The Man Who Wasn't There

Ms. Spenser wasn't too thrilled by the start of Nobody (2021). She figured it just another decent-man-pushed-beyond-his-limits movie like Straw Dogs. Once she realized what it was really about, she started to love it.

It stars Bob Odenkirk, a put-upon everyman. He always misses garbage pick up, his teen son ignores him, his wife barricades herself in bed behind a wall of pillows. Only his little daughter seems to do more than tolerate him. Then one night, he heats a noise downstairs. It's a robbery - two people in ski masks, one with a gun. He tells them to take the money in the bowl in the kitchen - then his son tackles one of the bandits. But he doesn't want any heroics - he makes his son let go, and the bandits run. 

Word gets around, and everyone is pretty scornful - why didn't he put up a fight. A cop tells him he did the right thing, but that isn't what he's thinking. He takes this philosophically. going to work, missing garbage pickup, etc. He even talks about it to a friend over ham radio (a friend who is supposed to be dead), and mentions that he could tell the gun had no bullets. 

Then his little girl can't find her kitty bracelet - it was in the bowl with the money. So Odenkirk goes hunting. The first stop is a tattoo parlor to get some info. They laugh at him, except for one guy, a vet, who prudently slinks out. Odenkirk demolishes a roomful of bikers and seems to enjoy it. When he finds the bandits, they're a family with a baby, so he leaves them scared but whole. 

On the bus home, a gang of Russian hooligans get on and start messing with a rider, a young woman. The bus stops and the driver gets out her phone to call the police. Odenkirk gently takes away her phone, puts her off the bus, and then starts hurting people. He pretty much kills one of them, crushing his larynx and then giving him a trache with a dirty straw.

SPOILER - Odenkirk isn't just everyman. He's a very skilled trained assassin, who decided to settle down and live a boring, non-lethal life. But he misses the mayhem and has been looking for an excuse to lash out. The robbery wasn't enough, but they didn't have to kill his dog. His daughter's bracelet was enough excuse, but if that didn't work out, there's always someone who needs a beating.

For the rest of the movie, you get Odenkirk kicking butt, along with his brother and ham radio pal, RZA, and their geriatric dad, Christopher Lloyd. Which is a lot of fun, including the sort of silly mousetrap gadgets (including actual mousetraps) they use to take down the Russian mob. 

But that's not what this is really about. It's about how men may try to give up their passion and settle down to family life, but they've got to find balance. Some time for family, some time for killing bad guys. So true.