Nobody

By Ephraim Belnap

There’s a seemingly normal man with a violent past. Someone pushes his buttons too hard. He goes off and spends an hour of screen time inflicting violence on his attackers. 

That’s the revenge flick formula. Pretty standard. But this film proves there’s still plenty of milk left in the udder. Nobody is a slick, stylish revenge flick that tells a sweet story while also setting up a sequel. 

Hutch Mansell is a seemingly ordinary guy who accounts for a manufacturing plant. He runs every morning, does pull-ups at the bus stop, and has dinner with his family. He helps his kids with their homework. He doesn’t escalate violence. He makes his coffee from scratch. He’s a good man. But he’s losing himself to monotony. He’s so busy he and his wife haven’t made love in months. And when some muggers break into his house and he lets them go safely, this proves to be one monotony too far. He puts his dukes up and starts fighting. And it’s revealed that he’s not so much a nobody as he is a former somebody, putting his old coat on. But first he has to survive the gangsters he ticked off.

Nobody borrows from contemporary revenge flicks like John Wick and Atomic Blonde - indeed, it shares the same producer - but comes across as leaner and funnier than either of them. Unlike the stoic John Wick, Hutch (played by Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk) is capable of carrying a scene with dialogue instead of intimidating presence. Indeed, the actor’s comedic training comes out in force, and the whole film runs with it. Instead of a grim gangster, the villain (played by Aleksey Serebyakov) is a coke-snorting, karaoke-loving himbo. Instead of a team of stoic badasses, Hutch’s allies are his elderly dad Dave (played by Christopher Lloyd) and his similarly middle-aged brother Harry (played by RZA). Instead of a bunch of angry shooting, the fights are mostly creative application; using teapots, rebar, and whatever else is on hand. And while other revenge flicks take pains to bring the story to a close, this one stays open-ended. Firm enough for a casual viewer, but vague enough that a sequel might be possible. And since it’s a lean ninety-two minutes, there’s likely plenty of meat still on the bone. 

With a great hook, smart plot, and stand-out humor, Nobody is a deftly-paced action film that combines the best of the genre with great character work. Five out of five.