You would think that the last thing that would cross your mind if you were making an action movie is "Let's get Bob Odenkirk.". Don't get me wrong. I love Bob Odenkirk. I happen to think that Better Call Saul is superior series to Breaking Bad for a lot of reasons, but in large part because Bob Odenkirk is a far more interesting, likable and complex actor to carry the lead. And Better Call Saul and Break Bad are crime dramas, with some comedy thrown in. But Bob Odenkirk as an action hero? Bob Odenkirk looks like the kind of guy your Aunt could beat up without messing up her good Sunday dress. Okay, most of my Aunts, my sister and my mother could beat me up and I was a professional fighter, but you get my point. I know, I know, some of you are thinking they probably said the same thing about Bruce Willis before he did Die Hard. But Bruce Willis at least looked like he might be tough. Bob Odenkirk doesn't look look like there's even the slightest chance that he might be tough. That, it turns out, is what makes Nobody work. That, it turns out, is what makes Nobody unlike all the action movies that you've ever seen. I don't even particularly like action movies. Too formulaic for me. But I've somehow seen a lot of them because there are so many of them out there. And, let's face it, they're all pretty much the same. There's only, what, three or four basic storylines and they're all variations on them. There's vengeance. There's guy or gal who was a very bad person gets drawn in again. Save the whatever, the world or your family or a child, something like that. Group is drawn together, maybe again, maybe not, for a very special mission. That pretty covers it, doesn't it? And Nobody is one of those four, and it has the standard action lines like "Don't call 9-11" or "You brought a lot of shotguns." "You brought a lot of Russians.", because Russians are the standard safe bad guy that isn't likely to offend anybody. (Though occasionally they might go for the big stretch and make them Albanians or Bulgarians or some other Eastern Block country so long as it isn't Muslim, because that's become too controversial.). But there is something about Bob Odenkirk, some deep down shifting sense of unhappiness that he seems to carry so well, that makes him unlike any action hero that I can remember seeing, and that you want to be on his side. And the action scenes are orchestrated in such a way, that while some drift into the standard we've seen this before stuff, many involve his cleverness and imagination with violence rather than a real physical proficiency. Though he is physically proficient his edge is seen to be his mind, his ability to improvise the action as he goes. Oh, and there's the bonus of Chistopher Lloyd as his father. I don't want to give anything away, but I don't think I've seen Christpher Lloyd have this much fun in a role in a very long time. A very long time. Connie Nielsen, as the wife, is underused, even wasted. But then again she is almost always underused and wasted. On its own I think Nobody would be a fun though fairly standard action flic. With Bob Odenkirk in the lead, and with Christopher Lloyd being allowed to have his fun, Nobody is much better than your average action movie. In fact I hope in might be the future of some action movies. Instead of casting those muscular handsome guys try looking for somebody more unlikely. I mean, you're not going to find many Bob Odenkirks. But look at what happens when you do go looking for one. You get a movie that even people who hate action movies will probably like. A lot.
Review of Nobody
