Fans of the John Wick films will eat up new action film, Nobody, like cake. The violence is just as visceral and graphic as anything you’d find in that series. Starring Bob Odenkirk of Better Call Saul, the small-scale stakes make for pulse-pounding suspense. While at first it may seem like both films share the same “grizzled middle-aged man seeking revenge” template, Nobody isn’t just a John Wick rerun.
Hutch (Bob Odenkirik), a suburban dad and “nobody,” is much more than he appears on the surface. After a home invasion where he peacefully cooperates with the thieves, Hutch’s son, Blake (Gage Munroe), and his wife, Becca (Connie Nielsen) judge him through a harsh lens. He decides to seek out the thieves to reclaim his property and gain back a sense of pride. When things don’t go as planned, Hutch needs to blow off steam. During a bus ride home, drunken miscreants set their sights on a defenseless young woman, and Hutch snaps. In the aftermath, an unhinged drug lord (Aleksey Serebryakov) targets Hutch and his family for revenge.
The action in this film is the absolute biggest selling point. Bone-crunching, knife-slashing, body-exploding—it’s all here. Tight editing is key in selling each intense body blow. A teamwork element introduced in the final act amps up the fight choreography to a stunning level of brutality. Odenkirk himself is nothing like Keanu’s John Wick. His schlubby character Hutch is an everyman who just happens to have dark secrets. The physicality of the role takes him to places I never imagined. Yulian, the Russian boss, ends up being just as angry as vicious as Hutch, making him a more than worthy adversary. Christopher Lloyd is having a great time as Hutch’s aging father.
An injection of dark humor emboldens the movie, cashing in on Bob Odenkirk’s trademark wit. A scene where he screams for a kitty-cat bracelet and the manner in which he dispatches many of the bad guys are original and hilarious. Some of the film’s kills will stick with me for awhile. I have to say there are worse ways to die than face-down in a pile of delicious-looking lasagna. Nobody opens in theaters everywhere on Friday, March 26th.
