The Screen Addict | Nobody

Nobody (2021) lingered on my pile of back-logged Blu-rays for a couple of months. Not for lack of enthusiasm from my end, but simply because there is too much stuff I want to see these days.

Last night, I finally got round to a viewing of the Bob Odenkirk revenge flick. I was expecting a pitch-black Action-Comedy, and although there are certainly elements of those specific genres, Nobody ultimately is more reminiscent of Taken (2008) than of, let’s say, Hot Fuzz (2007). Straightforward, but hugely entertaining.

Nobody tells the story of Hutch Mansell, an ostensibly mild-mannered family man with a boring job who, after a violent home invasion, is forced to reveal he is actually an extremely lethal “fixer” for a shady branch of the US government.

Responsible for this bruiser of a film is Ilya Naishuler, the Russian director whose impressive and superbly original feature-debut Hardcore Henry (2015) turned heads and raised eyebrows in Hollywood.

Nobody starts out more subdued, but when the film hits its stride, it does so with the same relentless forward thrust Naishuler put on display in HH. Many sequences left me scratching my head, wondering how the hell the crew pulled that off without seriously injuring the players.

Teaming up Naishuler with John Wick (2014) scribe Derek Kolstad is a stroke of genius – these two men were destined to work together someday.

Naishuler and Kolstad really took Blake Snyder’s lessons from Save the Cat! to heart – if you’re gonna have a bad guy in your story, you’d better make sure he is genuinely terrifying.

The director and writer really hit that sweet spot with Moscow-born actor Aleksey Serebryakov who plays the ruthless – and I do mean ruthless – Russian gangster Yulian Kuznetsov.

Yulian’s introduction scene is equal parts funny and terrifying – which is exactly why he works as an antagonist – you don’t know whether to smile or shudder at times.

The supporting players are just lovely. An unrecognizable Michael Ironside, good old Christopher Lloyd and the radiant Connie Nielsen round out the cast, with rapper-turned-actor RZA making a last-minute appearance as Hutch’s brother.

The third act is basically Home Alone (1990) for grown-ups – or First Blood (1982) for millennials, if you will – with Hutch setting up boobytraps for the bad guys all over his metal workshop.

This Murderous Maze sees Yulian and his thugs disposed of in fairly unique ways – which is quite a feat after many Saw (2004) sequels and reboots kinda exhausted that gimmick.

The final scene leaves the door wide open for a sequel, but I am not sure the bean counters at Universal Pictures will decide that a worldwide haul of $55 million against a $16 million budget warrants another mission for Hutch…

I sincerely hope it does, though.

Solid recommend.

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Twitter (X): Robin Logjes | The Screen Addict