Nobody 2 is a far cry from being one of the best new movies of the year so far. Before I dig a little deeper into what went wrong, I must stress that I cannot think of a single word more apt to describe it than ‘naff’.
For anyone unfamiliar with UK slang, the dictionary definition tells us the word ‘naff’ is “something that lacks taste or style,” and you’d generally use it to describe something that’s a little cringeworthy in its rubbishness. If you went to see a musical put on by a local amateur dramatics society, if your mum ordered something off of eBay that’s arrived looking nothing like its picture, if you’ve watched a total comedic flop like Nobody 2… they’re all excellent times to use it as a descriptor.
Four years after the original Nobody film – which was one of the most-watched movies on Netflix – took place, Bob Odenkirk’s oddball hitman Hutch Mansell is back, and this time, he just wants to catch a break. Taking his family on holiday to Plummerville – a quaint Midwestern town where his dad took him on his one and only vacation as a kid – Hutch unknowingly walks into the middle of a crime syndicate operated between the local cops and boss Lendina (Sharon Stone). From there, it’s outright chaos to get the freedom to be left alone, and it comes at a price for almost everyone involved. That, my friends, is more interesting than watching it. Better Call Saul, it is not.
It blows my mind that an action movie that’s so incredibly gory can be as simultaneously mundane as Nobody 2. If you took away the (genuinely impressive) kills, standoffs, and fluke accidents, you’re left with an end product that’s so forgettable, it wouldn’t even live up to being a satisfying movie to watch on the plane. Weirdly, it’s difficult to decide who or what is at fault, with everything blending together in one homogenous blur that if it was a spice, it would be flour.
Nobody 2 has managed to make violence boring with no laughs to boot
The main takeaway from Nobody 2 is that it’s just not funny. Odenkirk tries his best with a plain Jane script to land some comedic blows, but even his sharp and wry wit doesn’t really get very far. The concept of a hitman taking his family on vacation unknowingly to a criminal hotspot should be a slam dunk, but once you’ve seen the reality blow up in Hutch’s face once, you’ve seen the whole narrative arc. We don’t really move on from the “I don’t know what I’m doing here, but I’m going to take every wrong’un I see on to hopefully be left alone” mentality, which means structurally, Nobody 2 is more of a small hill than a giant rollercoaster. Which in itself is ironic, as there are some excruciatingly brilliant deaths involving various fairground rides.
So, where does the problem come from? For me, it’s a combination of script, general story direction, and a tendency to rely on gimmicks. Why do we need to properly unpack relationships and motives when we can just watch Odenkirk punch people, set money on fire (yes, something we saw the first time, big shock) and watch Stone’s villain stab people over a game of poker. Stone herself is introduced way too late in the game, making Plummerville’s criminal hierarchy convoluted and difficult to follow. We don’t really care about who she is (which apparently has no more substance than just ‘being crazy’) by the time we see her as we’ve been led to believe someone else is the main antagonist… but despite an objectively cool tonal switch, it’s hard to be invested in the stakes.
Of course, good is going to triumph over evil and a lot of bad guys are going down in the interim. Of course, our leads will fix their romantic family problems, and fall more in love with each other than they ever have been in their fractured little lives. If a film is going to hit so many expected plot points, it has to have something else to offer. Aside from bombastic violence choices – and more on that in a moment – Nobody 2 fails to check this box (although I’ll give it the surprise pipeline of Queen Vic landlord to M-style mafioso, but that probably only chimes a chord with the Brits).
It’s not all bad news… it’s just mostly bad news
Bob Odenkirk as Hutch in Nobody 2. (Image credit: Universal Pictures)
I’m not that mean, though… Nobody 2 does have a few redeeming qualities. For starters, our cast put in solid ensemble performances, with Connie Nielsen’ Becca particularly stealing the spotlight while rightly putting Hutch in his place. It’s light-hearted fun to follow the family as they get in a few successful holiday frolics, and this is largely where the few laughs that do translate pay off. What really steals the show is the fight scenes. I know I’ve slated them a bit here, but boy, are they something to behold.
