If you happen to be a psychopathic Russian drug lord with a yen for extinguishing human lives, the takeaway from Nobody might well be to think twice before you antagonize a mild-mannered American suburbanite who has rediscovered his inner John Wick. Thats the matchup in this bloody mashup of ultraviolent tropes. The film stars Bob Odenkirk, of all the unlikely casting choices for action herohes pretty darned goodand was directed by Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry) from a script by Derek Kolstad, who happens to have created the John Wick franchise and written three installments thus far, all of them notable for their elegantly stylized violence. No one can accuse Nobody of elegance, apart from Pawel Pogorzelskis cinematography. This is punishment as entertainment, a short and sour saga of a pacifist turned vengeful brute in order to win back his self-respect. (The film is playing in theaters.)
The good news here is Mr. Odenkirks performance, not to mention his endurance in strenuous action sequences that must have taken a real-life toll on his physique; he certainly doesnt look computer-generated. The body and soul of Better Call Saul was already famously versatile. Still, who could have guessed that the next stop on his artists journey would have him playing Hutch Mansell, a killing-and-maiming machine with a Dirty Harry scowl-and-growl in a movie where almost everyone spits out teeth if theyre still able to spit?
Hutchs escapades dont begin right away. He may be a nobody in the grand scheme of things, but hes a quietly charming family man with a lovely wife, Becca (Connie Nielsen, absurdly wasted on an off-the-shelf housewife role), and a couple of kidsearnest Blake (Gage Munroe) and adorable Abby (Paisley Cadorath). His first personality shift comes after a home invasion that recalls Straw Dogs, except that Hutch, unlike Dustin Hoffmans David, does not manage to cover himself in gory glory. Yet his failure of courageat least thats what those around him think it isenergizes him to go forth and inflict vigilante justice on bad guys in order to feel good about himself.
You neednt know much more than that to decide whether to spend 92 minutes of your time on Earth watching the film, and you shouldnt know much more if youre going to open yourself to its grindhouse charms. Suffice it to say that mayhem begets mayhem, Hutch unwittingly incurs the wrath of Yulian, a Russian drug lord played with popping Klaus Kinski eyes by Aleksey Serebryakov, and a new cycle of violence is provokednot by thugs from a Russian crime syndicate invading a home and killing a cute puppy named Daisy, as in John Wicks story, but by Russian thugs relieving poor Abby of her Kitty Cat bracelet.
Im just a soul whose intentions are good, goes the song from the Animals on the soundtrack. Maybe so. Were given reason to believe that Hutchs behavior during the first round of home invasions is less a matter of cowardice than a fear of reverting to who he was during a shadowy paramilitary past. Participants in that history pop up in the person of his father, David (a zestfully funny performance by Christopher Lloyd), who is not the nursing-home dodderer he seems to be; and in the voice of his mysterious brother, Harry, who is only heard on a radio link until he finally appears as a brother-in-arms played by the hip-hop artist and actor RZA. And larger questions of identity are hinted at when Hutch, fully and lustily back in action, says to his wife, Just like old times, huh? and Becca responds, Im ready, Hutch.
