I didn’t think Bob Odenkirk would become the new Liam Neeson who replaced the late Charles Bronson as the Angry White Mam who uses violence to solve everything.
The first Nobody was like the first Taken as it gave us an actor not known for the type of movie and turned it into a fun flick to watch. But lightning doesn’t always strike twice in movie which was proven by the second Nobody and now spiritual cousin to those movies.
Odenkirk plays Ulysses Richardson, who has been appointed as interim sheriff of the Normal, Minn. area following the death of the previous one. An election for a replacement has yet to be held and Ulysses has just arrived in the frozen tundra area which is actually Winnipeg. He notices that Normal isn’t too normal as it seems as it has certain amenities as a heavily armored ammunition and equipment closet. Many sections of the town look too improved and fancy for a small town in the upper Midwest.
But since the movie starts out in Japan with a yakuza organization, you won’t be surprised that the town has secretly been storing their firearms and a good chunk of their money in the sole bank in town. This is discovered when a bumbling couple Keith (Brendan Fletcher) and Lori (Reena Joy) try to rob the bank. And from there Ulysses discovers the whole town is in on cooperating with the yakuza for a better town.
Mostly it’s a lot of shoot-outs and explosions as Ulysses finds himself working with the inept robbers to save his own skin and uncovers the previous sheriff’s death wasn’t what was reported. Of course, Ulysses himself is running from a questionable past as a law officer leaving voice messages on his estranged wife’s phone.
Even at 91 minutes with credits, it still feels sluggish and drags at times. After seeing Henry Winkler as the egotistical mayor being blown to smithereens with a grenade launcher halfway through, the rest of the movie’s shoot-outs some done in a Rube Goldberg-style feel like overkill on style with no substance.
It’s one of those movies you might just watch once on a weekend night with a bowl of popcorn, but after it ends you realize you don’t really care to see it anytime soon. Mainly, it’s because you’ve seen it done before and better.
What do you think? Please comment.
