At long last, I have been reunited with my good friends – the movie theaters. Thanks to Doc Fauci and the Pfizer Gang, I’m fully vaccinated and ventured forth to the local AMC for the first time in over a year. And was it a wild ride! Today we look at the first movie I saw on the big screen since 2020’s “Onward” – Bob Odenkirk’s latest addition to the growing "Middle-aged man revitalizes his life and relationships through sudden acts of extreme violence" genre: "Nobody."
It’s no surprise that “Nobody” comes from the keyboard of Derek Kolstad (notable Taylor University alumnus, WOOT WOOT), the creator of the ‘John Wick’ franchise. The hard-boiled, over-the-top action is heavily reminiscent of the Keanu Reeves-starring series, and Wick fans will certainly find plenty to love here. But, at least at first, “Nobody” is trying to do something different.
We meet Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk), a seemingly ordinary man leading a mundane life in the suburbs with an idyllic family. All that changes when two amateur burglars target the Mansell’s house. Hutch responds with restraint, letting the would-be thieves escape, but is mocked by his neighbors and scorned by his teenage son for his nonviolent approach. Facing down the onset of a sudden midlife crisis, Hutch goes out looking for trouble. And sure enough, he finds far more trouble than he bargained for, placing himself and his family in the crosshairs of the Russian mob.
What follows is a steady acceleration into mass violence, a thrilling, pulse-pounding shoot-em-up caper that grasps a popcorn-starved audience’s attention and refuses to let go until the credits roll. And walking out of the theater back into the night, I was sold. But in the weeks since seeing the action unfold on the big screen (because yes, I am still woefully behind schedule on my reviews) the hype has worn off and “Nobody,” when examined plainly, has lost some of its shine.
Above all else, the main attraction here is Odenkirk, who has seamlessly mastered the late-career transition from hapless goofball to hardened action star. But what makes his Hutch so special is that, unlike John Wick, he is duly past his prime, trying to put his violent days behind him. He’s not as fast or strong as he used to be, and he really would rather not kill anyone if he doesn’t have to. As the situation he finds himself in grows more and more severe, he is forced to grapple with just how far he’ll let himself slide into old, violent habits.
By the time we reach the third act, however, all bets are off. As the Russians dismantle Hutch’s life, they burn down the film’s earlier restraint and gritty realism along with it. Hutch finally cuts loose and the result is amazing. We get the best car chase I’ve seen in years, a killer sound track and an astoundingly outlandish final shootout that feels like a shot of adrenaline that will leave you wanting to run outside and punch a brick wall.
But, in shifting into high gear, it loses sight of what made the first two acts special. Hutch is no longer questioning himself and his actions. While the early brawls were brutal, personal and believable, Hutch’s decision to let his inner killer take control is essentially a cheat code for him, unlocking a very different type of action where dozens of Russian thugs are easily mowed down with barely a scratch left for the good guys. It's Easy Mode.
It seems that the answer to the questions posed by the beginning of the movie is “Yes, Hutch, violence IS, in fact, the answer. Not only will mass killing restore your sense of purpose, it will fix your home life, too!”
Even setting aside the problematic moral implications of that hard right turn, it’s simply a disservice to the story. Instead of what could have been the “anti-Wick,” a thoughtful examination of the effect of violence on the human soul and critique of our culture’s obsession with it, we get just another blood-spattered, consequence-free actioner.
Sure, it does what it does very well, and is a blast on the big screen. But once the initial, face-melting adrenaline rush wears off and the novelty of returning to the theater becomes normalcy once more, I doubt there will be much left to remember “Nobody” for.
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