I'm biased. I've been a Bob Odenkirk fan for over two decades. And his late career resurgence as a dramatic actor has been one of the most pleasantly surprising pop cultural developments in years. I will always cherish him as half of the Mr. Show duo, still my favorite sketch comedy show of all time. But even on that show he always showed a flair for getting deep into character and revealing the pathos even in the most absurd character.
His range is put to great use in the deliriously violent new action thriller Nobody. It's slightly derivative of the John Wick films and has a truly thankless role for the luminous Connie Nielsen as his wife, but for the most part it's an incredibly fun, fast romp in tongue in cheek carnage.
It's almost a throwback movie -- it reminds me a bit of a Walter Hill picture -- you feel every punch and the action is not graceful or too hyper choreographed. Of course it is, but it feels a lot more slapdash in the best possible way. And somehow, despite the fact that he's 58 years old and far from imposing physically, the movie really does make Odenkirk feel plausible as an action star.
He looks a bit more fit here, with a grizzled greying beard that suits him, The first half of the movie does a terrific job of creating an air of mystery about his character. Good cinema shorthand has ways of making you understand that a character is a badass based on how other characters react to them, and you quickly recognize that the Odenkirk character isn't the milquetoast suburban dad he initially appears to be.
And once the plot kicks in, which is knowingly threadbare and innocuously silly, it's a pretty much non-stop ride. It's self awareness isn't cynical -- people aren't constantly popping off one-liners and being irritatingly ironic. Nobody is much more straightforward and satisfying and it's blissfully just over 90 minutes, instead of a bloated mess like so many other modern action movies.
I don't see a Taken-like career re-route in Odenkirk's future though, or at least I hope not. He's too interesting an actor to be pigeonholed into a single genre, but this film does prove unequivocally that Odenkirk has it in him to be a movie star, too.
Better late than never I say. It's had to gauge how successful it is and will be since most folks will be seeing it on streaming platforms, instead of a theater, which is a shame since Nobody has a rousing, crowd-pleasing vibe about it, especially when old favorite Christopher Lloyd shows up as Odenkirk's gun toting dad.
It's early, but this is the first great 2021 movie I've seen.
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