Nobody (2021)

★★★
Nobody may be a low-rent John Wick, but it's darn good one. It works largely because of our familiarity with Bob Odenkirk as the shady lawyer Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Saul Goodman is not a fighter or weapons expert, but he's good at feigning ignorance and relying on his wits to surprise the opposition. Odenkirk's Hutch Mansell is much the same way. Years ago he left his position as a top assassin working for the "three letter agencies" to start a new life as a family man. Just as in John Wick, the villains cross the retired hero without realizing who he is, which starts a series of fights that escalates into a final confrontation between the hero and an army of mobsters, featuring lots of amazing stunts and gun battles. Take those Saul Goodman traits and give them to a guy possessing everyman looks and the skills of an "auditor" (as he calls it), and you have an interesting blend of characteristics for a new kind of hero. He lacks Keanu Reeves's steely-eyed intensity and Jason Statham's gruff demeanor. Instead, he has this nonthreatening appearance that conceals the quick reflexes of a seasoned assassin.

Hutch Mansell has a desk job at a warehouse. As the opening scenes make clear, his daily routine varies little. Monday to Friday, he drinks his coffee, takes the bus to work and returns home, each day uneventful and dull. One night, a home invasion puts the family at risk, but Hutch stands down and allows the crooks to escape. This encounter still gives us a glimpse into his former profession, as he tracks down the thieves based on a few clues he picked up during the robbery. Later on a bus, he stops five guys from assaulting a woman, and this scene is very satisfying not because Hutch physically dominates, but for the opposite reason. He's been out of the game for a while, and he's rusty. He takes some hits. I liked this direction. In The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne stays away from fighting crime for ten years, yet he returns when a new threat arrives to Gotham City, and he does so without missing a beat. Hutch's imperfect but ultimately successful takedown of five thugs signals a willingness to make the hero vulnerable. I liked The Equalizer, but Denzel Washington was never under any danger of losing, which took some of the suspense out of the story. Hutch has a lot to lose. His wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) and two kids are unaware of his background, and his father David (Christopher Lloyd) is in a retirement home.

One of the boys on the bus was the younger brother of Yulian Kuznetsov (Aleksei Serebryakov), the keeper of the Obtshak, described as the retirement pot for the Russian mob. He vows revenge, kicking off a war that will pit the two sides against each other. Hutch still has resources. He meets with a mysterious figure known as the Barber (Colin Salmon), who knows the extent of the threat Hutch faces. His father is retired, but we get the idea that he can still rise to the occasion if needed. His brother Harry (RZA) is heard only on the phone initially. We don't meet him until later, but he has knowledge of the situation and tries to advise Hutch on what to do. It appears he's involved in the same outfit that once employed Hutch. I am not familiar at all with Bob Odenkirk's physical conditioning, but throughout the second and third acts, he appears perfectly at home running around rooms, surprising his targets, improvising with everyday objects and executing moves that would make John Wick proud. The movie is also very funny. Christopher Lloyd as Hutch's father is the highlight. Two intruders enter his room at the retirement home, and how he handles the situation is very satisfying. The final climactic fight is one of those confrontations in which the hero stages props everywhere in case he needs to use them, ensuring that the odds against him are not stacked. It's an exciting showdown, made even better by the ease with which we accept Odenkirk in this role.

I use John Wick as a point of comparison because of the recent movies, but a better comparison would be Geena Davis's Charlie Baltimore from The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). Due to amnesia, Charlie becomes a teacher and immerses herself into a snowy community in the Northeastern United States. Once her true self emerges, she quickly shifts gears into the ruthless secret agent she once was. She taps into her training to stop the villain's plan that started years prior and having gained momentum during her absence. Geena Davis, though tall, was not a prototypical action star. She had this down-to-earth vibe about her that made the opening scenes look like an excerpt from a family Christmas movie. Bob Odenkirk exudes those same qualities. We accepted Bruce Willis in the role of John McClane after his days on Moonlighting for the same reason. Their atypical presentation combined with scripts that were less reliant on outlandish feats of strength grounded them. Hutch is nobody because he's everybody. He says he's nobody not just to hide his past, but because he so effectively integrated himself into his new life that he lost his identity. He's another working stiff. He chose this life for himself, and he doesn't yearn for the old days, but when the old days come knocking, he answers. During the home invasion, he doesn't act. He goes against instinct to let the criminals get away. He goes on the hunt only when his daughter says something to give him the push he needs.

Nobody is a solid movie coming out at the right time. Strike while the iron is hot. Bob Odenkirk's stint as Saul Goodman is winding down, so taking advantage of his moment in the spotlight is a smart move. Fortunately, he got a script that was worthy of his stature. It doesn't rank in the higher echelon of action movies, but it might give him a new character to develop over the coming years if he was interested in making Nobody 2 and beyond. The end suggests that there could be one. If so, a completely original villain would be welcome. The Russian mob and the Yulian Kuznetsov character remind us too much of John Wick's primary nemesis in his first movie. There are areas that could use improvement, but this is a good introduction to Odenkirk for audiences outside of television.

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