Sometimes actors are cast against their usual grain, and it fails miserably. Nobody is a fine example of when it works brilliantly.
“Who me? I’m nobody” says the mysterious man with a cat in his jacket whilst being interviewed by the police. Bob Odenkirk is a natural as the wise cracking con artist Saul Goodman, but he’s equally as brilliant as a deadly sleeper assassin with a dormant temper – who would have thought that. Odenkirk plays Hutch; a normal suburban man who is bored with the mundanity of his life but is secretly a former CIA assassin. After his house is burgled, he sets out for revenge. On the journey, he saves a girl from a connected gang of ruffians and hands them a kicking one by one. Hutch now has a vengeful drug lord on his tail, a crazy Russian (are all Russians crazy? It seems so) named Yulan. The violence is superb; realistic, full of skill and mistakes, the heavy use of environment elevates the fighting to an expert level.
The violence isn’t Nobody’s only strength though, it is also funny and that is all to do with Bob Odenkirk who is a naturally funny individual. His switch from the pathetic family man to the extreme killer is a funny concept anyway, but the cinematography helps with the humour – as it pans to random artefacts amid a violent showdown – as does the witty dialogue between the characters, and the fact that RZA is Hutch’s adoptive brother, that really was the icing. Director Ilya Naishuller (from Hardcore Henry fame) really has a way of expertly showing violence in a poetic way, the way it should be – instead of mindlessly. He had some help because the writer is Derek Kolstad (writer of the famed John Wick franchise) and if that doesn’t help elevate a film such as this to the next level then what will.
Nobody begins with a breakdown of Hutch’s life – as the days and weeks go by – he struggles with how boring it has become; his journey to work, his home life, the fact he can’t get the bins out on time in the morning (he needs to start doing that the night before). One night, Hutch’s house gets broken into by a couple of thieves, who steal nothing but petty cash and leave his son Blake (Gage Munroe) – who had tackled one of the criminals to the floor – with a black eye. Hutch – who didn’t do anything to prevent the robbery – is left embarrassed, resulting in a teasing by the police, his family, and his in laws, all of whom think of him as a bit of a coward. It leads Hutch to hunt down the house thieves to retrieve his belongings, which also leads to his breaking point whilst on a bus. There, he saves a young girl from a group of nasty thugs in the most sublimely violent way – one of them loses his teeth.
The beat down he gave the thugs turns out to be a bad move, they are connected to an incredibly violent Russian man called Yulan (Aleksei Serebryakov) who is the current protector of the Obshak – the treasury of the Russian mob. After some intel from Harry (the mysterious half-brother played by RZA, who is in hiding), Hutch needs to protect his family and himself, using all the tricks of the trade that made him so feared. The Russians attack him at his house (which was a very unfortunate mistake on their behalf) and even turn their attentions towards Hutch’s dad and former FBI operative, David (played by Christopher Lloyd) who does some major damage all from the comfort of his armchair. Hutch must ready himself for a final showdown at his place of work, setting booby traps in a guerrilla warfare type assault that you’ve seen in films like The Equalizer. But first, take the fight to them and destroy everything they hold so dear.
This is an incredibly fun film that will be enjoyed by many, it is so unexpected that you can’t not love it and everything it tries to do. The story has been done before by a Denzel Washington or a Liam Neeson, and probably some other aging film stars, but Nobody felt unique because of who was cast and the humour that was added. The soundtrack was also good; a plethora of different genres at various points really added some flair, giving it a Baby Driver kind of feel. However, they had to go and wreck the vibe I was getting by playing You’ll Never Walk Alone by Gerry and the Pacemakers – being an Everton fan, this was hard to listen to. But all joking aside, this really is a blast of a film, the most fun I’ve had watching a film for some time, and hopefully people of all ages (well, not too young obviously) will enjoy this piece of organized chaos.
Nobody is available to watch in your local cinema now.
No Comment.