Title: Nobody
Year: 2021
Director: Ilya Naishuler
With: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, RZA, Michael Ironside, Colin Salmon
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Country of Origin: United States
English language
Rating: R
Duration: 92 min.
There's a whole subgenre in action movies that could be called "you've messed with the wrong man." Usually it is a drug dealer, a corrupt police chief or a Russian or Japanese mob boss, with a seemingly endless horde of henchmen and weaponry, who decides to take on this lowly, quiet nobody and wipe him off the face of the world. planet, or kill his girlfriend and his best friend, or even worse, break into his house late at night and drink the cat's milk.
What nobody usually realizes is that the nobody usually has a suspicious resemblance to Rutger Hauer, Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, Vin Diesel or Keanu Reeves.
None of the villains take it into their heads that there might be any resistance, and by the time the henchmen start to head back inside those convenient plastic bags we often see on cop shows, it's too late and the boss decides to send his best men to kill that nobody, who of course beats them all and in the last minutes of the film, finishes the big boss himself.
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The most recent addition to the list is Nobody (2021), a film written by the same screenwriter as John Wick (2014) and its second sequel. It stars Bob Odenkirk, himself from Mr. Show, or, for the general public, Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, a very talented actor and comedian but who bears little resemblance to Rutger Hauer, Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, Vin Diesel or Keanu Reeves. And that's exactly where the fun lies.
The IMDb synopsis tells of a man who steps in to help a woman harassed by a mob only to find himself the target of a vengeful drug lord. For some reason, that description doesn't seem quite right to me, since it sounds like something more dramatic than it is. It's not a parody either, but certain elements are amplified a bit and come off as funny. Look, for example, what ends up making our hero explode. In John Wick, it was a dog. Here it is... a bracelet with a kitty on it.
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No, it isn't a parody. It's a well-told story that stands on its own, but it's especially funny for anyone who has been in the "you've messed with the wrong man" sub-genre mentioned at the beginning of this review. The cast is very good with a beautiful performance by Christopher Lloyd and with RZA as the protagonist's brother, the villain is charismatic and with nuances that villains in this type of film do not usually have, the action scenes are well choreographed and in general , is a satisfying film, or rather, full of satisfying moments.
A pause here, for those who don't know what Chekhov's gun is: it's mentioned when in a play, an episode of a series, a movie, etc., an element is introduced that will later be used or have a reason for being in a scene later. The classic example was given by Anton Chekhov himself: if the author puts a gun on the table, he'd better make sure someone pulls the trigger before the curtain falls.
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Nobody is full of that kind of thing: elements, situations, phrases that are seeded and eventually reappear but with another meaning or simply closing a circle. The bus card, the vermin they're trying to get off the office roof, the takeover offer from the factory, the neighbor bragging about his new car, the Claymore mine, the reason Hutch doesn't beat up the mugger couple , etc., everything has its second round, and one then understands the reason for each thing, if one has been paying attention.
By the time the final credits roll, one realizes that Nobody is nothing more than a Disney family movie from the 60s with the dad, the mom, the kids, the uncle and the grandpa, but with violence, blood and guts. .