Ever since the release of Taken, there seems to be this push to put an actor, whose not primarily known for action movies, in an action movie as a rusty and grizzled action star. Granted, while it may have worked for Liam Neeson in the first Taken movie, the sequels didn’t add to that level of quality and one could argue that the movies he did after felt almost generic and gimmicky. At the same time, that trend isn’t as prevalent in today’s movie going culture because studios might have realized that they kept focusing on that notion of an unconventional action star becoming an action star, rather than organically creating one totally by surprise. Now, some might say it worked for Keanu Reeves in the John Wick movies, but if you were to look back at his career, Keanu Reeves kind of had a good number of movies that might apply to his action credibility, whether it’s The Matrix, Speed or Point Break. So, when John Wick came along, it reminded people that he’s an incredible action lead and clearly people love him in those movies. This whole idea can work as long as it’s believable and utilized well. However, it was odd to know that Bob Odenkirk, best known from his role as lawyer Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, was going to be the headline for a brand new and original action movie titled Nobody. The trailers were entertaining enough and definitely had a flavor of a John Wick vibe, considering David Leitch (the director of the first John Wick) is a producer on this movie. Could Nobody be the next big thing that can catapult the action genre to new heights? Probably not, but that said, this movie kicks some serious ass. Nobody is gnarly and delivers on everything the movies promise. Bob Odenkirk is astounding as the most surprising and bad ass action hero since Liam Neeson in Taken. The action is incredible, the movie has strong energy and the violence is enthralling & yet satisfying. It’s the most fun you’ll have all year.
Hutch Mansell is basically your average American father figure. He goes to work, he’s physically active and comes home from work at same time everyday. He’s always late taking out the trash, his wife makes him coffee before he leaves to go to work and he always take the bus to get where he needs to go. He lives a consistent lifestyle even though he knows he has so much more potential left in him, regardless of his age. His weekly habits starts to take a turn when one night two thieves break into his suburban home, which causes him to channel in some serious rage. The aftermath of the home invasion puts Hutch in peril when his family is then being threatened by a vengeful Russian drug lord.
The first thing we have to talk about right off the bat is Bob Odenkirk. If you aren’t aware of his work, Odenkirk is terrific from AMC’s Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, which are two fabulous shows. But if you want to go in the world of film, Bob Odenkirk has an impressive list of movie roles in films such as The Post, Little Women and The Incredibles 2. He’s proven that he can definitely strike gold at comedy and still pull off the dramatic boundary. That said, no one ever thought that Bob Odenkirk could become the next action star because none of the roles he’s played ever came off that way. He’s probably the best part of Nobody. He pulls off the quirks and subtle comedy that’s he’s known for, but the most surprising and stunning aspect is how incredibly well he pulls off the action. From the hand to hand combat to the explosive and intense climactic shootout, he pulls each action scene with fluid motion and brute force. He even gets his ass handed to him a couple of times, which made his character more enticing and real. His character never felt like a carbon copy of another action lead. Hutch Mansell felt like a Bob Odenkirk character, and that’s a great thing.
The action in this movie is absolutely phenomenal and what’s great about Nobody is that it works in a perfect three act action structure. Without getting into spoilers, there’s the bus fight, the home invasion (both of which you see in the marketing) and the finale action set piece and what’s so great about each action sequence is that each one builds and builds to more excitement and some of the most fun that the action genre has to offer. Directed by Ilya Naishuller, who was also the director for the first person action film Hardcore Henry, has crafted his best film to date. What he does best is that he makes Nobody feel like it’s own thing. The comparisons between this movie and John Wick are bound to come up in discussion, and understandably so, but Nobody feels separate from any other recent action movie. Granted, Nobody is thin on story but what Ilya Naishuller does is he gives you enough back story to understand the character of Hutch Mansell and making the character feel like something that fits in it’s own world, rather than an imitation of something that we’ve seen already.
Does Nobody break new ground? Not really. But what the movie does exceptionally well is it creates an unconventional action star, in Bob Odenkirk, by making him a great action lead. For a movie with a 92 minute runtime, Nobody is everything that an action movie is supposed to be and for the sake of pure entertainment, this movie is perfect.
My grade for Nobody: A-
Zane's take at the Cinema's 