Normal is what I wanted the Nobody movies to be.
Look, no shade on Nobody. It was one of the first movies I saw in theaters on the tail end of the pandemic; so that brought me some joy. And simply seeing Bob Odenkirk, known primarily for comedy, put in the work and both attempt AND pull off a full on action star turn under the tutelage of the action maestros at 87 Eleven, carried a certain amount of entertaining shock value. There are some base male fantasy secret badass itches that are no doubt scratched by Nobody. The sequel, unfortunately, did not deliver on any of the promise of the original.
I re-litigate Nobody here a bit because Normal comes from a very similar creative team in writer Derek Kolstad (John Wick) and producer Marc Provisierro, among others. It seems the driving force behind Normal getting made was that Bob Odenkirk wants to continue exploring the action hero phase of his career, and he loved the pitch for Normal that Kolstad had shared with him when they were making Nobody. So that creative team brought this to fruition and brought on Ben Wheatley, who is a fascinating director as he switches fluidly between auteur mode (Kill List, A Field In England, Free Fire) to journeyman (The Meg 2) comfortably and effectively. He noted here at the SXSW world premiere of Normal that he’s interested in trying his hand at any number of genres, and that this was his chance to make a western.
And make a western he did. Normal is an absolute blast of a modern western, and as much as I liked the potential of the Nobody concept, Normal executes and follows through in a way that is far more satisfying to my tastes.
Odenkirk plays Ulysses, and right from the bat he’s not what you’d think. In a somewhat Reacher-esque fashion, he’s not some entrenched local sheriff, but rather an itinerant one. He’s doing a stint as interim Sheriff in the small midwestern town of Normal. Everything that goes down hinges on Ulysses being a surprising and unpredictable man. He had a traumatic experience as a lawman that ended his career and his marriage, so he wanders, and he ponders… but he does so with a newfound connection to other struggling people. He’s underestimated, but he’s actually an observant and flexible and compassionate lawman. It’s exactly the wrong combination of traits to help him get along with the locals, who are hiding a secret.
I’ll keep things vague regarding the secret so potential viewers can discover Normal for themselves. But Kolstad’s script allows for some genuine exploration of modern small town America, with its charms and its pressures and stresses. Ulysses can see the appeal, “where everybody knows your name” and all that. But the lawman in him can’t help but notice that Normal is living an ideal that seems otherwise unachievable for other small towns, and he can’t help but pull on the threads until he unravels something. He also can’t help but make some friends along the way, and by the end, when the showdown goes down, as it does in all the best westerns, it’s the well-written and well-portrayed Ulysses who really drives the story forward with his unique way of being in the world and relating to the people around him. As much as he fights and brawls and blows things up real good, he also builds unlikely alliances and cuts to the heart of things with allies and nemeses alike. There’s a compassion at the core of Normal, and Ulysses, that’s really nowhere to be found in Nobody.
Don’t get me wrong; that doesn’t mean Normal is gentle. This movie absolutely rips, with fantastic shootouts and fistfights captured cleanly by the Ben Wheatley who brought us Free Fire in 2016. Normal does not skimp on the action by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just more patient and grounded in tone than Nobody, befitting its western influences.
Bob Odenkirk apparently isn’t done yet with his action phase of his career. It isn’t just a bit or a gimmick of stunt casting anymore. And with Normal, he proves he’s more than a one-trick pony dabbling in action. Derek Kolstad has become a massively influential voice as a writer, with practically every action film these days having shades of John Wick worldbuilding mixed in. And with Normal, he displays a growth and maturity, while still taking us on an entertaining ride. And Wheatley relishes his shot at a western and comes at the material with hunger to make something that not only lives up to a storied genre, but makes its own unique mark on it. Normal rides a fine tonal line and ultimately delivers a surprising slice of Americana that touches on modern stresses, allows for some characters to have dimensionality, and also blows the roof off with explosive and memorable action.
And I’m Out.
