"Normal" - Weatherley With You

Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk) is the interim sheriff of tiny, snowy Minnesota town "Normal", after the previous Gunderson died. Holding the place down until the election, Ulysses only expects to be here for a couple of months. But when the bank is robbed during a a snowstorm, Ulysses twigs that there is a lot more going on here than meets the eye...

(London.net)
I was on the fence for the first 30 minutes. The film has a bloody rough start ("Hey, it's me, your husband, Ulysses...") and I was unsure what it was aiming for, and why Ben Wheatley (a rather distinctive director, the voice of such oddball fare as "Down Terrace" wherein a crime family are portrayed as petty, bickering, working class British shitbags in a terraced house; and the absolutely jaw-droppingly ominous and terrifying "Kill List", as well as quirky serial killer romcom "Sightseers"; the elongated gunfight and bloody good time "Free Fire" and psychadeic nutball time "A Field in England") was selected for this rather ordinary (hah) action movie. Sure it had some quirks, like the paint-dripping moose and the mayor (Henry Winkler, rather good in this), but you're waiting for the penny to drop, and the odd one liners and humour feels out of place.
Once the first of several twists at the bank kick in, the film finds its groove, and the script (written by Derek Kolstad) feels less like a knock off of "Nobody" or "John Wick" and more like something Wheatley would have written himself: characters fall down, miss, murder each other with household objects (a yarn shop is particularly fun) and has a sense of bloody mischief to it all. Much like "Nobody 2", it's an outsider's perspective on Americana, the trappings of it all and a pisstake on the classic American action movie: the diner uses an old school record jukebox and is adorned with a comic number of guns; the ice cream parlour has the 50s style hats and chairs; and Fonzie is the Mayor! Only here, Wheatley makes it all come together in service of an out and out ridiculous comedy, after a particularly funny bloody death at the bank. By the time of its excellent finale (a massacre set to "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman", a choice so bizarre that it has to have been a send-up of the newer trend of pop-music massacres, and it being Dr Hook makes it tailor made for my tastes), caused by a piece of comedic slapstick genius, I was absolutely engaged, and it had surpassed its ludicrous nonsense story of Yakuza money laundering in the Mid-West to become a fun litte afternoon movie, a continuation of Odenkirk's little action movie crusade, and had risen above some of the clunkier dialogue on display. Plus, great to see some non-binary representation in the form of Jess McLeod's deputy.

"Nobody 2" - Review

Long after his rough and tumble tangle with the Russian Mafia brought mild-mannered super-killer Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk, which I still cannot get over) back into the game, he has been doing contract work for The Barber (Colin Salmon, nice) to settle affairs. But this has all alienated him from his family, so he decides to arrange a holiday! Alongside ballsy wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), gangly rebellious son Brady (Gage Munroe), endearing daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) and unhinged father David (Christopher Lloyd); Hutch decides to head off to beloved theme park/waterpark of his youth Plummerville! But you can never fight the tides, and soon Hutch finds himself trying to simply enjoy his holiday and avoid the orbit of sleazy weirdo sheriff Abel (Colin Hanks), scuzzy owner Wyatt (John Ortiz) and mysterious maniac Lendina (Sharon Stone) - easier said than done.

(Photo Credit: Amazon Prime Video)
The first film is rather fun and a pleasant surprise where action movies are concerned, marketed largely successfully on it being from minds behind "John Wick" and Bob Odenkirk in the leading role. This one keeps that momentum going but also seems unsure where to go with it. Having Indonesian Timo Tjahanto behind the wheel adds an askew crookedness to standard Americana, which is welcome and adds to the quirk: it's a nice twist on the setup and brings spark to the tale. When blood and vicious gore of the director's previous efforts like "The Night Comes For Us" begins to get spattered across the faded All-American theme park and other such things, it's a tad jarring but spices up things.
Otherwise it's a rather busy movie, with lots of characters bouncing around the place, scheming, counter-scheming and having mini-arcs which get kind of dropped and forgotten about; and Sharon Stone's villain is given little guidance or things to do so sort of has to pull a Matt Smith in "Morbius" and make up quirk as she goes along (including a dance sequence); but the whole affair is bloody fun and comes into its own on a boat fight and during the finale at the theme park. Much like Hutch's holiday (hell, the film even uses Cliff Richard...) it's fun while it lasts, and it won't be as good as you remember when you look back on it, but enjoy the ride.
Plus RZA gets to be the samurai of his dreams in the final act and gets the best, pulpiest line against legal-requirement bad guy Daniel Bernhardt.

"Nobody" Review - From the Vaults

"Nobody"

Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) is a mild mannered, middle class man in suburbia with an excruciatingly ordinary life: he lives in the suburbs with his real estate agent wife Rebecca (Connie "I Speak 8 Languages" Nielsen), teenage son Blake (Gage Monroe) and daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath); and works as an accountant at a workshop owned by his father in law (Michael Fucking Ironside!) .

But when he is burgled in the night, and does nothing about it, he feels humiliated, and it awakens something inside of him. He embarks on a quest for revenge, self-discovery and violence, which ends up placing him in the path of a Russian mobster and his own past...

Off the bat: yes, this is indeed a "John Wick" knockoff, right down to sharing a producer; and an appearance by Daniel "Bloodsport Sequels" Bernhardt as a henchman of the mob.

One more step closer to the Bloodsport Expanded Universe

But if you're going to rip off anything, I'm happy it's "John Wick", because that movie rules.

And it does enough stuff differently to stand out. It's funnier for starters, taking itself far less seriously whilst simultaneously showing off Odenkirk's range and really embracing some of the visceral violence.

Oh yeah, it's from the director of "Hardcore Henry", and it shows. RZA is in this and he kills three men with the same bullet with a sniper rifle in close combat; we get claymore mines to the face, faces planted into buses. This movie is great fun.

Michale Ironside is in this!

Do you have any idea how happy that makes me?!