Tuesday, September 7, 2021

I saw Nobody...

Nobody is for anybody who's grown weary of today's disrespect of the please-just-let-me-be working man, not to mention those who have paid their dues through surreptitious avenues. 

Nobody, written Derek (John Wick) Kolstad and directed by Ilya (Hard Core Henry) Naishuller, is in part Death Wish; TakenHistory of Violence and any any given Rambo chapter (though mainly the first and last). In this instance, the slow-burn variant stars Bob Odenkirk (who co-produced with David {John Wick} Leitch) as Hutch Mansell, who on the surface appears to be an average enough bloke, weighed by doldrums that he's embraced by choice, until he faces a home invasion (and the symbolic loss of his daughter's kitty bracelet); then things get real, hot-under-the-collar tricky. 

Mansell has a past that gives him cause to seek vengeance, but what exactly are the prompting particulars? Ah, finding out is what makes this story so engrossing, as well as goddamn Bronson-eque. 

Aleksei Serebryakov's Russian mobster, Yulin Kuznetsov is part of the bizarre, reconnaissance equation, but throughout the pulp-ish passages, the Better call Saul actor grants Mansell a consistent, identifiable persona. He remains you and me even when we learn he may be not, leaving his troubled trails close to our fast-beating hearts. 

Abetting Mansell is his dad, David, played by Christopher Lloyd. Though confined to a nursing home, David also has a past and a shrewd sense of what's impacting his son. 

Meanwhile, Colin Salmon, as "the Barber", hovers to advise the younger Mansell, while family members (Connie Nelson, Gage Monroe, Paisley Cadorath, Billy MacLellan, RZA and Michael Ironside) lend their confused, if not sometimes terse support, never knowing what awaits, except that father knows best, bare knuckles and all. (The bus sequence epitomizes the latter.)

The timid won't dig Nobody, but hey, there's always smooth-ass Fantasia or the general, sorcery-school phlegm for them. For those who like their escapism with a blunt, old-school edge, this one's a violent gem. Ten stars all the revenge-ridden way!

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