Nobody 2 might as well be called Nobody: Wisconsin Vacation because it stays true to the protagonist’s motif of taking it easy. It doesn’t really take the material in any new direction or switch up the gritty anti-hero’s focus on masculinity with brushstrokes no less broad. This film starts with Bob Odenkirk bloody and sitting next to a wolf. There is not much of any reason given why the wolf is in that opening scene, but the film’s brutal gusto is ever-present to always ask questions like “Do you really care why there’s a wolf in this scene?”

The change of scenery is at least a nice diversion that gives Odenkirk’s violent character, Hutch Mansell, a respite from more hitman plots and assassinations. After a rousing battle amid automatic weapons and machetes, Hutch realizes he’s got to be more present with his family. His marriage to Becca (Connie Nielsen) is clearly strained, and he struggles to talk to his kids, especially given Brady’s (Gage Munroe) concerning ability to get into fights and the fact that Sammy has nothing to do but be a magnet for cruel people that Hutch can punch really hard. To restore his family bond, Hutch takes them on a vacation to a Wisconsin waterpark, bringing along his eccentric, cigar-chomping dad (Christopher Lloyd).

This is a film that tries to distract as much from how much it forgets to address in the first act. Issues of a strained marriage and worrying about teachable masculinity mostly get sidelined when there’s plenty of assassins to target. All it takes is an explosive act from Hutch defending his daughter to piss off some cops and attract the attention of bootleg mastermind Lendina, played with vicious style by Sharon Stone. Stone’s performance embodies the best and worst of this film, where she’s given tiresome villain lines and characterizations, but does her best to make a meal out of them. She practically becomes a cartoon villain with how she carries around her dog and grits her death with a lust for murder so high she might as well be getting off to every fired bullet and knife slash. The same goes for Colin Hanks as a cocky sheriff with a bad haircut, John Ortiz as a corrupt man turned ally who calls out the crazy white people, and RZA stopping by in the third act as though he were on his way to a samurai movie one set over.

How effective the film will be depends on how spectacular the violence appears, which rests on how cartoonish you want this story to get. On that level, I think it has just enough punches to be serviceable, despite packing less fury than the previous film. All the fast editing and dark humor are still present, but framed with more absurdity to favor a waterpark and carnival for all the explosions and gunfire. But at a brisk 89 minutes, there’s so little time to set up anything that the finale just falls into place while every other lingering thematic element falls off the sides of this minuscule running time. This doesn’t diminish the more delicious scenes of RZA slicing open somebody’s face or Lloyd mowing down bad guys with a massive machine gun, but there are moments where a tougher assassin will be gunned down with the assassin next to her yelling in pain about the loss of her comrade. The violence is fine so long as you’re not asking “Why was she crying for her associate?” and “Who is crying in the first place?”

Nobody 2 is nothing new, but it has moments of blistering charm in its goofy violence, despite taking it easier after its predecessor. There are still a handful of sweet moments that make Odenkirk’s character more believable before his over-the-top, John Wick-style fighting style takes center stage. Those hoping for more scenes of Odenkirk kicking ass won’t be let down, but those hoping for more of a focus on masculinity will be disappointed by how much more lacking this picture delivers on that aspect, resolving the minor issue early before the mindless carnage takes hold. Then again, it was never all that engaging, so perhaps it’s for the best that the tangential themes go on vacation as well. There’s something mildly admirable about a film like this reclining further back into the relaxing position of brainless brutality.