NOBODY : Tuesday 6th April 2021.

'NOBODY', which I saw at my local multiplex earlier this week, is an MA15+ Rated American action thriller Directed by the Russian musician and filmmaker Ilya Naishuller whose only previous feature film was 2015's 'Hardcore Henry' for which he also Produced, Wrote, acted in, composed the music for and also lensed. Released in the US on 26th March, the film has so far grossed US$22M off the back of its US$16M production budget and has generated favourable Reviews. Apparently in March of this year Naishuller discussed the potential of a crossover film featuring Nobody and the 'John Wick' franchise, expressing interest in the possibility based on the films' similar tones. It should be noted that David Leitch Co-Directed the first 'John Wick' film with Chad Stahelski and also Produces here, and Derek Kolstad who wrote this film and Executive Produces, also wrote the first three 'John Wick' films too.

And so, here Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) is a seemingly ordinary man - he has two children with his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), has an unremarkable job as an office worker mulling over the books every day at his father-in-law Eddie Williams (Michael Ironside) metal fabrication business, and generally keeps to himself. The tedium of his life is slowly grinding him down, he and his wife have not been intimate in years, his teenage son Blake (Gage Munroe) has no respect for him as a father, and only his younger daughter, Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) shows him any affection.

One night while Hutch can't sleep he goes downstairs and disturbs a pair of black clad burglars who have broken into his house, hold him at gunpoint and demand cash. Hutch gives them his wrist watch, but when the now identified man and woman try to leave, Blake tackles the man to the ground. Hutch is about to attack the girl with a golf club, but at the last second stops himself from doing so and lets the pair get away. Blake cops a black eye in the process. The incident causes more of a rift between Blake and his father, and everyone in Hutch's life, from his neighbour to his brother-in-law at work, asks him why he did not try to stop the burglars. Hutch contacts his supposedly deceased half-brother Harry (RZA) on a hidden radio in his office and explains that he saw no reason to intervene as the burglars were using an unloaded gun anyway.

When he comes home later that day, Sammy asks her father for help finding her kitty cat bracelet, which Hutch believes the thieves took. Without saying a word, he goes to see his elderly father David (Christopher Lloyd) who lives in a aged care home, and borrows his old FBI badge and gun to track down the burglars by a distinctive tattoo on the girls wrist which Hutch observed during the night of the burglary. After visiting three tattoo parlours he is eventually led to their apartment and threatens them, but when he realises they robbed him to get money to pay for their sick baby's medical treatment, he leaves in shame and beats the crap out of a brick wall instead. 

The bus he takes home is stopped by a gang of drunken Russian thugs, who crash their vehicle by the side of the bus, and decide to hitch a ride. They start by antagonising the other few passengers on board who all abruptly leave except for a young girl and Hutch. Hutch escorts the bus driver out of the vehicle taking her mobile phone and placing it on the dash board, before closing the door behind him. Standing at the entry to the bus the five Russians thugs all turn to look at Hutch as he says 'I'm going to fuck you up', at which point the antagonists all begin to laugh. Hutch takes out his frustration by savagely beating up all of them, leaving them all severely bloodied and broken, but not before sustaining a knife wound to his side and also copping a beating, leaving him battered and bruised. 

Harry then sends his brother to see a man known as 'The Barber' (Colin Salmon), who provides Hutch with intelligence about one of his victims, Terry (Aleksandr Pal) the younger brother of Yulian Kuznetsov (Aleksei Serebryakov), a notorious Russian mob boss and enforcer. Although Yulian despises his brother, he feels obligated to avenge him and sends a crew led by his right-hand man Pavel (Araya Mengesha) to attack Hutch at home after deducing his identity via his misplaced Metro card. Hutch hides his family in their secure basement and kills most of the attackers before Pavel subdues him with a taser and puts him in the boot of a car to take him to Yulian. Coming round handcuffed, Hutch dislocates his thumb to be able to slip his hand through the handcuffs. He finds a fire extinguisher in the boot behind the rear seat, and uses it to blindside his abductors, causing the car to crash headlong into a pole and to flip on to its roof landing upside down, killing Pavel and the two others in the front seats. 