I do have to give it to the team for coming up with such creative ways for somebody to meet their maker. Faces get sliced horizontally in half, men are impaled on surfboards, and one even gets his head cut open on a table saw. Hutch kills people with the apologetic bumbling of a dad who just can’t help getting in the way, and the contrast works well in the heat of the moment. You’re probably going to dry heave, bring your hands to your mouth or gasp out loud in sudden shock. I did all three, and I’m feeling queasy just thinking back to those moments.
There might not be a method in the madness, but there is some fun. Nobody 2 is a pretty poor follow-up to an already pretty poor original action movie, though as my friends and I discussed after watching, the sequel (despite its dullness) is a definite improvement. We should all quit while we’re ahead and not make this a trilogy… Hutch said he wanted a rest, so let’s give him one.
The iPhone 16e is a good phone. It has a pleasing design, and it feels like a true member of the iPhone 16 family. It is not a great phone, though – how could it be with a retro notch in the Super Retina XDR display and just a single 48MP camera?
There are 'budget' phones that cost far less and which have larger screens and multiple rear cameras. They're not iOS handsets, and that counts for something – any new iPhone joins an expansive and well-designed ecosystem offering connective tissue between excellent Apple services and other Apple hardware. I mostly live in that world now, and I appreciate how well my iPhone 16 Pro Max works with, for instance, my Mac, and how all my cloud-connected services know it's me on the line.
It's been a while since I've had such conflicting feelings about an iPhone. I appreciate that Apple thought it was time to move away from the iPhone SE design language, one that owed most of its look and feel to 2017's iPhone 8. I'm sure Apple couldn't wait to do away with the Lightning port and the Home button with Touch ID (which lives on in Macs and some iPads). But instead of giving us something fresh, Apple took a bit of this and a bit of that to cobble together the iPhone 16e.
The display is almost the best Apple has to offer if you can ignore the notch, aren't bothered by larger bezels, and don't miss the Dynamic Island too much. The main 48MP Fusion camera is very good and shoots high-quality stills and videos, but don't be fooled by the claims of 2x zoom, which is actually a 12MP crop on the middle of the 48MP sensor. I worry that people paying $599 / £599 / AU$999 for this phone will be a little frustrated that they're not at least getting a dedicated ultra-wide camera at that price.
Conversely, there is one bit of this iPhone 16e that's not only new but is, for the moment, unique among iPhone 16 devices: the C1 chip. I don't know why Apple's cheapest iPhone got this brand-new bit of Apple silicon, but it does a good job of delivering 5G and even satellite connectivity. Plus, it starts moving Apple out from under the yolk of Qualcomm, Apple's cellular modem chip frenemy. That relationship has been fraught for years, and I wonder if Apple had originally hoped to put the C1 in all iPhone 16 models but the development schedule slipped.
The iPhone 16e (center) with the iPhone 16 (right) and iPhone SE 3 (left). (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
In any case, while it's hard to measure the connectivity benefits (it's another good 5G modem), Apple says this is the most efficient cellular modem it's ever put in an iPhone (that seems like a swipe at Qualcomm), and helps to deliver stellar battery life: a claimed 26 hours of video streaming. Battery life in real-world use will, naturally, be a different story.
On balance, I like this phone's performance (courtesy of the A18 chip and 8GB of RAM), its looks, and how it feels in the hand (a matte glass back and Ceramic Shield front), and I think iOS 18 with Apple Intelligence is well-thought-out and increasingly intelligent (though Siri remains a bit of a disappointment); but if you're shopping for a sub-$600 phone, there may be other even better choices from the likes of Google (Pixel 8a), OnePlus (OnePlus 13R) and the anticipated Samsung Galaxy S25 FE. You just have to be willing to leave the Apple bubble.
Apple iPhone 16e: Price and availability
Apple unveiled the iPhone 16e on February 19, 2025. It joins the iPhone 16 lineup, and starts at $599 / £599 / AU$999 with 128GB of storage, making it the most affordable smartphone of the bunch. It's available in black or white.
