The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema
THIS week’s review is going to be sweet and short. As far as action flicks go, “Nobody” could very well have jumped straight into my top 50 movies of all time.
The plot is simple to follow, the performances top-notch and action sequences simple but effective. It is a typical action movie.
The film stars “Better Call Saul” star Bob Odenkirk as a retired hitman, or as he puts it, “accountant”. After a home invasion, he is dragged back into his former life as a hired gun when he tries to recover his daughter’s stolen bracelet.
Hutch Mansell (Odenkirk) is a seemingly ordinary man. He has two children with his wife Becca (Connie Nelson) and an unremarkable job and life.
Mansell is an office worker in his father-in-law Eddie’s (Michael Ironside) metal fabrication company and generally keeps to himself. The tedium of his life is slowly grinding on him. He has not been intimate with his wife for years and his son Brady (Gage Munroe) has no respect for him.
Only his daughter, Sammy (Paisley Cadorath), shows him affection. One night, a man and woman enter his house and steal some of his belongings, which inadvertently includes his daughter’s bracelet, awakening his killer instinct as he tracks them down.
In the process, Mansell — going by the moniker ‘‘Nobody’’ — saves a girl from being harassed, beats up and kills a group of thugs on a bus. Unbeknown to the protagonist, one of the thugs was the brother of a Russian mob boss Yulian Kuznetsov (Aleksei Serebryakov). This random act of heroism puts Mansell on Kuznetsov’s radar, as the mobster sends his henchman to kill him and his family. Granted, it is a tired plot, but what makes it work is some brilliant piece of writing and top-notch performances. Hansell is depicted as a cross between John Wick and Bryan Mills (“Taken”).
His effort to change and leave the dangerous past behind is put to the test as he goes on a killing spree once provoked and in defence of his family. It also helps that Odenkirk is such a brilliant actor and nails the role. Every hero needs an equally sadistic and charismatic bad guy, and Serebryakov rises to the occasion. He is funny, charismatic and equally sadistic — talk of perfect traits of a bad guy.
Besides Odenkirk and Serebryakov, special mention goes to the duo of Christopher Lloyd and rapper-turned-actor RZA as Hansell’s father, David, and brother Harry for also bringing their A-game. The film is likely to do well. I would not be surprised if it follows in the “John Wick” and “Taken” footsteps.
Please God, let there be a sequel!
