Nobody

Five men loom over a lone woman on a bus. All she wants to do is sip her coke and get home safely but these pricks are drunk and looking for trouble. If you were sitting on the bus what would you do? Would you get up and walk out? Or would you smile and relish the opportunity to kick some heads in? It's a decision that may have life changing repercussions. It certainly does for Hutch (Bob Odenkirk).

He's a man who lives a life of mind numbing routine. Up, coffee, out, work, sleep next to Becca (Connie Nielsen), forget to put out the bins, up, coffee, out, work and so on. To say he's stuck in a rut is an understatement. His wife barely acknowledges him, his son Blake is openly contemptuous of him. The only source of light in his life is his daughter Sammy, who hasn't learned to hate him yet. A break in one night rattles him and an attempt to let off some steam brings him to the notice of the Russian mob. Little do they know about his life pre-suburban hell.

About 40 minutes into Nobody an injured man lying in a hospital bed gets a waiting room chair thrown at his head. Your reaction to this act of violence will be an indication of how you'll enjoy the rest of the film. Laugh and you'll enjoy yourself, squirm and you might be in a spot of bother. Because Nobody is an exceedingly violent film, not in that John Wick stylized way, more in a oh sweet jesus that hurt me just looking at it kind of way. The oddest thing of all is how comfortable Bob Odenkirk looks in the middle of it. If you aren't familiar with the actor you'd assume he's been making action films all his life. If you know him from Better Call Saul and his comedic work you'll be amazed by how convincing he looks and feels in that part. 

Older actors delving into action roles has become a common thing in the last decade. Costner and Travolta have tried and failed to get in on the act, Liam Neeson has built a whole new persona doing it and now we have Bob Odenkirk, bad motherfucker, as believable running after a bin truck in his pyjamas as he is mowing down a vault full of Russian mafia heavies with an uzi in each hand. Nobody will remind you of Neeson's Taken without a doubt; a man with a violent past and a very specific set of skills using them to protect his family but it's far more enjoyable. Gone are the po-faced antics and in their place a knowing streak of humour and a great sense of just how ridiculous it all is. It's a mid life crisis fantasy and it knows it.

It's only 90 minutes long too, it doesn't mess around, economically painting the drudgery of Hutch's life in a 2 minute montage before taking a machine gun to his existence. Unfortunately it means the other characters in his life get short shrift. Connie Nielsen as Becca is totally wasted in a part that consists of hiding and reminding Hutch to take out the bin. Michael Ironside as his boss seemingly appears so that genre film fans can say "oh there's Michael Ironside." RZA as Hutch's half brother Harry gets 5 cynical minutes at the end and merely exists to help set up a franchise. Only Christopher Lloyd as Poppa Hutch gets to really join in the fun as a retirement home resident with a seriously itchy trigger finger. Other things get short shrift too. Early scenes riff on themes of masculinity, what it means to be a man, what would a real man do, before vaporising any depth in a hail of gunfire.

Nobody is streaming online now. It's exceedingly silly, violent and funny. Don't expect anything beyond surface pleasures from it though.