While some might consider the iPhone 16e to be the successor to the iPhone SE 3, it has little in common with that device. In particular, that was a $429 phone. At $599, Apple might be stretching the definition of budget, but it is $200 cheaper than the base iPhone 16. The phone's price compares somewhat less favorably outside the iOS sphere. The OnePlus 13R for instance is a 6.7-inch handset with three cameras, and the Google Pixel 8a matches the iPhone 16e's 6.1-inch screen size (though at a lower resolution), but also includes two rear cameras.
You won't find more affordable new phones in the iOS space. The iPhone 15 has the main and ultra-wide camera and the Dynamic Island, but it costs $699 / £699 / AU$1,249. A refurbished iPhone 14 costs $529, but neither it nor the iPhone 15 supports Apple Intelligence.
Value score: 4/5
Apple iPhone 16: Specs
Apple iPhone 16e: Design
No trace of the iPhone SE design remains
Hybrid iPhone 14/15 design
Sharper edges than the current iPhone 16 design
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(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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There's no question that the iPhone 16e is a part of the iPhone 16 family. At a glance, especially when the screen is off, it's almost a dead ringer for the base model; the aerospace aluminum fame is only slightly smaller.
Upon closer examination, those similarities recede, and I can see the myriad differences that make this a true hybrid design. This is now the only iPhone with a single camera, which almost looks a little lonely on the matte glass back. The edges of the metal band that wraps around the body are noticeably sharper than those of any other iPhone 16, but the phone still feels good in the hand.
The button configuration is essentially what you'd find on an iPhone 15. There's the power / sleep / Siri button on the right, and on the left are the two volume buttons and the Action button. Unlike the rest of the iPhone 16 lineup the 16e doesn't get the Camera Control, but at least the Action button is configurable, so you can set it to activate the camera or toggle the Flashlight, Silent Mode, Voice Memo, and more. I set mine to launch Visual Intelligence, an Apple Intelligence feature: you press and hold the Action button once to open it, and press again to grab a photo, and then you can select on-screen if you want ChatGPT or Google Search to handle the query. Apple Intelligence can also analyze the image directly and identify the subject.
The phone is iP68 rated to handle water and dust, including a dunk in six meters of water for 30 minutes. The screen is protected with a Ceramic Shield to better protect it from drops, though I'm not sure it does much to prevent scratches.
I put a case on the phone, never dropped it, and handled it gingerly, and yet within a day I noticed a long scratch on the screen, although I have no recollection of brushing the display against anything. I had a similar situation with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra; I await the phone that can handle life in my pocket (empty other than the phone) without sustaining a scratch.
Overall, if you like the looks of the iPhone 16 lineup (or even the iPhone 14 and 15 lineups) the iPhone 16e will not disappoint.
Design score: 4 / 5
Apple iPhone 16e: Display
Almost Apple's best smartphone display
The notch is back
The bezels are a little bigger
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
If you're coming from the iPhone SE to the iPhone 16E, you're in for quite a shock. This 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR OLED screen is nothing like the 4.7-inch LCD display on that now-retired design.
The iPhone 16e features a lovely edge-to-edge design – with slightly larger bezels than you'll find on other iPhone 16 phones – that leaves no room for the dearly departed Touch ID Home button. Instead, this phone adopts the Face ID biometric security, which is, as far as I'm concerned, probably the best smartphone face recognition in the business. Face ID lives in the TrueDepth camera system notch, which also accommodates, among other things, the 12MP front-facing camera, microphone, and proximity sensor.
While I never had a big problem with the notch, I can't say I'm thrilled to see it return here. The rest of the iPhone 16 lineup features the versatile Dynamic Island, which I think most would agree is preferable to this cutout.
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The iPhone 16e (left) next to the iPhone SE 3 (middle), and the iPhone 16. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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The iPhone 16e shares the iPhone 16's 460ppi resolution, but it does lose a few pixels (2532 x 1170 versus 2556 x 1179 for the iPhone 16). It still supports True Tone, Wide color (P3), and a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The only area where it loses a bit of oomph is on the brightness front. Peak brightness for HDR content is 1,200 nits, and all other content is 800nits. The iPhone 16's peak outdoor brightness is 2,000 nits. As with other non-pro models, the refresh rate on the iPhone 16e sits at a fixed 60Hz.
