'Nobody' Review
R: Strong violence and bloody images, language throughout, and brief drug use
Runtime: 1 Hr and 31 Minutes
Production Companies: 87North Productions, Eighty Two Films, Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment, Perfect World Pictures
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Director: Ilya Naishuller
Writer: Derek Kolstad
Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, RZA, Aleksei Serebryakov, Christopher Lloyd
Release Date: March 26, 2021
THEATRICAL ONLY
Hutch Mansell is an underestimated and overlooked dad and husband, taking life's indignities on the chin and never pushing back. A nobody. When two thieves break into his suburban home one night, Hutch declines to defend himself or his family, hoping to prevent serious violence. His teenage son Blake is disappointed in him, and his wife Becca seems to pull only further away. The aftermath of the incident strikes a match to Hutch's long-simmering rage, triggering dormant instincts and propelling him on a brutal path that will surface dark secrets and lethal skills. In a barrage of fists, gunfire, and squealing tires, Hutch must save his family from a dangerous adversary and ensure that he will never be underestimated as a nobody again.
Bob Odenkirk has become a household name for the wide array of roles he’s done in his career, ranging from sketch comedy in the ‘90s (Mr. Show with Bob and David) to high time television dramas during the 2000s, primarily in the beloved AMC drama Breaking Bad and its spin-off prequel series Better Call Saul where he portrays the titular criminal lawyer Saul Goodman. Needless to say, Odenkirk has proven to be a phenomenal actor loved by everyone. Seriously, when he showed up as the March sisters’ father in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women (2019), everyone was absolutely delighted because he’s adored by just about everyone. After years of delivering comedies and dramas, he’s starring in his first action feature Nobody, which proves that Odenkirk ain’t no one to fuck with. Hutch Mansell is depicted as an everyday family man who is also a lowkey badass and the actor sells it on both notions so effortlessly. He is pushing 60 and the guy delivers so much physicality and scene-stealing dominance to prove that he is clearly one of the coolest male actors with the utmost range working today. Odenkirk knows how to control a scene with his energy and it’s compelling throughout. This is his one-man show and it leaves you wanting more.
The first thing that’s worth mentioning about Nobody that might catch your eye is director Ilya Naishuller. If you remember that name then chances are you know him best as the guy who directed that hella underrated first-person shooter action movie Hardcore Henry or that first-person shooter action thriller music video of The Weeknd’s “False Alarm”. Naishuller has clearly outgrown his GoPro days and proves that he can still direct action in a fun and brutal manner. It’s as if he said, “Oh, you thought Hardcore Henry was gimmicky and I can’t kick ass without a peripheral accessory? Well, here you go.” Much like with Henry, what makes Nobody so much fun is the choreography of the action sequences where each movement of combat and/or gun violence has some sort of impact. When someone gets killed, it’s graphic, brutal, and bloody and not in a cartoonish over-the-top manner. Even when the film itself gets cartoonish, the violence maintains its consistent graphic imagery as people get fucked up. What makes the action so convincing is how Hutch is not depicted as an immortal. He’s like the Gargoyle to John Wick’s Boogeyman, but like the Baba Yaga, he takes damage so often that it helps raise the stakes, leaving you at the edge of the seat wondering if he’s gonna make it out alive.
All the combat scenes are well choreographed in shot composition, craft, and editing. The editing is tight and fast-paced enough to make each moment of action exhilarating. Something this film does that not many action films (apart from John Wick) do is that each location plays a key component in each action sequence. If there’s not a gun in sight, that’s no problem for Hutch, for he will use literally every object in his vicinity as a weapon and that object will be the cause of your death.
Another thing that Naishuller has a blatant love for is music cues. If you think Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” had a great needle drop in Hardcore Henry’s climax, Nobody delivers a grand car chase set piece set to a popular Pat Benatar song. The guy has a clear love for music juxtaposing with action and I’ll be damned that it works pretty well here. Granted, he overdoes it at times with overplayed songs used in a similar fashion in previous films of the genre, but it works more often than not.
I swear screenwriter Derek Kolstad copied his own template from the first John Wick movie to construct the script for Nobody. A highly skilled killer with a mysterious past whose name everyone fears puts his criminal past behind to start a new life, but inadvertently gets thrown back into his past by a Russian mob that he has to hunt down. You know what they say: it’s not plagiarism if you’re copying yourself. Was this a John Wick prototype? Because it bears so many similarities in terms of premise and narrative beats. To be fair, Kolstad builds a somewhat new framework to exhibit Hutch’s individual conflict that’s so similar to Mr. Incredible — a suburban father who is caught up in a mid-life crisis. He’s exhausted by his routine suburban lifestyle, he’s disconnected from his family and even has to sleep with a pillow divider between him and his wife, and wants any excuse to kill again. Once he goes on his first euphoric murder raid on a group of violent Russian men on a bus, a whole whirlwind of consequences follows. I give Kolstad credit for following through on a clever setup that features a “be careful what you wish for” plotline to set itself as its own.
What makes this film hit hard in execution is the great casting, which lends itself to awesome explosive fun in its own right. Bob Odenkirk playing the father of the March sisters is now tired. Christopher Lloyd playing Odenkirk’s father is wired. I’m gonna leave it at that and let the film speak for yourself. If you are a fan of either actor (why wouldn’t you be?) you’re gonna be delightfully overwhelmed by the finale. It has so much to offer for action fans who have been craving for the first awesome film of the new year.
Nobody isn’t anything special in terms of story. If anything it’s an above-par action narrative that features one too many tropes borrowed from other action films, specifically John Wick, that keeps it from being great. The antagonist himself doesn’t even come close to being a genuine threat, for he’s just your standard generic Russian mob boss antagonist. He holds no weight, much like a CG army in a comic book movie. They’re all just bodies for the heroes to beat. Though the kills are fucking cool and go to a Home Alone level of action, they’re not that intimidating. As much as I give it credit for depicting the titular character as a mortal who takes damage, he does find a way to Batman his way to recovery. There’s a scene where Hutch survives a major car crash from the back of the trunk and while every passenger is killed in the crash, he pops out just fine.
Nobody is exactly what you expect it to be: a fun R-rated action thriller with brilliant balls to the wall bloody action and a riveting leading performance by the ever so talented Bob Odenkirk. As his sophomore feature, it proves that director Ilya Naishuller is a skillful filmmaker in the action genre who has his own flair and can do so much on his own without a GoPro. Now, if they end up expanding this Nobody world, they gotta throw David Cross into the sequel as Odenkirk’s next adversary. It only makes sense! You saw Laurence Fishburne in John Wick 2. Do the same with Nobody! Have the Mr. Show battle, it’ll be cooler than that monster vs. monkey movie coming out next week.
