Directed by:
Ilya NayshullerScreenplay:
Derek KolstadCinematography:
Pawel PogorzelskiComposer:
David BuckleyCast:
Bob Odenkirk, Aleksey Serebryakov, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, Michael Ironside, Colin Salmon, RZA, Billy MacLellan, Araya Mengesha, Gage Munroe (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
A thankless job, disrespectful kids and passionless marriage suffocate a middle-aged everyman — until a home invasion awakens his lethal inner badass. (Netflix)
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Reviews (14)
A John Wick alternative with a seemingly goofy plot and without the sometimes complicated kung fu combos. While there's no shortage of fine characters and a fast pace with a very simple script, the second half is merely a clichéd countdown of level-up situations, including the over-the-top finale. By around the halfway mark, the film was set to be an absolute smash, because the bus brawl will belong in the showcase of action films, just like the stairs scene in Atomic Blonde. This guy from Russia could be big in some time.
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I vividly remember going to see Hardcore Henry in the cinema a few years back, a film certainly didn't get lost in the glut of action movies with its visual concept and level of violence. Ilya Naishuller’s next film Nobody rides a similar wave of violence and action, only now you see the story from a familiar perspective (the "absent" cameraman). Nobody tries to be primarily an action thriller, but it quite forgots about the story and the continuity between scenes – at least that’s how it seemed to me (Hutch goes on his brutal spree, but why?). I had mixed feelings about the casting of Christopher Lloyd, he's really vital for his age, but the script just made a mockery of his character. Adequate for one viewing, but no more!
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In recent years, we have become accustomed to the fact that only a handful of stalwart though unfortunately aging stars led by Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves and Scot Adkins consistently bring us awe-inspiring, pure-blooded action spectacles across all budget categories. Fortunately, the franchise core of blockbuster production lies in their escapades and, mainly, in the financial results tied to them. After a pause caused by the fascination with the possibilities of computer animation, the action genre regained its appreciation for the artificially inimitable dimension of physical attractions and began to employ the main talents of the stunt trade. Thanks to that, a group of stuntmen and choreographers associated under the name 87Eleven were able, after years of contract work, to develop into an independent production company, 87North Productions, and start implementing their own projects, while also drawing in other significant creative talents. Directed by Ilya Naishuller, who stunned fans of the genre with his debut feature Hardcore Henry five years earlier, Nobody is the first film to leave the 87North nest, while ten other projects in various stages of development are set to follow it. Though the film is based on 87Eleven’s concept of craftsmanship, built on the hard training of actors and the perfect symbiosis of choreography with its formalistic transference into film, which has become the basis of the group’s flagship foreign productions (the John Wick and Atomic Blonde franchises), it also shows that it can be applied to different forms of the genre, new stories and different actors. Though corresponding to John Wick, the core of the premise involving a former expert in killing being called back into action by a disruption in his orderly civilian life and the principle of gradual worldbuilding are given a completely original treatment thanks to the involvement of the outstanding character actor Bob Odenkirk. His personality is based on the amusingly conceived contrast between his civilian facade and his wild past, or rather the skills that he acquired then. The essential motif is midlife or rather later-life crisis, when men are not only emasculated by monotonous work and marriages mired in the mundane, but mainly cease to be heroes for their children. Nobody develops this motif into a sort of mix of the less exaggerated True Lies and the purely fantastical, i.e. a non-subversive and safely staid Fight Club for aging dads. In the context of both Atomic Blonde and the aforementioned True Lies, it's regrettable that the filmmakers decided to strictly adhere to the worn-out macho storyline instead of involving the protagonist’s wife in the action (which, incidentally, was unintentionally promised by one of the dialogue scenes). Nevertheless, the film puts the omission of exaggeration and choice of an egocentric narrative line to good use in the style of action and its connection to the character of the protagonist, who becomes a psychotically hedonistic antithesis to John Wick’s refinement. Related to this is the fact that an essential role is played not only by how he delivers blows, but also by how many he dishes out and takes himself. Nobody is definitely not the best contribution to the action genre, but it is certainly flawless and, mainly, raises high hopes for the genre’s future.
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If you prefer art films and find explicit violence off-putting, steer clear of this movie. I have no idea if the filmmakers were serious or just wanted to have fun shooting a good old action movie, but I was royally entertained. I did enjoy the film throughout, I just won't give it a five because it smacked too much of Home Alone at times.
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If you see Nobody and Naishuller's previous Russian pogrom Hardcore Henry on the same day, you'd almost think Ilya had farted a bit. Understandably, though, that's because this young directorial hopeful mainly had to show that he could make a film beyond gimmickry, with characters that were more than just amusing caricatures. While I don't know if it was very successful, but in a genre now dominated by overstylized John Wick spectacles, Atomic Blonde, and Gareth Edwards massacres, we could probably hold that bar a little closer to the ground. But it's a fact that nobody came here for character nitpicking, so let's stop worrying about the film (a dumbed-down mid-life crisis in which Kolstat managed to sell the same script a second time, doctored it with all sorts of picked-over heists from True Lies to The Equalizer, all in the name of small-town values) and address the action scenes. While what I remember most from the film is the awesome one-shot in which the antagonist walks into a bar, still I have to admire in particular the imaginative and joyful disposal of the poor and virtually mentally incompetent bad guys. Perhaps the blood is digital and the night scenes often don't look like they're set on planet Earth, yet most of the fatalities can still be enjoyed with fulfilling relish and the fifty-seven-year-old Odenkirk is simply believable. In the context of a TV movie (as we should approach a VOD production), a nice lunch break that will be fine for talking to your mates about how record companies should make the rights to use songs they own more expensive again, because this movie à la jukebox thing is becoming quite an annoying trend.
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