Nobody isn’t perfect, but it’s the somebody we need for our return to theaters
Fans of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul know that Bob Odenkirk has a terrific wry, deadpan presence. If you’ve ever wondered what Breaking Bad might have been like had Odenkirk been cast as Walter White instead of Saul Goodman, you may want to check out the new action thriller Nobody.
Directed by Russian director Ilya Naishuller and written by Derek Kolstad, the scribe behind the John Wick series, Nobody places Odenkirk in a Walter White-like role with a twist: what if, instead of transforming from a mild-mannered chemistry teacher/family man into a bad-ass drug kingpin, the reverse happened? What if a bad-ass, high level, cut-throat assassin decided he wanted a quiet, suburban, office job, family man life instead? What if, instead of declaring, “I am the danger,” he only wants to say, “I’m no longer the danger”?
Such is the predicament Odenkirk’s Hutch finds himself in. Married to Becca (Connie Nielsen, wasted in a stereotypical worried wife role), with two kids, a nice house, and a job auditing the books at his father-in-law’s manufacturing company, Hutch seems to be living a workaday life, that, while solid, is maybe a little repetitive and lackluster. That notion is emphasized by a countdown of days on screen: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday flash before us, and we see Hutch performing the same routines and tasks daily, with mild resignation and frustration. That somewhat humdrum existence changes in a flash, though, when Hutch’s house is broken into one night. A quest to retrieve his daughter’s favorite bracelet accidentally taken by the thieves catapults Hutch into a series of events that will forever break the carefully curated patterns he has established for himself.
Turns out the thieves have a connection to the Russian mob, and Hutch quickly finds himself on the bad side of Russian gangster Yulian (Aleksey Serebryakov). Hutch is facing the danger now, but not to worry – it’s not too much of a spoiler to reveal that our hero actually can more than hold his own, despite what his snickering neighbor thinks. Hutch, you see, not only is former military top secret special ops, but also worked for “one of those government agencies with three letters”, and yup, he 100%, without a doubt, really, really is the danger. To call him a bad-ass doesn’t do him justice. He’s like super duper bad-ass times a million, as the gangsters soon find out.
While the premise has its moments — after all, who doesn’t like to see the seemingly milquetoast guy take down the baddie bullies — the bulk of the movie consists of a series of grisly and graphic shootouts, bloody punches and knife fights that quickly become as repetitive as Hutch’s clocking in and out of work. Most of these violent set pieces are scored to retro pop songs, giving the film a Tarantino-like energy that feels more tired than original.
But Odenkirk’s fans will enjoy watching him finally get to play the action hero, and he’s as droll as ever, getting off some dry one liners in scenes with the mob thugs, his family, and investigators. And he’s paired well with Christopher Lloyd, who plays Hutch’s father, and who, like his son, has more to him than meets the eye: he’s not exactly the elderly, meek nursing home resident he’s made out to be when we first encounter him.
Kolstad’s John Wick cred is evident throughout the picture, with its breezy, fast-paced, non-stop action tempered by small bits of humor. In the end, he and Naishuller have made an effective, if somewhat over the top, old fashioned popcorn flick. With theaters finally reopening after the long winter of our cinema discontent, at this point, that may be more than enough to satisfy.
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Nobody opens today at select Bay Area theaters.