Even so, I had no trouble viewing the iPhone 16e screen in a wide variety of lighting situations, and any shortcomings are only evident in the brightest, direct sunlight.
In day-to-day use, everything from photos and video to AAA games, apps, and websites looks great on this display. Colors are bright and punchy, and the blacks are inky. I'm not distracted by the notch on games, where it can cut a bit into the gameplay view, and most video streaming defaults to a letterbox format that steers clear of it, with black bars on the left and right sides of the screen.
Display score: 4 / 5
Apple iPhone 16e: Software and Apple Intelligence
iOS 18 is a rich and well-thought-out platform
Apple Intelligence has some impressive features, but we await the Siri of our dreams
Mail and photo redesigns leave something to be desired
iOS 18 is now smarter, more proactive, and more customizable than ever before. I can transform every app icon from 'Light' to 'Tinted' (monochromatic), fill my home screen with widgets, and expand them until they almost fill the screen. This customizability carries through to the Control Center, which is now a multi-page affair that I can leave alone, or completely reorganize so the tools I care about are available with a quick swipe down from the upper-right corner.
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Apple Intelligence, which Apple unveiled last June, is growing in prominence and utility. It lives across apps like Messages and Email in Writing Tools, which is a bit buried so I often forget it exists. It's in notification summaries that can be useful for at-a-glance action but which are sometimes a bit confusing, and in image-generation tools like Image Playground and Genmojis.
It's also in Visual intelligence, which, as have it set up, gives me one-button access to ChatGPT and Google Search.
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Apple Intelligence Clean Up does an excellent job of removing those big lights (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
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See? (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
I think I prefer the more utilitarian features of Apple Intelligence like Clean Up. It lets you quickly remove people and objects from photos as if they were never there in the first place.
I'm also a fan of Audio Mix, which is not a part of Apple Intelligence, but uses machine learning to clean up the messiest audio to make it usable in social media, podcasts, or just for sharing with friends.
iOS 18 also features updated Photos and Mail apps with Apple Intelligence. I've struggled a bit with how Photos reorganized my images, and I've had similar issues with how Mail is now reorganizing my emails. I hope Apple takes another run at these apps in iOS 19.
Siri is smarter and more aware of iPhone features than before. It can handle my vocal missteps, and still knows what I want, but remains mostly unaware of my on-device information, and feels far less conversational and powerful as a chatbot than Google Gemini and ChatGPT.
Software score: 4.5 / 5
Apple iPhone 16e: Camera
48MP Fusion is a good camera
The front-facing camera shines as well
A single rear camera at this price is disappointing
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
With a more powerful CPU, a bigger screen, and the new C1 chip, I can almost understand why Apple set the iPhone 16e price as high as it did. Almost… until I consider the single, rear 48MP Fusion camera. Most smartphones in this price range feature at least two lenses, and usually the second one is an ultra-wide – without that lens you miss out on not only dramatic ultra-wide shots but also macro photography capabilities. Had Apple priced this camera at $499, I might understand.
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Still, I like this camera. It defaults to shooting in 24MP, which is a bin of the 48MP available on the sensor (two pixels for each single image pixel to double the image information). There's a 2x zoom option, which is useful, but it's only shooting at 12MP because it's only using the central 12 megapixels from the full 48MP frame. These images are still good, but just not the same resolution as the default or what you could get shooting full-frame.
Overall, the camera shoots lovely photos with exquisite detail and the kind of color fidelity I appreciate (in people and skies especially) in a wide variety of scenarios. I captured excellent still lifes, portraits, and night-mode shots. I was also impressed with the front camera, which is especially good for portrait-mode selfies. Much of this image quality is thanks to the work Apple has done on its Photonic Engine. Apple's computational image pipeline pulls out extraordinary detail and nuance in most photographic situations, even if it is for just these two cameras.
C1, Apple's first cellular modem, is effective for 5G and satellite connectivity
If you're wondering why the successor to the iPhone SE is not a $429 smartphone, you might look at the processing combo of the powerful A18 and the new C1.
The A18 is the same chip you'll find in the iPhone 16, with the exception of one fewer GPU core. I promise you'll never notice the difference.
