The following contains minor spoilers for Nobody 2Nobody 2 manages to do something that the John Wick franchise has never achieved, helping put to bed the comparisons between the two action franchises. Nobody 2 brings back the main characters from the first film for a new story, this time bringing Hutch and his family on a nice vacation that quickly goes sideways. In contrast to the harsher and grittier style of the grounded 2021 action film Nobody, Nobody 2 shifts to daytime fist fights and confrontations inside arcades.

This plays into Nobody 2‘s embrace of comedic elements, which benefits the film and makes it an enjoyable riff on the action genre. In fact, this tweak to the franchise is quietly the best thing the filmmakers could have done. It’s the perfect way to reinvent the action in a way the John Wick series never has (and likely never could), giving it a distinct tone from the action movies it is most often compared to. Here’s why Nobody 2 is able to so effectively shift gears to become a comedy, and why John Wick could never do the same.

Nobody 2 Pivots The Franchise To Comedy More Than John Wick Ever Has

Nobody 2 embraces a much sillier tone than its predecessor, giving it a comedic edge that helps distinguish it from other similar action films like the John Wick series. 2021’s Nobody took cues from that action hit, with a similar emphasis on surprisingly brutal and well-choreographed action. It also focused on a former unstoppable killer brought back into the field after retiring.

Nobody had some lighter moments of levity and more dramatic family beats thanks to its suburban riff on that similar underlying concept, but it was still an action movie at heart. Nobody 2, by contrast, is a far brighter and overtly silly movie. Even the opening montages of intense combat come with a sense of exasperated comedy from Bob Odenkirk.

The rest of the movie leans into this lighter touch, with Hutch and his family’s vacation to Plumerville leading him to use arcade machines and ball pits to dispatch a small army of trained killers. There’s a certain amount of gory glee to some of the more brutal kills in the film, contrasting against the trope-y villains and intense moments.

The result is a family comedy that mines as much tension from Hutch’s marital strife as it does from life-and-death gunfights. Bob Odenkirk’s performance lends itself well to this approach, with the exhausted middle-aged Dad trying his best (and often failing) to keep the stone-cold unstoppable action hero from getting loose. It’s a good push and pull that gets big laughs.

It seems impossible to imagine a John Wick movie that fully leaned into comedy. Keanu Reeves can be very funny, but John himself is such a blunt instrument of a character that a tonal shift like in the Nobody films would feel disingenuous. By contrast, Nobody 2 works because it only amplifies the softer elements of the first film.

Nobody 2’s Genre Change Makes It Completely Different From John Wick

John Wick had some moments of dark comedy and unexpected humor, which helped break the tension of the non-stop fighting. However, the movies never became outright comedies in the way Nobody 2 does. A big part of this is the inherent tone of the characters. John Wick is fueled by grief and anger in a way that Hutch isn’t.

Hutch may have issues containing his rage, especially when it is given a righteous cause and a worthy target. However, Hutch is also a family man who reminisces about childhood vacations and goes on merry-go-rounds with his kids. This sweet natural family dynamic and the incongruous harsh action beats give Nobody 2 a unique tenor compared to Wick.

This tonal shift can be felt in the villains too, especially Sharon Stone’s crime boss Lendina and Colin Hanks’ corrupt sheriff Abel. Abel clearly thinks he’s a big fish in a small pond, a belief that is constantly subverted and undercut. Lendina shares a sense of style and ruthlessness with John Wick’s villains, but is also an unstable weirdo who is hard not to laugh at.

Nobody 2 tackles a very different tone than the first Nobody, in a way that separates it from lots of other modern action films. If anything, the wacky approach to turning a theme park into a death trap feels like something out of an R-rated Home Alone. There’s a gleeful element to it that makes it funny in a way John Wick could never be.

This is probably the best decision that Nobody 2 makes. Nobody could credibly be called out for replicating a lot of what makes John Wick work, right down to the main character being drawn into a battle with a Russian-coded mafia head because the hero ran afoul of their cruel relative.

Nobody 2 takes the elements that made the first film unique (the family man angle and Bob Odenkirk’s self-aware exhaustion) and leans in, distinguishing Nobody 2 as a film that can have grisly action and goofy bits from other action films. It helps Nobody 2 escape the shadow John Wick casts over the entire action genre.