Review: Nobody

Bob Odenkirk plays the rather milquetoast, average guy Hutch, whose passive handling of a home invasion sees his wife (Connie Nielsen) and kids look at him with different eyes. And yet, the situation eats away at Hutch and seems to awaken something buried deep within him. Something very, very violent. Y’see, Hutch used to have a very different line of work, one that involved a very specialised set of skills. He shows us those skills when taking to a bunch of bus thugs harassing a young woman. Unfortunately, one of the thugs happens to be the brother of a Russian mobster (Alexey Serebryakov) who targets Hutch and his family. Christopher Lloyd plays Hutch’s geriatric father, RZA is a connection from Hutch’s past, and Michael Ironside is Hutch’s boss and father-in-law.

 

A slow pace and annoying editing don’t ruin this generally enjoyable “John Wick” variant from 2021. It even comes from the same producer and the same screenwriter as the first “John Wick”. Directed by Ilya Naishuller (the not-terrible, shaky-cam first-person action pic “Hardcore Henry”) and scripted by Derek Kolstad (“John Wick”), ‘Average Joe turns vigilante’ is not one of my favourite kind of films, so thankfully the film ends up closer to the aforementioned “John Wick”.

 

It doesn’t start well, giving us an insufferable version of the “Shaun of the Dead” crash zoom montage bullshit that I hate. At least three times within the first few minutes. Naishuller was really gonna test my patience here. Just tell the story, genius. However, when the director wasn’t getting in his own way, we get a pretty fun action movie just shy of being tongue-in-cheek. Humour and silliness are the best friend of a film like this, or else you’ll find yourself asking too many questions. There’s an especially funny bit where a mere flash of a tattoo sees a scary-looking guy walk away from the protagonist and lock himself in a room. Later, serial punching bag Daniel Bernhardt has a violently funny bit where he and his crew and our hero all get beaten up before the tables are finally turned.

 

Bob Odenkirk is actually really good here at playing both facets of his character. He’s effective at portraying a professional laying dormant until a home invasion awakens the killer within. Once let out, that killer is hard to contain. I said before that the film is a bit of a “John Wick” variant, but the key difference here is that although he gets the job done, he’s not Steven Seagal-levels of untouchable. So the action isn’t sleek, it’s messy (but fun). In support, Connie Nielsen is her usual solid, if underused self and the villain played by Alexey Serebryakov is an amusing nutcase. He’s like Klaus Kinski crossed with Vinnie Jones. Christopher Lloyd takes a while to join in the fun, but when he does it’s marvellous. RZA is a total bust in an unconvincing role however, he’s wooden and the character is strange. Colin Salmon basically ripping off Ian McShane in the “John Wick” films seemed a bit unnecessary too, as is the soundtrack of old standards just for the sake of it. So there’s problems. However, it’s interesting, pretty enjoyable, and mostly well-acted.

 

Although I prefer the “John Wick” films, this similarly heightened vigilante movie still mostly delivers the goods. This in spite of an aggravating visual style and slow pace. When this one’s on-target, it’s good fun.

 

Rating: B-