A few years ago, The idea of Bob Odenkirk in an action of action was novel. Now there are enough them to mix them. Part of the problem is that “normal” sounds a lot like 2021’s “no one”, “ The film that launched this latest chapter in Odenkirk’s career; both evoke the feeling of mean values that are at the heart of “Better Call Saul” -The actor’s persona In these films, which plays on the contrast between their mildly urged protagonists and their hyperviolent acts.
Further confusing things is the fact that ”Normal“Shares a screenwriter with both” None “and” No 2. “Derek Kolstad also wrote the first three films in” John Wick “series, another action franchise provided for what happens when a seemingly unmatched man is pressed to his border that makes a difference.
Kolstad’s script for “normal” emphasizes comedy and pays both implicit and explicit tribute to Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Fargo” when he set up his vision of a city in Minnesota that managed to thrive while its neighbors rust away. “Normal” has fun with the prisoners of the healthy small town of Americana, who throws Henry Winkler like the happy mayor and establishes places like a stick delivery store and a soda fountain in normal, Minnesota (population 1,890). Will the same places later serve as ironic backgrounds for bloody shootouts? Shit moose on icy roads?
Odenkirk plays as the mononymous Ulysses, provisional sheriff of the normal, a self -proclaimed “midwife with a gun” who is there for rubber stamp paperwork until his six -week contract is up and he can move on to the next city in need of a calming force during a period of change. Ulysse’s nomadic lifestyle is explained by a crucial SAD-Middle-Aged-man Divorce Backstory, superimposed with a politically charged little Lore about Ulysse’s guilt about not believing in a woman who came to him to report a sexual abuse at his last job.
They both come back around, as well as another sub -plan about Alex (Jess McLeod), the foreign child to the recently deceased former sheriff who was not invited to the funeral, but comes home anyway. The special story feels very up -to -date and concerns issues of transgender people, military service and armed self -defense. “Normal” is not too preached on this front, perhaps because there is no time to pause for a lecture when the action begins.
No one would still hear it over the explosions. Director Ben Wheatley -what honestly has had a few years-recycling to the bullet-crazy position for his 2016 film “Free Fire” here and sprays the screen with automatic weapons until most of the city is dead on the sidewalk. Wheatley mixes the constant sounds of shots and dynamite extremely high in the mixture, accenting their impact by getting bodies to fly over room and ricochet from the walls after being exploded by ammunition length and thickness of a soda can. The sound makes much of the work in action sequences hidden by blinding snowstorms and flashing emergency lights, punctured by creative acts of accidental self -harm that saves our protagonists from some death more than once.
Jokes once continues “normal” shifts from intermittently successful small -town limit to nonstop heavy artillery. Some of these are profit for settings that were established before the cities began to ping around Main Street like Pinballs. Others are new and are based on a truly fresh and fun revelation that not only explains a cold open that involves Yakuza gangsters half a world away in Osaka, but also why this picturesque town sits on a weapon that is large enough to overthrow the governments in several small nations.
There is a twisted width to the installation here, as Kolstad takes real trends in American life – economic stagnation, rising tribalism, gunfetisj – and follow them to their corrupt, violent final points. These people have lost their thoughts in recognizable, in extreme, ways: the city rod and grill are lined with what looks like hundreds of weapons, which cover every inch available space. When Ulysses asks if they are charged, the server replies with a big, brilliant smile: “It wouldn’t be so fun if they were not.” She then recommends the pie.
“Normal’s” tendency not to overplay their satire to work to its advantage, making the revelation of some of the more serious dialogues very puzzling. It is not clear if it is meant to be a parody of action-hero clichés when Odenkirk knocks out the jaw and says he is “tired of running away” before the last trip of the movie, or if he is just a fun guy who does his best with a little grainy dialogue. “Normal” is a mixed bag in this way, at least as far as comedy goes. The action is very consistent because it consistently pumbles.
“Normal” is a breathless pace, at least when the shooting starts. Alliances change, Quips fly like the constantly present balls, and if there is a break it is made for comic effect. This is entertaining, but also has a stunning effect: when the climatic struggle comes, it feels no different from the dozen violent sets that came before it, and it passes so quickly that we do not really realize that it is over until the credits start rolling. Like a firecracker with a long fuse, “normal” builds up, burns quickly, makes a big sound and then it is gone.
Rating: B-
“Normal” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2025. It is currently seeking US distribution.
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