"Nobody" proves Odenkirk's range as an action machine

 

Nobody (2021)

“Action star” might not be the first identifier one thinks of when Bob Odenkirk’s name comes up. Maybe “action dad” is more fitting here, but that all changes with “Nobody,” a film about lethal aggression lying dormant behind an emasculated façade. It also happens to be a bloody, wickedly funny, fisticuff-filled action picture that gives someone other than Liam Neeson and Keanu Reeves a chance to be the headliner. Director Ilya Naishuller’s skill around a bone-crunching action set-piece and the unconventional casting of Odenkirk in the lead both go a long way anyway, but both assets elevate “Nobody” from seeming as if it were made and played by just anybody. 

Known best for his dramatic small-screen work in “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” Bob Odenkirk has the range to expertly play a vanilla, mild-mannered everyman like Hutch Mansell whose past occupation in virile badassery gets a second act. A milquetoast family man and accountant for a metalwork company owned by his father-in-law (Michael Ironside), Hutch’s workaday life has become like Groundhog Day. He and his realtor wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) are in such a rut that they now sleep with a pillow between them. One night, a desperate, heat-packing couple breaks into the Mansell household. Hutch comes close to taking out the petty burglars but stops himself. The couple does leave, and Hutch’s family is safe, but he is reminded that he might not have done enough. It’s not until the disappearance of his doting daughter’s “kitty cat bracelet” that Hutch snaps, as if a switch has been turned back on after being off for so long.

For the first time Hutch gets to show his stuff, he takes care of a loutish group of drunkards on a city bus and ends up hospitalizing all of them. “I’m going to fuck you up,” Hutch confidently states before initially taking as many punches as he gives. It’s a palpably brutal, impressively choreographed set-piece that leaves out the guns and gets plenty of mileage out of a knife, a wine bottle, and lots of glass from the bus windows. Of course, the one (Aleksandr Pal) who doesn’t make it happens to be the brother of Russian mobster Yulian Kuznetsov (Alexey Serebryakov). Yulian has his own sociopathic set of skills even when he’s moonlighting as a lounge singer at a club.

If this sounds like “John Wick,” that’s because "Nobody" and that Keanu Reeves-starring franchise share a screenwriter in Derek Kolstad. Go figure, or else every action movie must contractually use the murder of one of the Russian mob’s own as the plot impetus. Even if it isn’t the death of an adorable pup—or even a family member—we are very much on Hutch’s side. Odenkirk gives the film the gravitas it needs as Hutch. He’s alternately convincing as a likable, accessible family man and an intimidating presence with an ace in the hole and a need to feed the violent beast. When bad guys are taking their last few breaths, Kolstad’s script playfully explains Hutch’s past life as an “auditor for the three-letter agencies” in dribs and drabs without a full-on exposition dump. Connie Nielsen doesn’t get a whole lot to do as Hutch’s wife Becca, but she and Odenkirk do make their moments as a humdrum couple register. More importantly, any movie pairing Christopher Lloyd and RZA together instantly scores points. Lloyd is a sight for sore eyes, here playing Hutch’s father who may reside in a nursing home but can take care of himself better than expected, and RZA’s role—a disembodied voice with whom Hutch remains in communication—should be discovered upon viewing.

Were it not for the presence of Bob Odenkirk and the director’s auspicious staging of set-pieces, “Nobody” could have been an empty, overly familiar “John Wick” knockoff. Ilya Naishuller boasted an ingenious gimmick with GoPro cameras in his last feature, 2016’s “Hardcore Henry,” which made for a numbingly repetitive experience, like watching someone else play a video game (but everyone’s mileage will vary). He eschews that first-person shooting style this time for something a little more standard. But, much like the action set-pieces in “John Wick,” Naishuller lets the stunt work play out and allows every blow to land an impact. The selection and placement of ironic songs, including Andy Williams' "The Impossible Dream" and Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World," should feel stale at this point, but they make Odenkirk's vehicle as a lethal suburban dad even more infectious. Culminating with an oh-so-satisfying showdown that plays like “The Equalizer” by way of "Home Alone" in a warehouse, “Nobody” embraces its simple aims to be a lean, mean action movie without forgetting there’s a human component in there. Without really going anywhere too surprising but still delivering exactly what is expected, here is a fun Molotov cocktail that kicks a fair amount of ass.

Grade: B

Universal Pictures released “Nobody” (92 min.) into theaters on March 26, 2021.