Nobody (2021)

The Plot of Nobody: Hutch Mansell is an accountant in a mid range machine shop leading a mundane life. One night two hooded burglar’s break in, but even when confronted by Hutch he does nothing, allowing them to escape, causing others, including his son to look down on him. He decides to find them using the design of a tattoo, and eventually runs them to earth, finding they are an impoverished Latino family, so he recovers his watch and leaves. But on the bus home he is confronted by a group of Russian youths who have bad things in mind for a young woman on the bus. He damages them all, one of them dying in hospital. The youth is the younger brother of a Russian crime lord, who is intent on revenge. Hutch hides his family in a citadel and takes on the group of mercenaries sent to eliminate him, but eventually he his tazered and put in the boot of a car. He escapes and causes the car to crash, killing everybody and then manages to get home to release his family, who he sends away for safety. It is not over, Hutch plans to take on the Russians.

Content: No sex or nudity, although there is drinking and Hutch smokes a lot. At the outset we find out that Hutch has a past. He talks to someone on a radio and describes the hand gun held by one of the burglars as having a taped handgrip and no bullets. It seems to be gradually revealed that he is some sort of government assassin. His father, who watches TV in an old people’s home is a retired FBI man. Hutch is not completely impervious to attack in the various battles and in the opening scene we see him battered and bruised being interviewed by a couple of detectives, while feeding a kitten with tuna. His daughter wanted a cat.

A View: I’m sure like others, I was attracted to this film by the presence of Bob Odenkirk, much loved in Better Call Saul, and he does pretty well. The plot is not exactly original. I kept thinking of A History of Violence, but what the hell. It was on the verge of being too violent, or at the very least having too much violence in it, so we might get tired of seeing him dispatch the unfortunate masked gunmen. But we’re rooting for Hutch even in his wildest manifestations, so worth a watch if you like that sort of thing.

Fun Fact: Bob Odenkirk had the idea for the film after his house had been burgled.