He returns home to find his family still hidden in the basement. He sends Becca and the children away to a safe location. With four of the antagonists still alive (albeit barely) Hutch has them lined up on the sofa in his basement while he recounts his story, before they all die of their injuries. Hutch explains that he is a former 'auditor', an assassin employed by intelligence agencies to kill people who were considered untouchable, too hard to arrest, or living outside of the law. He was very good at his work and performed it diligently until one day, he let a man he was supposed to kill for stealing U.S. government funds go free. Returning a year later, much to his surprise Hutch found the man had built a new life and family for himself and was living the straight and narrow. Seeing this and wanting a life similar to his, Hutch decided to retire against the wishes of his superiors, and since then has done everything possible to downplay any recollection of his former life. Until now! 

With the four all dead, he finds his daughters missing kitty cat bracelet under the sofa before leaving the basement saying that it will burn at 3000° where human bones burn away to nothing at 1500°, so destroying all the evidence. He torches the room and burns his house down to destroy any indication of the carnage that went down therein.

After giving Eddie a stash of gold bars to buy his company from him which is accepted on the spot, Hutch closes down the business until further notice and sets about rigging up numerous booby traps inside. Hutch then goes to Yulian's extensive private art collection and the stash of cash money he was protecting for the mob and torches it all, killing all of the Russian's goons in the process. He leaves with an original Van Gogh tucked under this arm - the only remnant of Yulian's priceless art collection. 

Hutch then goes to Yulian's private club and sits down and eats a steak while the Russian is singing and dancing on stage. When Yulian is done he siddles up to Hutch with all of his henchmen in tow. Hutch though is not phased by this and under a napkin reveals a Claymore mine pointed directly at the Russian mob boss, attached to a hair trigger attached to his thumb. Hutch has a civil conversation with Yulian after all the goons have been ordered from the room, and tells him that he can either choose to come after him or he can take what he has left and flee with his nice little nest egg and open up a bar somewhere in the Caribbean having changed his appearance somewhat.  

Yulian needless to say chooses the former option and angrily calls up every man on his payroll and pursues Hutch to the factory, where David and Harry show up to help Hutch take down the gangsters using a variety of weapons and deadly traps that Hutch had set up previously. They kill all of the gunmen with the exception of Yulian, who shoots and wounds Harry in the shoulder. Hutch charges him with a Claymore mine attached to a bulletproof shield and detonates it, killing Yulian, whilst affording Hutch a degree of protection.

He lets his father and brother escape, and is arrested by the Police. Sitting in the interview room being questioned by a male and female officer, Hutch produces a kitten from under his jacket and a can of tunafish which he opens so that the cat can eat. He is asked by the officers who he is, at which Hutch replies 'I'm nobody'. At this point the officers mobile phones ring simultaneously. After they both hang up they have a look of disbelief on their faces and Hutch is quickly released with no charges filed. 

Fast forward three months, while checking out a new house to buy with Becca, Hutch receives a call via the Real Estate Agents mobile phone suggesting that his services are still required. In a mid-credits sequence, Harry and David are shown driving to an unspecified location along an ocean highway in a mobile home filled with guns.

At a brisk 92 minutes run time, 'Nobody' does not leave you wanting. Make no mistake, there are plenty of touchstones here straight out of the 'John Wick' playbook, but there's nothing wrong with that given that in Bob Odenkirk we have a new action hero who kicks, punches, gouges, stabs, shoots and blows up a small army of Russian bad guys using a very particular set of previously dormant skills - and what's not to like about this kind of stylised violence. Odenkirk is perfectly cast as the very ordinary man at the outset thrust into extra-ordinary circumstances by the end and he plays it with all the downbeat charisma and relateability that plays to the actors strengths. And as for the now 82 years old Christopher Lloyd, he just looks like he was having so much fun as the gun totting octogenarian on a day out from his aged care facility reliving past times and the good ol' days. This is fast paced, brutal, emotionally charged and at times laugh out loud funny too that doesn't reinvent the genre but provides 92 minutes of pure escapism , and adrenalin fuelled entertainment that for lovers of this fare will tick all the right boxes. 

'Nobody' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 1st April 2021.