Performance scores are excellent, and in line with the numbers we got for other A18 chips (and slightly lower than what you get from the A18 Pro in the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max).
The A18 has more than enough power not just for day-to-day tasks like email and web browsing, but for 4K video editing (which I did in CapCut) and AAA gaming (game mode turns on automatically to divert more resources toward gaming). I played Asphalt 9 United, Resident Evil 4, and Call of Duty Mobile, and made things easier for myself by connecting my Xbox controller. My only criticism would be that a 6.1-inch screen is a little tight for these games. The audio from the stereo speakers, by the way, is excellent – I get an impressive spatial audio experience with Resident Evil 4.
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There's also the new C1 chip, which is notable because it's Apple's first custom cellular mobile chip. Previously Apple relied on, among other partners, Qualcomm for this silicon. I didn't notice any difference in connectivity with the new chip, which is a good thing – and I was impressed that I could use text via satellite.
(Image credit: Future)
I didn't think I'd get to test this feature, but AT&T connectivity is so bad in my New York neighborhood that the SOS icon appeared at the top of my iPhone 16e screen, and next to it I noticed the satellite icon. I opened messages, and the phone asked if I wanted to use the Satellite texting feature. I held the phone near my screen door to get a clear view of the sky, and followed the on-display guide that told me which way to point the phone. I got a 'Connected' notification, and then sent a few SMS texts over satellite. It's a nifty feature, and it was a nice little test of the C1's capabilities.
Performance score: 5 / 5
Apple iPhone 16e: Battery
Long lasting
Wireless charging
No MagSafe
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
It's clear that Apple has prioritized battery life on the iPhone 16e over some other features. That would likely explain, for instance, why we have wireless charging but not MagSafe support – adding that magnetic ring might have eaten into battery space. The C1 chip is apparently smaller than the modem chip in other iPhone 16 models, and even the decision to include one camera instead of two probably helped make room for what is a larger battery than even the one in the iPhone 16.
Apple rates the iPhone 16e for 26 hours of video-rundown battery life – that's about four hours more than the iPhone 16. In my real-world testing the battery life has been very good, but varied use can run the battery down in far fewer than 26 hours.
On one day when I did everything from email and web browsing to social media consumption and then a lot of gaming, battery life was about 12 hours – gaming in particular really chewed through the battery and made the phone pretty warm.
My own video rundown test (I played through episodes of Better Call Saul on Netflix) returned about 24 hours of battery life.
I used a 65W USB-C charger to charge the phone to 57% in 30 minutes, with a full charge taking about one hour and 50 minutes. I also tried a 20W charger, which charged the phone to 50% in 30 minutes.
Battery score: 5 / 5
Should you buy the Apple iPhone 16e?
iPhone 16e score card
Buy it if..
You want an affordable, smaller iPhone
This is now your only brand-new 'budget' iPhone choice.
You want sub-$600 access to Apple Intelligence
Apple squeezed a A18 chip inside this affordable iPhone to give you access to Apple's own brand of AI.
Don’t buy it if...
You're a photographer
A single, albeit excellent, rear lens won't be enough for people who like to shoot wide-angle and macros.
You never liked the notch
Apple bringing back a none-too-loved display feature doesn't make a lot of sense. If you want the Dynamic Island at a more affordable price than the iPhone 16, take a look at the iPhone 15.
You want a real zoom lens
The 2x zoom on the iPhone 16e is not a true optical zoom; instead, it's a full-frame sensor crop. If a big optical zoom is your thing, look elsewhere.
As soon as you step outside the Apple ecosystem you'll find more affordable phones with more features. The Pixel 8a is not as powerful as the iPhone 16e, but it has a nice build, two cameras, excellent Google services integration, and affordable access to Gemini AI features.
I've reviewed countless smartphones ranging from the most affordable models to flagships and foldables. I put every phone through as many rigorous tests and everyday tasks as possible.
I had the iPhone 16e for just under a week, and after receiving it I immediately started taking photos, running benchmarks, and using it as an everyday device for photos, videos, email, social media, messaging, streaming video, and gaming.
Correction 2-27-2025: A previous version of this review listed Audio Mix as part of Apple Intelligence.
