Movie Review: Nobody

Is there an acting challenge that Bob Odenkirk isn't up for? The veteran Hollywood chameleon decided to take up the mantle of action star in Nobody and through a combination of his established charisma and a complete commitment to the genre's nuances, he aces the transition.

Odenkirk plays Hutch Mansell-a retired government assassin who operated under the alias of "Nobody" that has put his old life of killing behind him to live a simple domestic life in the suburbs with an undemanding office job and the stereotypical picturesque house on the cul-de-sac. After failing to protect his family (Connie Nielsen, Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath) during a home invasion, Hutch regrets his lack of action and decides to track down the robbers-which only further adds to his shame once he discovers what inspired to them break in. During his bus commute back from the confrontation with the robbers, fate intervenes as a group of rowdy male passengers start harassing a woman onboard. Hutch decides to confront the group and it eventually escalates to the point where people end up dead. Unfortunately for Hutch, one of the men he killed was the brother of a powerful Russian mob boss (Aleksei Serbraykov) and once the sadistic mobster identifies him and promptly plans to gun down everyone he loves, Hutch is forced to step back into the life he thought he had put behind him for good.

Nobody FINALLY scratches the itch for a full bore action slugfest that hasn't been paid attention to in nearly a year. It's the type of film that knows exactly what the most passionate fan of the genre want to see- a simple story, entertaining characters and frequent fight scenes where all of the action can be easily followed- then proceeds to deliver all of those things in an electrifying 90-minute package. 

Ilya Naishuller manages to match the chaotic maestro energy he showed on his feature directorial debut Hardcore Henry by giving this an adrenaline-fueled undercurrent that gives every scene a feeling of visceral urgency, Derek Kolstad (John Wick trilogy) crafts a tongue-in-cheek script full of amusing moments and an escalating intensity that culminates in an unbelievably satisfying finale that has to have one of the higher body counts in recent memory and Odenkirk follows in the footsteps of modern action stalwarts including Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron and Jason Statham by working his ass off to meet the physical demand that this role required without losing sight of the importance of being a grizzled lightning rod that sets the tone for the entire movie on the acting side. After being bombarded with stuff in recent months (The Falcon and the Winter Solider, Wonder Woman 1984, Monster Hunter) where there's not nearly enough effort emphasis on how things are shot, edited and choreographed, it is so god damn refreshing to watch something where the crafting of action is taken so seriously at every level of the production. Nobody is the beautiful, high-octane action ride audiences deserve after a prolonged drought of true genre excellence and hopefully it will be just the first of many to come in 2021.        

Grade: A-