NOBODY (2021)
Upon first hearing the plot to NOBODY it could be fairly easy to assume it’s going to be a parody of the kind of films like TAKEN. A seemingly typical man with a dark, violent past gets thrusted back into action when a tragedy befalls them. It’s not the most original concept by today’s standards but as shown by previous films that have used the premise it can lead to some fantastic results with the right ingredients. The biggest eyebrow raise when recommending this film to anyone is the fact that instead of the kind of actor you typically place in these sorts of roles…you have Bob Odenkirk.
Odenkirk, most recently known for his portrayal of Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad and its spinoff Better Call Saul but perhaps better known for Mr. Show With Bob And David and his various other comedic outings, is not the kind of person you expect in this kind of role but as you could guess from other instances of unlikely actors (remember that people wrote off Michael Keaton as Batman due to roles like MR. MOM and we all know how that turned out) Odenkirk not only makes for a believable everyman but as a skilled dispenser of pain as he finds himself fighting for his life and to protect his family in this brutal crowd pleaser.
The best way to describe the film is that it’s a more “fun'' JOHN WICK, which isn’t that surprising when you consider the creator of the franchise, Derek Kolstad, also wrote this film. To clarify what I mean by fun, there is much less tragedy in NOBODY. Odenkirk’s Hutch isn’t a man who lost the woman of his life and isn’t out for vengeance for his slain dog, he’s just a man who’s life isn’t going well.
Him and his wife are not on good terms, he works a typical job where it seems like he is just there to be pushed around…he’s as the title of the film suggests, a nobody. That changes one night when some thieves break into his home and steal from his family. Wracked by feelings of guilt and feeling like a failure he begins to hunt down the thieves who stole from him and his family only to find himself on a bus where an altercation breaks out between him and some seemingly normal hooligans. Suddenly Hutch finds himself returning to his old ways as a trained killer after it turns out the goons he fought weren’t just typical goons but members of the Russian mob.
The plot just escalates from there and it’s an incredibly fun ride as Hutch engages in a game of cat and mouse with the eccentric and no less deadly Russian mob boss Yulian, played exceptionally by Aleksei Serebryakov.
While the film understandably shares a lot of DNA with the aforementioned JOHN WICK series, NOBODY is a lot more playful with it’s premise giving it an almost B-movie like charm with top shelf acting and action. Keep in mind though just because the word “playful” was used doesn’t mean this movie doesn’t spill blood like crazy. Hutch is a lot less refined than Mr. Wick, the fights in this film are brutal and any action junkie is sure to get a rush out of watching the carnage unfold as Hutch faces off against Yulian and his associates. A lot of that fun comes from how Odenkirk really sells the idea that he is not a guy at the peak of physical conditioning, he takes knocks himself that help add some extra tension to the fight as we can tell we are clearly not watching a professional in his prime.
There’s also some extremely fun world building for this universe that Kolstad seems to be stealthily putting together, himself even saying that despite the different owners of the films John and Hutch could very well exist in the same universe. The idea of that alone makes for a lot of fun “what if’s” if at any point in the future we get to see a Reeves and Odenkirk team up which I think many would be interested in for the sheer ridiculousness of it.
All that being said, go watch NOBODY. It runs at a lean 90 minutes and is well worth the time if not just to see Odenkirk in action, you even get Christopher Lloyd and the RZA in the mix too if that isn't enough. It’s a fast-paced, violent, crowdpleaser that, despite sounding like it would be a simple copycat, manages to forge its own identity thanks to a lot of smart direction, great acting, and incredibly tight set pieces that are sure to please action fans and anyone looking for something akin to JOHN WICK with a little bit of humor thrown in the mix.
