Bob Odenkirk plays a family man with a secret past in this slick, shallow thriller.
As slick as a blood spill and as single-minded as a meat grinder, “Nobody” hustles us along with a swiftness that blurs the foolishness of its plot and the depravity of its message. A series of cartoonishly rapid cuts introduces Hutch (Bob Odenkirk), a mild-mannered suburban schmuck whose identical days flip past in a haze of chores and a vague desk job. His sighing wife (Connie Nielsen) and teenage son (Gage Munroe) regard him with something close to pity — especially when he balks at attacking two luckless home invaders. His son is fearless; Hutch is frozen.
A journey from emasculation to invigoration, “Nobody” harks back to the vigilante dramas of the 1970s and early 80s. Unlike the would-be heroes of those movies, though, Hutch has no real excuse for the savage spree he instigates and perpetuates. (His family is unharmed; what’s wounded is his ego.) Moreover, Hutch is not who he seems, his secret past seemingly known only to his wily father (Christopher Lloyd) and adoptive brother (RZA). So when he boards a bus, splashing its interior in the blood, teeth and tissue of a passel of Russian gangsters, his lethal skills are as unsurprising as his ultimate satiety. He might emerge bruised and battered, but — after seeing him calmly empty the bullets from his gun before the brawl — we know that’s how he likes it: He wants to feel the damage he’s doing.
Flashy and cocksure, “Nobody,” written by Derek Kolstad (the narrative engine of the “John Wick” franchise), sprints from one dust up to the next with winking efficiency. However disreputable its hoary thesis — that real masculinity resides in the fists — its director, Ilya Naishuller, knows how to make a film move. And this one races by: The stunts are ultrasmooth, the dialogue glibly economical and Pawel Pogorzelski’s camera is agile and ruthlessly focused. As the bodies mount and Hutch becomes the target of a karaoke-singing Russian mobster (a charismatic Alexey Serebryakov), the movie feebly tries to pardon Hutch’s implacable brutality.
“I’m a good man, a family man,” he informs an adversary. But he’s a counterfeit regular guy in a movie that’s openly contemptuous of such men, a sleeping assassin who’s finally free to scratch a long-suppressed itch. (Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme singing “I’ve Gotta Be Me” during his transition is not exactly subtle.) Now, at last, Hutch is alive; more important, now he’s a man.
Nobody
Rated R for guns, knives, explosives and terrible karaoke. Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes. In theaters. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
