A bystander who intervenes to help a woman being harassed by a group of men becomes the target of a vengeful drug lord.

Turning aging actors into action heroes has became almost a genre in itself after Liam Neeson led the way with ‘Taken’ and a series of increasingly poorer sequels and knock offs. Next up to the plate is Bob Odenkirk, better known to most as the slippery lawyer Saul Goodman in ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Better Call Saul’, and safe to say not an actor you’d have immediately thought of when casting for an action movie. That initial thought is proven wrong as Odenkirk is very good in this and has clearly spent a lot of time preparing himself both physically and mentally for the role, turning himself into someone who is believable as an ordinary father turned crime fighter.

‘Nobody’ is perhaps influenced more by the ‘John Wick’ series than any of Neeson’s movies, which is no surprise given its screenplay was written by Derek Kolstad who was also responsible for creating ‘John Wick’. The similarities involve good use of humour to complement smartly choreographed fight sequences (one on a bus is as good as anything in the ‘John Wick’ series), and world building that gradually expands as we meet more and more of its inhabitants. It isn’t quite as quirky as ‘John Wick’ which has definitely leaned into that aspect of its milieu, but it does work on a similar level and if you enjoyed those films you’ll enjoy this. It’s only 90 minutes long, the perfect length for this kind of material, and that prevents it from overstaying its welcome, which is just as well as there’s a sense that the plot is creaking on its hinges as more and more ridiculous contrivances get layered on in the final act.

‘Nobody’ is an entertaining action vehicle for the unlikely hero that is Bob Odenkirk, and it works because it balances exciting, kinetic action scenes with a laidback sense of fun and whilst it isn’t anything we haven’t seen before, for something comforting and familiar it more than does the job.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Ilya Naishuller

Starring: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, Aleksei Serebryakov, RZA, Gage Munroe, Michael Ironside, Colin Salmon and Christopher Lloyd

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt7888964/