Thanks to the success of "John Wick" and "Taken", the fashion for this type of films began. No wonder, their implementation is not very expensive, it is easy to earn money on them in the cinema, streaming or VOD. In addition, people have always copied things on which others have made a lot of money. As usual on such occasions, I will refer to the example of games - "Doom" and FPP games in the 90s and a bit later, the same in the case of RTSs, or nowadays - MOBA games. FPP games in their time were called Doom-like (as they say today "Souls-like"), RTS developers copied from Blizzard, Westwood, and MOBA game developers are trying to repeat the success of Valve and Riot Games. When it comes to movies, the best example are the super heroes on whom Disney-Marvel made a huge capital. Thanks to them, each studio rummages in its IP (intellectual property), whether they themselves have copyrights to some super heroes or brands that can be sold in this way. The more such productions, the harder it is to be original, but as I like to repeat in the context of various types of art recently, what matters most is having a good time here and now. So how does "Nobody", which is the director of "Hardcore Henry" and the writer of all parts of "John Wick", two episodes of "Falcon and the Winter Soldier" and the emerging series "Hitman" fare?
Good in my opinion, although this is probably not a production that I will remember in a few years. However, to be fair, after the poster and the trailer, I expected that I would not like this movie. The plot is simple and can be summarized in a few simple sentences - the former FBI secret services agent is tired of everyday life and lacks adrenaline. "Nobody" also conveys an important moral - be careful who you attack, because you will accidentally attack someone you shouldn't touch and the consequences will be dramatic. And besides, we have scenes typical of titles from this trend ("Taken" & "John Wick" + old action movies) and those that may appear rarely, but are not original within this genre. Developing - the title character accidentally came across a group of bandits who attacked a defenseless woman in order to rape her. He decided to put them in order - beat them very badly, break their bones, stuff. He did not know, however, that he attacked people belonging to the Ruthenian mafia, specifically the drug boss, Yulian.
I don't watch too many films like that, so it's hard for me to say how original or imitative of these fights are compared to similar productions. However, I can say for sure that I was as satisfied after watching "Atomic Blonde". I enjoy watching violence on-screen, especially where you can clearly see each blow and its effects - be it the victim or the attacker. In this respect, "Nobody" presents a good level, but nothing more. Or at least that's the inexperienced person I am. Don't get me wrong, fighting on the bus, repelling the attack on the house, or the finale are pleasing to the eye, feel the force of the blows, they are properly directed, but there was nothing in them that would make a really strong impression on me. Apart from a few ideas that I could count on the fingers of one hand, such as using my grandfather for a spectacular finale, this is not enough for me.
As for the actors, let me say this - they didn't impress me much, but they played well enough that I don't have too many complaints. Acting in such a cinema is not that important + this production does not have too high aspirations, so I can turn a blind eye to some shortcomings. I don't like Bob Odenkirk in Saul's role in Breaking Bad, but he played pretty well in Fargo, he's good in Nobody too, but he got more opportunities to prove himself. I would not call him a good, much less a weak actor. I liked the scenes where he spoke or we saw his gray, everyday reality. You can see how much life destroyed him - not only tedious work, the lack of any tangible meaning in life, but also the lack of the adrenaline and dopamine spikes he had in his previous profession. You can see it in his face, the obvious discouragement that disappears during the fights. Not only was I able to identify with it in a certain way, but it turned out well, i.e. climatically, realistically, presented with the right character. When he fought it was a bit worse, although it was nice to watch him hurt someone or picked up blows himself. As long as it was him and not an understudy. Apart from that, my favorite is my grandfather, played by the famous Christopher Lloyd. Ever since I saw him for the first time, I knew that I would at least like him for sure. His character was well thought out and invented ... Let's say that in certain circumstances (very good health, good genes, outstanding condition, taking care of your body) a way to fight. Even in such a situation it would be moderately realistic, but that's not what you saw in action movies. He wasn't doing some otherworldly flips or anything like that - he was just lucky to shoot when a human hit him in his crosshair, so that's acceptable to me. The grandfather with the shotgun was rocking, you can see how much fun he felt in playing this role! The rest of the actors were ok - or they didn't have enough time for me to make up my mind about them, like the protagonist's wife or their roles were one-dimensional, but I generally didn't complain during or after the screening.
Overall, it's a good movie, but probably in a few years, when I hear about it, I'll have to look into the google browser to remind myself of its existence. It is a work that is full - one that is supposed to ensure a good time, not having much to offer other than pure entertainment. Is it wrong? It depends on your perspective. I liked it, I don't regret the time I spent, but I didn't have too high expectations. So I rate him +7/10 - this plus for the scientist from "Back to the future".