully deranged Lendina, who casually orders the execution of innocents and shivers with delight every time she personally takes a hand in things. Hanks is suitably cold, calculating and quietly menacing as Sheriff Abel; Salmon is his usual urbane self as The Barber.
Christopher Lloyd has fun as Hutch’s geezer father David, who — as a former FBI agent — also proves useful in a pinch. RZA makes a welcome late entry as Harry.
I’d love to credit the charismatic dog that plays a crucial role during the climax, but the film’s production notes fail to mention the pooch. (For shame!)
At best, Tjahjanto’s film is easily disposable trash ... but it’s larkishly enjoyable trash.
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