Films that focus on absurdist violence is a genre I’m weirdly not against – it’s a bit too comical to have any real impact. In Nobody, Bob Odenkirk (famously known as Saul from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul) plays Hutch, a “family man” who one day decides to go on a rampage in town, hurting those who deserve to be. I hadn’t really watched the Taken or John Wick films but apparently, if you do, this movie provides a nuanced contrast to the theme of decent men who go violent to protect what they care about.

Hutch has all the regular plagues of a family man – angsty kids, a wife who is no longer intimate and a job that is monotonous and routine. When his house gets robbed, his special ops background and proclivities appear to re-emerge only for it to be deliberately suppressed once he realizes the robbers don’t actually have bullets in their gun – a suggestion that they are desperate. Yet, it is not this that provokes Hutch to finally unleash his thirst for violence,. Instead, it is the most benign of instigations by his daughter that her band was likely taken by the robbers that leads Hutch to want to hurt some bad people.

This is a clear contrast to the John Wick and Taken films which seem to suggest something severe must occur to the male protagonist to convince them to go fully violent – like the kidnapping of a kid or the murder of a dog. In this case, Hutch really just craves to be violent again – to feel bone against flesh and to smell the raw scent of blood. His excuse is ridiculous and more telling of his desire to give up his illusion of being a traditional family man.

The rest of the movie is just quality action – gun fights, arson and tactical combat. And to be honest, during my initial watch, I thought that was all it was. Having read some of the online commentaries and reviews though, I can see there’s a deeper perspective on the suppression of the full expressions of masculinity, whether for good or bad. For that, I’ll definitely be pondering a bit more.

Here are my ratings for the movie:

Cinematography: 4/5

Screenwriting: 3/5

Musical Score: 3/5

Acting/ Performance: 4/5

Overall: 3.5/5