NOBODY:
BOB ODENKIRK TAKES AN UNEXPECTED TURN AS A BRUTAL ASS-KICKER IN THIS RIDICULOUSLY FUN ACTION FLICK!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** out of 4
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
What do you get when you put Falling Down, John Wick, Taken, and Hardcore Henry into a blender? You’d probably get something like Nobody, the new action film directed by Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry), written by the screenwriter of all three John Wick movies Derek Kolstad, and produced by David Leitch (John Wick trilogy, Deadpool 2, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw).
The film stars Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul, The Post, Little Women (2019)) as probably the last person you’d expect to become an action hero, a seemingly average family man turned relentless ass-kicker after failing to stop a home invasion. I have to say, Bob Odenkirk absolutely and quite literally kills it in this film, and I had a very fun time coming along for the ride.
While the film never quite does anything new in the revenge-action genre and is often a clone of John Wick and Taken, Odenkirk’s performance alone as well as some exhilarating edge-or-your-seat action and very funny dialogue makes this bloody manhunt worth checking out. It’s a completely ridiculous, viscerally violent, and unapologetic action flick, but it has so much fun being one that you just can’t help but smile and enjoy the absurdity.
The film follows Hutch Mansell (Odenkirk), a seemingly ordinary man who lives a normal life and has a wife, two children, and an unremarkable job as an office worker. That all changes one night when burglars break into his house and Hutch fails to stop them resulting in his family somewhat drifting further away from him and people asking him why he didn’t try and stop the burglars.
The aftermath of the incident suddenly causes Hutch to set off his long-simmering rage and goes on a bloody warpath to get revenge (Especially after one of the burglars supposedly stolen his daughter’s kitty-cat bracelet…that’s very important to remember!). However, when one of his victims ends up being the younger brother of a ruthless Russian drug lord known as Yulian (Aleksei Serebryakov-Leviathan, McMafia), Hutch must do whatever it takes to protect his family from the notorious mob enforcer in a barrage of fistfights, gunfire, and bloodshed and show that he will never be underestimated as a nobody ever again.
The film also stars Connie Nielsen (Gladiator, One Hour Photo, DC Extended Universe) as Hutch’s wife Becca, RZA (Kill Bill: Volumes 1 and 2, American Gangster, The Man with the Iron Fists) as Hutch’s half-brother Harry, Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For) as Hutch’s father David, Gage Munroe (Immortals, I Declare War, The Shack) as Hutch’s son Blake, Michael Ironside (Top Gun, Total Recall, Terminator: Salvation) as Eddie Williams, Colin Salmon (James Bond franchise, Resident Evil franchise, Krypton) as The Barber, J.P. Manoux (Aaron Stone, Phil of the Future, Scooby-Doo (2002)) as Darren, Aleksandr Pal (Rag Union, The Icebreaker, Raid) as Yulian’s younger brother Teddy, and Sergey Shnurov (I Am Losing Weight) as Valentin.
Overall, Nobody is a bloody fun time that doesn’t take itself seriously and basks in the pure absurdity and chaos of its premise similar to the first John Wick movie. However, unlike that movie where after John Wick’s dog gets shot and he’s already a perfect killing machine, Odenkirk in this has a bit of a rough start before fully utilizing his particular set of skills, which adds some humanity and vulnerability to this action hero.
The film is often very funny and that’s mostly thanks to the brilliant casting of Bob Odenkirk who is absolutely phenomenal in this movie. It’s a very entertaining and funny performance by him and he gets a lot of laughs either from his dialogue or the ridiculous situations he winds up in and manages to kick serious ass whenever possible, and I’d love to see him go toe-to-toe with John Wick and Charlize Theron from Atomic Blonde as well as see him in more action films like this.
The action sequences are a lot of fun to watch with some of the highlights being a bloody fistfight on a bus, an exhilarating car chase with Odenkirk and the mobsters, and a flat-out ridiculous shootout in a factory with booby traps, explosives, bullets, and blood practically painting the walls of said factory. Not quite at the John Wick level of awesome but pretty close and I had a blast watching them.
If I had to point out an issue with this film, it would have to be that the villain is rather weak and forgettable. It’s just a generic Russian mob boss who’s out to get Odenkirk for killing his brother and he became the antagonist of this film basically by complete accident due to one of Odenkirk’s actions, I would have preferred a little more development outside of an atom bomb of coincidences landing on Odenkirk during his hunt for blood, but it ultimately led to an awesome climax so I can’t fault it too much.
If you’re looking for some good over-the-top action in a gleefully chaotic film that doesn’t take itself too seriously, then Nobody might have just what you’re looking for. It works not only as a dumb, fun action movie, but also one that had a lot of thought put into it as well.
Never underestimate a “Nobody” and enjoy this wild ride.
From the blog www.moviewatchinpsychopath.blogspot.com
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