GENRE | Mild-Mannered Action – Bob Odenkirk Kills 'Nobody'

"It's been a helluva day."

Universal Pictures / 87North Productions

Russian director Ilya Naishuller imagines Bob Odenkirk (also a producer) as a sort of common man action hero. Produced by John Wick co-director David Leitch and written by its screenwriter Derek Kolstad, Nobody certainly mines the iconography of that franchise while switching up its lead with a more mild-mannered protagonist as an everyman, anybody, or, well you know…

Essentially a kind of violent semi-satire of toxic masculinity and fetishistic dreams of badassery, Nalshuller and Kolstad send up our cinematic obsessions with middle-aged male action heroes clearly past their prime. An unlikely but very welcome Odenkirk really sells his suburban dad physicality through some delightful stunt and gun choreography that's tamer but still outrageous in its entertainment.

Co-starring Connie Nielsen as Odenkirk's wife who mostly acts through stares, looks, and glances alongside the RZA, and a spry Christopher Lloyd as his unlikely brood with Aleksei Serebryakov as the stereotypical vengeful Russian drug lord villain, the action flick never tries too hard to buck its genre conventions more than it embraces them with some knowing twists.

Odenkirk exudes so much pulpy everyman charm without much to say and a physical performance we've never seen from him before. Nobody is more restrained and thoughtfully humorous than expected with some visual flair and jokes to its all-out action violence. It doesn't waste much and gets right to the point while leaving some mystery and fun to its cinematic genre proceedings.

Nobody is available to stream on various digital platforms and through video on demand starting April 16th.


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