Tag Archives: bob-odenkirk

Normal

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This was a movie that I had no idea about until just this past week. I had never seen a trailer. I went into the film as blind as I could. I thought this was sensational… a deft mixture of Fargo with Hell or High Water.

Bob Odenkirk co-wrote, produced and starred in Normal, as a interim sheriff taking over for a sheriff in the little town of Normal, Minnesota who recently died. It does not take long to realize that there is something really weird going in with the town.

This is a dark comedy and it was very effective. I was laughing out loud multiple times during the film, especially with some of the clever violence that is included with the film. I was engaged from the start with the mystery of what was going on in the town. There were moments throughout the beginning of the film that was just subtle enough to make you wonder if you were thinking too deeply. Maybe you were seeing things that were not actually there. No that was not the case.

Odenkirk, as we have seen in the Nobody franchise, works extremely well as an action hero. His laid back performance was quite the juxtaposition with the situation that his character, Ulysses, finds himself in. He is an easy to cheer for protagonist and extremely likable.

As I said, this movie is surprisingly violent and much of the violence is designed as the funny parts of the film. There were some clever scenes that a lot of horror movies would be jealous of.

At 90 minutes, Normal has the perfect length. It does not push things too far and has just enough time to dive into the story of the film and of this little Minnesota town.

There were fun scenes with Henry Winkler, Ryan Allen, Lena Headey, Reena Jolly, Brendan Fletcher, Jess McLeod, and Bill MacLellan.

Without knowing anything about this film, I enjoyed this one a great deal. I would venture to say that I liked this more than the Nobody franchise films from Odenkirk’s oeuvre.

4.5 stars

Nobody 2

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A sequel was released this week to a movie that did not seem as if it needed a sequel. The 2021 action/thriller Nobody received solid reviews, though it did not make a ton of money at the box office. It found Bob Odenkirk of Better Call Saul fame in the lead role of a docile family man who had a real violent streak inside him.

This weekend, Odenkirk returned as Hutch Mansell once again as a man who just wants to take his family on vacation to make memories. However, as per his luck, Hutch went to a little town where his father had taken him as a youth, and he discovered that there was more to the town than one would expect.

Odenkirk is great as the wrong-place-wrong-time former lethal assassin walked into a mess in the small town and his bursts of violent anger worked against his better judgment.

Other cast members returning from the 2021 film included Connie Nielson as Hutch’s wife, Becca, Paisley Cadorath and Gage Munroe as their children Sammy and Brady, Colin Salmon as The Barber, Hutch’s “brother” and Christopher Lloyd as Hutch’s father, David. This film added John Ortiz as Wyatt, Colin Hanks as Sheriff Abel and Sharon Stone as the big bad Lendina.

Nobody 2 is sort of like a mix between Rambo, National Lampoon’s Vacation and Zombieland (sans the zombies), with a flare of an R rated A-Team. It is extremely violent in the cartoony way and Hutch’s reactions to the terrible things he does are wonderfully fun. The story is very simple. It does not get much more than Hutch wants to go on vacation and he runs into criminals who try to kill him. He responds. That is basically it, and, truthfully, that is all we need.

There are some very funny moments in the movie and they mostly work because of the charisma of Odenkirk and the other actors. There are some creative fights and brutality in the movie. However, there were too many moments when the fights were tough to watch because of a dark look of the film or the bouncy cam. I could really do without the bouncy cam during the fight scenes.

The violence requires a lot of suspension of disbelief too . Hutch makes it through some very difficult moments and he does things that makes you wonder if this guy is invincible. He pulls it off though because of the way Odenkirk carries the character.

Nobody 2 is a fun sequel that should entertain those looking for silly action and rampant cartoon-like violence. I enjoyed the experience.

3.8 stars