Nobody again

A couple of weeks ago, I watched a movie called Nobody but not the one with Bob Odenkirk. This week I watched:

Nobody (2021)

which is the one with Bob Odenkirk, perhaps best known from his role as Saul from Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad.

Hutch Mansell (Odenkirk) is a middle aged accountant who lives in a nice suburban house with a wife and two kids. He takes the bus to his accounting job, he misses the trash pickup every week, his life is frustrating, boring and dull.

One night they have a break in and the thieves steal some cash and his daughters kitty cat bracelet. This is one step too far, and he sets out to get it back. It turns out that Hutch is in fact quite a lot more than an accountant and a suburban husband and father. He is an Auditor, the kind of person the three letter agencies call when they need someone permanently removed. And he's good at it. He soon finds himself accidentally involved in a war with a deranged Russian mobster and his crew. Things will get very bloody indeed.

The movie was inspired by a couple of real break ins that Odenkirk suffered and how people talked about it after the fact. All the “if it happened to me I would have” and the “if it was my family, then” hurt, and he channeled it into Nobody. The movie is essentially a wish fulfillment story of how we all wish we were secretly a total badass one man army.

Visually Nobody is very nicely made. There is really nothing too ground breaking but I liked that I could follow the fights. Many modern action movies screw up the fight scenes, but Nobody does it really well.

The soundtrack features some really good songs, so that was a pleasant surprise. The real star of the show however are the stars. I haven't seen much of Bob Odenkirk before, but this movie really proves how good of an actor he is. Not necessarily because Hutch is a badass. It's easy to look tough, but because you can see his frustrations through the facade he wears for his children and how hard it is to push down his lethal instincts. Both Christopher Lloyd and Michael Ironside have small roles and it is always fun to see old veterans do their thing. Even though seeing how old they are reminds me of how old I am. Oh well, such is life.

Watching Nobody I was reminded of John Wick. The one man army wrecking people left and right is nothing new in film, but I found something in Nobody that many other movies miss: humor. Nobody is not a comedy, it is in fact pretty grisly, but there are some really good comedic moments that lift the movie to a higher place than just another violent romp. It is in fact funnier than a lot of what passes for comedies these days.

So, do I recommend this film? Yes, absolutely. Just be aware that it is incredibly violent and bloody. If you're okay with that, watch Nobody. I'm probably going to have to watch it again. Like I said, it reminds me of John Wick but also RED (2010).

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great week!

 

Nobody

Yesterday I tripped over a movie called:

Nobody (2007).

Not to be confused with the Bob Odenkirk movie called Nobody from 2021, this is a small, I guess indie movie, written and directed by Shawn Linden and starring Costas Mandylor and Ed O'Ross, amongst others.

Now, this will be pretty spoiler heavy or I can't do more than tell you that I watched it. That's okay though, since Nobody is a movie that is all about the experience rather than the plot, which is pretty confusing to follow.

Nobody is a Neo-Noir movie set in some kind of mid 20^th century city. No location is ever given, all we know is that there is an empty city, a lake and it's winter.

Our main character is Mortemain (Mandylor), a hitman dressed in black, complete with wide brimmed hat, a long coat with a broad fur collar and occasionally black shoe polish on his face. In the opening scene, he holds a gun to the head of local gangster boss Rolo Toles (O´Ross) and takes a package from him. Later, while making a call to his employer from a phone booth, he notices a man in a similar coat and hat stalking him. A running gun fight takes place and while Mortemain escapes, he is wounded. He goes to a ratty hotel to get a room, but to his surprise he already has a room. Later on, he returns to the boat where the terrified Toles is hiding with his men and to his shock overhears himself having the same conversation with Toles that he did earlier. Soon he follows himself to the same phone-booth and the same gunfight ensues.

Nobody is a loop movie. Or a movie about hell. Maybe some kind of dimension movie or... I don't know. As I said, the movie is very confusing, but that doesn't really matter. What matters is that Nobody is incredibly stylish and atmospheric. I had to pause the movie early on to check that the director wasn't Alex Proyas, who made The Crow (1994), Dark City (1998) and I, Robot (2004). Clearly the director is Shawn Linden, but Nobody looks like a cross between Dark City and Miller's Crossing (1990).

Frankly I can't remember whether the movie has any music or not, so never mind that. I don't remember because the plot is so convoluted, even though it makes sense in a way and because scene after scene, shot after shot are so nice. Dark paintings come to life was a thought that bounced through my brain while watching.

There is a total of fourteen actors in this movie and they are all fine, but it is the interaction between Mandylor and O'Ross that matters and it is really good. The cold blooded Mortemain contrasts nicely with the snarling, screaming Toles. Mortemain tries to figure out what is going on and how to break the loop, while in between rants and threats, Toles frantically prays for the night to be over as he can't take much more.

So, do I recommend this movie? Yes. Nobody isn't rated very highly which is a shame, but I think people are turned off because of the weird plot. I enjoyed it a great deal, and if you enjoy movies like Dark City and Miller's Crossing with the same sort of mystery as in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, then have at it, you should have a good time. If you want to turn off the brain and relax, choose another movie.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great week!