Nobody

Nobody is an American crime thriller starring Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) as Hutch Mansell, a seemingly ordinary man with two children and a wife (Becca – Connie Nielsen) and an unremarkable job as an office worker. Clever editing from director Ilya Naishuller gives a quick flick-book summary of the daily disappointments of Hutch’s life in which his son holds him in contempt and his wife drinks the last of his coffee.

When his house is broken into by burglars, who steal a priceless watch and his daughter’s kitty-kat bracelet, using his ‘particular set of skills’ and his dad’s long-expired FBI badge, he sets off on a mission to right a wrong, revealing his adeptness for violence that he has previously hidden from his family. It is an action-packed 91 minutes, laden with Tarantino-like gratuitous violence and clearly taking inspiration from Taken, John Wick and Home Alone.

After retrieving his watch, but failing to locate his daughter’s bracelet, the bus Hutch takes home is stopped by a gang of thugs and he takes out his frustration by savagely beating them under the pretence of protecting a young woman, making himself the target of a vengeful drug boss in the process.

As he finds himself in an ever-escalating situation, his father and brother are recruited to alleviate his circumstances. Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future) enjoys himself as his gun-toting father and along with RZA (The Man with the Iron Fists, although more famous as the de facto leader of Wu Tang Clan) as his brother, there’s a glimpse ahead to a somewhat inevitable sequel.

It has a colourful soundtrack which is deliberately incongruous and ironic at points, including Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’, Andy Williams’ ‘The Impossible Dream’ and throughout the film, the Nina Simone version of ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’.

Written by Derek Kolstad (John Wick), Odenkirk features as his latest reinvented action star. The aforementioned bus scene reveals a durable but flawed fighter, limited by age and flexibility, making for more exciting and enjoyable fight scenes than any Neeson might find himself in. Although it is action-packed, it lacks the necessary humour you might expect from such a film with only one or two genuinely funny moments. It’s not as funny as it thinks it is, or could be. It is an easy and entertaining watch. I’m sure there’ll be a sequel – possibly a trilogy – and I will probably watch them too.

Clingfilm – that’s a wrap!