Review of Nobody
midlandsmovies • June 14, 2021
Nobody (2021) Dir. Ilya Naishuller
Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk plays seemingly mild-mannered family man “Hutch” in a new explosive action flick from the Russian director of Hardcore Henry (2015).
Right from the start, Edgar Wright-style quick-cut montages show the monotony of Hutch’s repetitious daily grind and when burglars strike his home, his inability to take any action makes him a failure in the eyes of his family.
The film’s slow pace increases dramatically when a bus journey home sees a group of thugs tormenting a female passenger before they receive a violent beating at the hands of Hutch himself. Leaving bloodied and beaten bodies we begin to find out all is not what it seems with this apparently dull dad.
With echoes of A History of Violence, Nobody also sees a small-town man lash out with hidden fighting skills gained from a previous life kept hidden from his family.
Odenkirk himself is fantastic as the downtrodden but likeable Hutch. It’s a role he’s perfected from his first appearance in Breaking Bad as Saul Goodman. And the film’s editing is swift and economical which we are thrown headlong into as the audience barrels along its brisk 90 or so minutes.
There’s nothing particular surprising narrative wise in Nobody. The secret identity trope plays out as expected but Odenkirk and the excellent supporting cast (including Connie Nielsen as his wife and the too-little-seen Christopher Lloyd) instil plenty of pep into their broad stock characters.
The involvement of the Russian mob, some intense car action and a few house-bound John Wick-esque shootouts and smack-downs certainly keeps the movie familiar. But it also sticks enough kinetic camera work into the mix to make it feel fresher than it is.
However, it’s a tad let down from being a complete success by its overblown ending. Whilst for the most part it feels, and has the tone of, Liam Neeson’s first Taken film. There we had a semi-serious flick about a family man who ends up on a murderous rampage – but which kept its OTT action mostly in check. Here though, a final shoot out feels more played for laughs which is less Die Hard and more Hot Shots!
It’s a shame really as the conclusion feels more like the preposterous Taken 2 and 3 films. But thank goodness it never undoes the good work laid down in the previous hour.
And much like Taken, this film’s biggest draw is really its skilful re-contextualisation of a familiar and level-headed character actor into an action star we can truly believe is both a good guy and a bad ass!
★★★★
Michael Sales
Up! (1976) Dir. Russ Meyer Well, bi-Adolf Hitler BDSM is not something (a) I thought I’d ever see 5 minutes into a movie and (b) ever expected to write in my lifetime to be fair but this spicy start is pretty standard for the work of exploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer. Up! is a kind of r*pe-revenge softcore p*rn film (there’s gonna be a fair bit of self-censorship in this review so apologies in advance), the type Meyer is known for. I’d describe the plot in more detail but it’s mostly a convoluted and incoherent mess of double-crossing, murder, violence and lots and lots of humping. In short, a man called Adolph gets murdered and a woman investigates (kinda) the circumstances but as she does so, a group of locals blackmail, attack and screw each other with the murder mystery barely mentioned throughout. With so little narrative, it could be argued if it’s essentially p*rn? To be fair, not far off. It’s about extreme as you can go without simply making a s*x film. Is that a…no, it’s a belly button hole. Bookending the film (and also seen at various points throughout) is a Greek Chorus - simply a busty fully nude woman of course - who delivers dialogue like “Pummelling the scrotum with joyous supplication” and other such poeticisms. This artistic flourish is mostly pointless - the actress herself saying the words were tough to learn because it was utter nonsense. On a technical level, the editing is surprisingly well done and the 4k image is frankly fantastic. Someone somewhere must be putting together a post-modern take about the beautiful landscapes and cinematography of Meyer’s * ahem * output. But it definitely does have a kitsch artistry. It has certainly provided plenty of cinematic influence though. Elements of Tarantino grindhouse sensibilities are on show - Meyers likes bosoms as much as Quents likes feet - and there’s even a leather gimp early on. I can also see how its had an impact on Ti West X’s with a focus on sexuality and the body as well, more obviously, Anna Biller’s feminist-twist The Love Witch (2016). Suffice to say it’s not for the weak of heart. I think in this day and age you can’t go into this completely blind to its style, period and context though. It's an X-rated Carry On style that was bad taste then and it’s bad taste now. It revels in its sleaziness without a single hint of shame or apology. Simply saying 'deal with it'. The main negative though is the absence of plot - if the film can even be looked at like that - which is barely present. This is a shame as the whole thing could do with a bit more coherence rather than endless shagging. But it’s far from titillation, it’s mostly clowning - albeit a very adult version of it. More saucy than sexy. Trying to review this through modern sensibilities is almost impossible. It’s as offensive can be from the first scene through to the final credits - heck even this 4k menu is simply one of the film's many s*x scenes. But there are some progressive themes as it doesn’t shy from confronting sexual freedom, bisexuality, gay sex, BDSM and consensual exploration. There's moments of comedy thrown in and I enjoyed a frankly hilarious 5-minute monologue explaining the culprit’s intentions, which was a ludicrous way to deliver a slasher-style ending. I suppose the main thing about Up! (and Meyers’ work overall) is there’s a sort of love it or loathe it quality about the whole shebang. But it’s so unlike anything being made today - for good or bad - that it’s never anything other than unpredictably fascinating. More explicit than most Meyers films - in fact more than any film - it’s a lewd, rude and crude (s)exploration with a satirical edge and campy enjoyment bouncing from every frame. ★★★ 3 / 5 Michael Sales Severin Films releases Russ Meyers' UP! (1976) and MOTORPSYCHO (1965) on 28 April 2025 in newly restored and scanned 4k with hours of new and archival Special Features https://severinfilms.co.uk/
On the 24th of April, the Midlands Art Centre opened its doors to Gobby Flicks Productions for a night of live comedy. Proceeds were raised towards the production of new short comedy films, directed and written by women.
Ti West’s The House of the Devil makes a wonderful companion piece to his film The Innkeepers. Both maintain the director’s referential approach to horror, incapsulating it in a slow burning 90 minutes that manages to build and maintain tension while cheekily winking to the audience and showing the mechanisms behind the scares.
Read the full list of nominees for the Midlands Movies Awards 2025