Last week the 73rd Writers Guild of America Awards and the 32nd Producers Guild of America Awards were held on 21st and 24th March respectively, and both via virtual ceremonies. The former honours the best writing in film, television and radio of 2020, while the latter honours the best film and television Producers of 2020.

In the film categories, the winners and the grinners, and the also rans are as given below :-

WGA Awards

Best Original Screenplay

* Awarded to 'PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN' written by Emerald Fennel, beating out 'Judas and the Black Messiah', 'Palm Springs', 'Sound of Metal' and 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'. 

Best Adapted Screenplay

* Awarded to 'BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM' written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Dan Swimer, Peter Baynham, Erica Rivinoja, Dan Mazer, Jena Friedman and Lee Kern, beating out 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', 'News of the World', 'One Night in Miami' and 'The White Tiger'.

Best Documentary Screenplay

* Awarded to 'THE DISSIDENT' written by Mark Monroe and Bryan Fogel, beating out 'All In : The Fight for Democracy', 'Herb Alpert Is . . . ', 'Red Penguins' and 'Totally Under Control'. 

PGA Awards

Daryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

* Awarded to 'NOMADLAND' Produced by Frances McDormand, Chloe Zhao, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher and Dan Janvey, beating out 'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm', 'Judas and the Black Messiah', 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', 'Mank', 'Minari', 'One Night in Miami', 'Promising Young Woman', 'Sound of Metal' and 'The Trial of the Chicago 7'.

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

* Awarded to 'SOUL' Produced by Dana Murray, beating out 'The Croods : A New Age', 'Onward', 'Over the Moon' and 'Wolfwalkers'.

Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures

* Awarded to 'MY OCTOPUS TEACHER' Produced by Craig Foster, beating out 'David Attenborough : A Life on Our Planet', 'Dick Johnson Is Dead', 'Softie', 'A Thousand Cuts', 'Time' and 'The Truffle Hunters'. 

For the complete run down of all the awards as bestowed by the WGA and the PGA, plus a whole lot more, you can go to the official websites for the WGA at : https://awards.wga.org and for the PGA at : https://producersguild.org 

This week then there are five latest release new films coming to an Odeon near you. And we kick off with a critically lauded film about a man who refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages, and as he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality. This is followed by a true story of a Cold War spy, Greville Wynne, and his Russian source who attempt to put an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. Next up we have an all out actioner that follows a man who helps a stranger being harassed by a group of men, only to become the target of a vengeful drug lord, who then utilises a very particular set of skills to win the day. And we then close out the week with two animated features, both sequels - the first seeing a chaotic battle unfold between arch enemies Jerry Mouse, who has taken refuge in NYC's Royal Gate Hotel, and Tom Cat, who is hired to drive him away before the day of a big wedding; and finally a tale of two misfit castaways who are adrift on a raft following a storm and who later struggle to reunite an unconventional family, out-run a volcano, and negotiate peace on a creaking Ark.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the coming week.

'THE FATHER' (Rated M) - this French and British Co-Produced film is Directed and Co-Written for the screen by the acclaimed French novelist, playwright and Director Florian Zeller in his feature film making debut, and is based on his own play 'Le Pere' which premiered in 2012. This film saw its World Premier screening at the Sundance Film Festival back in January 2020, had a limited release in the US from the end of February, is released in Australia this week, and in the UK on 11th June. The film cost US$20M to make, has so far recovered US$2M and has received the highest praise from Critics picking up twenty-one award wins so far and another 135 nominations including six Oscar nods, six BAFTA nods and two SAG nominations, all of which remain pending at the time of writing. The performances of the two lead actors - Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman have been singled out for particular praise.

Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) is 80, mischievous, living defiantly alone and rejecting the carers that his daughter, Anne (Olivia Colman), encouragingly introduces. Yet help is also becoming a necessity for Anne as she is unable to make daily visits anymore and Anthony’s grip on reality is steadily diminishing. As we experience the ebb and flow of his memory, how much of his own identity and past can Anthony cling to? How does Anne cope as she grieves the loss of her father, while he still lives and breathes before her? Also starring Imogen Poots, Mark Gatiss, Olivia Williams and Rufus Sewell. 

