'Nobody' film review: Saul Goodman goes full John Wick
Comedian Bob Odenkirk is the least likely action hero badass in the hilarious and fun beat 'em up flick 'Nobody' (in theaters nationwide March 26).
In short: Mild-mannered suburban husband Hutch (Bob Odenkirk, 'Better Call Saul') lives a quiet life - when a violent home invasion pushes him over-the-edge, reawakening his secret past life after he angers a vengeful drug lord. Connie Nielsen, Alexey Serebryakov, RZA, Michael Ironside and Christopher Lloyd also star.
If ‘Nobody’ looks and sounds a lot like a suburban ‘John Wick,’ well that’s probably because ‘Nobody’ is literally written by Derek Kolstad, the man who wrote the first three ‘John Wick’ movies. Describing this movie as just middle-aged 'John Wick' is a bit of an oversimplification - because the comparison pretty much ends with "retired badass takes out waves of faceless goons." While John Wick famously went on a revenge killing spree after Russian gangsters kill his dog, 'Nobody' isn't so much a revenge flick as it is a man wrestling with his identity. While the texture world-building and background mythology of ‘John Wick’ is what makes that franchise click, ‘Nobody’ focuses on the micro rather than the macro.
'Nobody' finds a man living in quiet desperation, stuck in the daily monotony of cul-de-sac life. Hutch's daily grind is all the more tragic given the life he walked away from - effectively imprisoning a trained killer into the monotony of taking the bus and taking out the trash. Everything about the first act paints an painfully bland existence for Hutch - a quiet man whose life seems to be on an eventless loop of low-key disappointments and monotonous chores. And this is exactly why Odenkirk is perfect cast as Hutch: he's a man who seems placated to lead an unremarkable life - but Odenkirk exudes a restrained dissatisfaction with his life. Every punch thrown and shot fired is Hutch unleashing years of pent-up frustration on hoards of disposable criminal thugs.
The 'Mr. Show' star is kinda perfect as Hutch exactly because he's the last guy anyone would expect to be able to kick so much ass. Just the conceit of Saul Goodman taking out heavily armed criminals with relative ease is half the joy of the movie. 'Nobody' is a ton of fun without being "funny" in the set-up/punchline convention - with the action flick finding huge laughs simply in the unlikely Hutch as the surprising last guy anyone would want to mess with. Unlike 'John Wick,' this movie hints at Hutch's history, forgoing a deeply fleshed out mythology in favor of a character-driven action flick. This frees up 'Nobody' to just let Hutch deal with this specific situation without getting bogged down by world building - keeping this fun romp at an easily digestible hour and a half runtime.
The story spends more time with Hutch as the man living a lie rather than Hutch the trained killer. While 'Nobody' is unabashedly a fun actioner, that's all just the surface layer of a man living a life in contrast to his character. The intro sequence fixates on Hutch's routine - which emphasizes the more frustrating and emasculating aspects of his ordinary life. The whole film posits that Hutch has suppressed some inner killer within him - but the movie doesn't know what to do with that idea beyond letting Hutch kill a ton of people.
Final verdict: Like the titular character, 'Nobody' is the fun and exciting action flick you didn't see coming. Yet for its meticulous takedown of mundanity and routines, the movie doesn't make much of a statement beyond 'killers gonna kill.'
Score: 3.5/5
'Nobody' is in theaters March 26. This action-thriller is rated R for strong violence and bloody images, language throughout and brief drug use and has a running time of 92 minutes.
Directed by Ilya Naishuller / Screenplay by Derek Kolstad / Music by David Buckley / Cinematography by Pawel Pogorzelski / Editing by Evan Schiff & William Yeh / Starring Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Alexey Serebryakov, RZA, Michael Ironside and Christopher Lloyd.
