On the surface, it seems a bit absurd that Bob Odenkirk would be cast as an action hero in Nobody. For most of his career, Odenkirk has been known for comedy, both as a writer and a performer, especially via his partnership with David Cross on the sketch series Mr. Show and W/ Bob & David. But after five seasons as the lead of Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul, Odenkirk no longer has to fight to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor. Why not take one more step and take on an action role?
Even Odenkirk’s most serious performances usually have an undercurrent of humor, and that’s the case again with Nobody, an action thriller that’s so ridiculously over-the-top it’s sometimes hard to tell if it’s meant to be a parody. Odenkirk plays the kind of role that’s more likely these days to go to someone like Bruce Willis or Nicolas Cage (or, in a slightly more prestigious production, to Liam Neeson). He’s Hutch Mansell, a former government assassin, code-named Nobody, now living a quiet life in the suburbs with his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) and his two kids, who know nothing about their father’s dangerous past.
A fast-paced montage at the beginning of the movie establishes Hutch’s repetitive, mundane routine, from morning coffee to catching the bus to work to almost always just missing the weekly garbage pick-up. Hutch works for his wife’s family’s manufacturing business, where his macho brother-in-law (Billy MacLellan) treats him with contempt, and his gruff father-in-law (Michael Ironside) regards him with a sort of bemused pity. Through it all, Hutch keeps quiet, maintaining the illusion that he’s just another mild-mannered middle-class dad.
But when a pair of armed robbers invade the Mansell house and hold Hutch and his family at gunpoint, something reactivates in him. He realizes that the thieves are just desperate and scared, and he holds back from violence, even telling his son to stand down. His protective instincts are awakened, though, and his need to find an outlet for them leads him down a dark path.
It’s a little haphazard how screenwriter Derek Kolstad (best known for his work on the John Wick movies) places Hutch in the sights of some dangerous criminals, and it takes nearly half the movie for the main antagonist to show up. But Nobody isn’t a movie built around intricate plotting or complex character motivations. It’s about Odenkirk seriously messing up some interchangeable bad guys, and having a great time along the way.
The home invasion is mostly just misdirection, and Hutch’s real problems arise when he takes out his aggression on a seemingly random group of thugs who are harassing passengers on a bus. Hutch is just looking for an excuse to put his old skills to use, but it turns out that one of the guys that he sends to the hospital is the brother of scary Russian mob boss Yulian Kuznetsov (Alexey Serebryakov), who targets Hutch for revenge.
At that point, Nobody heads into full John Wick mode, and Kolstad doesn’t even pretend he’s not ripping off his own most famous work. Hutch even drives a muscle car (that he steals from his douchebag neighbor), matching John Wick’s 1969 Ford Mustang with a 1972 Dodge Challenger.
But Hutch is a different enough character from John Wick, and Odenkirk is certainly a different enough actor from Keanu Reeves, to give Nobody its own flavor. John Wick has nothing to lose, but Hutch still must protect his wife and kids, as well as his elderly father David (Christopher Lloyd), who lives in a nursing home and becomes another target for Yulian’s goons. Then again, former FBI agent David proves pretty resourceful as well, and if you think Odenkirk is an unlikely action hero, just wait until you see 82-year-old Lloyd enter the fray.
Nobody’s climax takes place at the manufacturing plant that Hutch has finally managed to purchase for himself, which he then outfits with booby traps like an adult version of Home Alone’s Kevin McCallister. By that point, you’re either on board with the absurdity or you’re not, and director Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry) goes completely nutso, abandoning any pretense of gritty crime drama and going for almost slapstick levels of violence. Odenkirk keeps a straight face throughout, though, and that’s part of what makes Nobody fun to watch. For Hutch, all of this is serious life-or-death stuff, even if it may look like a Looney Tunes cartoon to the audience at times.
So while Willis or Cage or Neeson might have been more obvious choices to lead Nobody, Odenkirk makes it work, elevating it to something beyond just a throwaway revenge movie with a paper-thin plot. Naishuller brings just enough visual flair to keep the action scenes interesting (and doesn’t go for the gimmickry that he brought to Hardcore Henry), and the supporting players add some flavor to their basic character types (Lloyd is particularly amusing).
Kolstad peppers in bits of mythology suggesting a wider world, as he’s done in the John Wick movies, and the ending leaves the door open to more Nobody adventures. Could there be a franchise in the works? At this point in Odenkirk’s career, he can pretty much take on anything.
Starring Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Alexey Serebryakov, Christopher Lloyd and RZA, Nobody opens Friday, March 26 in theaters nationwide.