'THE COURIER' (Rated M) - this historical drama film is Directed by Dominic Cooke whose prior film making outings take in two 'National Theatre Live' performances for 'The Comedy of Errors' in 2012 and 'Follies' in 2017 with 'On Chesil Beach' in 2017 and three episodes of the TV mini-series 'The Hollow Crown' in 2016. This film saw its World Premier screening at the Sundance Film Festival way back in January 2020, was released Stateside in the US on 19th March, in the UK not until 17th May and here in Australia this week having generated US$3M at the Box Office so far and generally favourable critical Reviews. Telling the true story of the British businessman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) who helped MI6 penetrate the Soviet nuclear programme during the Cold War. Wynne is approached by a spy from MI6 and a spy from the CIA and asked to pose as a business partner of Russian  Oleg Penkovsky (codenamed Ironbark, and played by Merab Ninidze) in order to gain intelligence relating to Soviet missiles being transported to Cuba. Ultimately, Wynne and his Russian source, provided crucial intelligence that brought an end to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also starring Jessie Buckley, Rachel Brosnahan and Angus Wright. 

'NOBODY' (Rated MA15+) - is an American action thriller Directed by the Rissian musician and filmmaker Ilya Naishuller whose only previous feature film was 2015's 'Hardcore Henry' for which he also Produced, Wrote, acted in, composed the music for and also lensed. Released in the US on 26th March, the film has so far grossed US$3M and has generated favourable Reviews. And so, here Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) fails to defend himself or his family when two thieves break into his suburban home one night. The aftermath of the incident soon strikes a match to his long-simmering rage. In a barrage of fists, knives, gunfire and squealing tyres, Hutch must now save his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), son Blake (Gage Munroe) and daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) from a dangerous Russian drug lord Yulian Kuznetsov (Aleksei Serebryakov), and ensure that he will never be underestimated again as a nobody. Also starring Christopher Lloyd, Michael Ironside and RZA. 

'TOM AND JERRY' (Rated G) - here, this American live-action/computer-animated comedy film is based on the cartoon characters and animated theatrical short film series of the same name created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It is the second theatrical film based on the characters following 1992's 'Tom and Jerry: The Movie' and is Directed by Tim Story whose previous directorial outings include his 1992 debut 'One of Us Tripped', then 'Fantastic 4' in 2005 and its 2007 follow up 'Fantastic 4 : Rise of the Silver Surfer', 'Hurricane Season' in 2009, 'Ride Along', 'Ride Along 2' and the recently announced 'Ride Along 3' with 'Shaft' in 2019. And so a legendary rivalry reemerges when Jerry Mouse moves into New York City's finest hotel on the eve of the wedding of the century, forcing the desperate event planner Kayla Forester (Chloe Grace Moretz) to hire Tom Cat to get rid of him. As mayhem ensues, the escalating cat-and-mouse battle soon threatens to destroy her career, the wedding, and possibly the hotel itself. Tom and Jerry are voiced by William Hanna, Mel Blanc, and June Foray via archival recordings, alongside Frank Welker and Andre Sogliuzzo, with additional voices provided by Bobby Cannavale, Lii Rel Howery with live action provided by Michael Pena, Colin Jost, Rob Delaney, and Ken Jeong. The film was released in the US at the end of February, cost US$70M to produce, has so far recouped US$78M and has generated largely negative press. 

'TWO BY TWO : OVERBOARD' (Rated PG) - this follow up to 2015's 'Two by Two' (aka 'Ooops! Noah is Gone') is once again Directed by the pairing of Toby Genkel and Sean McCormack, with this animated adventure comedy offering seeing the young Nestrian Finny (voiced by Max Carolan) and his best mate Leah (voiced by Ava Connolly), a Grymp, accidently fall off the ark and are swept out to sea. Out on their own on a raft, they get separated by a storm. While Finny finds a whole colony of Nestrians underwater, Leah lands on a beautiful island that seems to shake regularly and smoke pours from the top of the mountain. As these two misfit castaways struggle to reunite an unorthodox family, out-run a volcano, and negotiate a peace deal on a creaking Ark, they also have other dangers and adventures to face along the way. 

With five new release films this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-