By George & Josh Bate
Those who have followed Bob Odenkirk since the early days of his career are probably pretty surprised that the actor whose initial work included Saturday Night Live and The Ben Stiller Show has, in the span of just a few years, turned into a full-fledged action star. That was the appeal of 2021’s Nobody, a film that took an unassuming and mild-mannered protagonist like Odenkirk and revealed that he’s actually capable of unleashing havoc on anyone who crosses his path. With last year’s Nobody 2, Odenkirk further embraced his status as a burgeoning action hero and now takes yet another step toward becoming contemporary cinema’s most unexpected bad ass with Normal, an action-packed neo-Western that largely makes up for clunkiness in its storytelling with a compelling lead and tense atmosphere.
From director Ben Wheatley (Free Fire, Meg 2: The Trench), Normal stars Odenkirk as Ulysses, a lawman with a troubled past who takes on the role of substitute sheriff of a small, sleepy town following the death of the previous sheriff. Ulysses is only beginning to grow accustomed to the quaint town when a botched bank robbery accidentally exposes the community’s dark secret and pits the interim sheriff against the people he’s been tasked with protecting.
Normal proves most compelling in a first act unafraid to take its time building tension and setting the stage for the chaos that eventually ensues. In reading a blurb about the film and knowing that it is written by John Wick creator Derek Kolstad, one could easily assume that Wheatley’s latest project can be best characterized as an action film, not unlike Kolstad and Odenkirk’s previous collaborations on the Nobody franchise. But, while Normal certainly features its fair share of carnage and combat, it unfolds rather than differently than one might expect.
Kolstad’s script imbues Normal with the pacing and tone of a classic Hollywood Western, rather than your average modern action movie. Wheatley’s film has more in common with High Noon than it does John Wick, at least at first, as it spends ample time following Odenkirk’s interim sheriff as he slowly finds his bearings in the small town of Normal.
In this first act, the film does well to quietly build tension as Sheriff Ulysses and, in turn, the audience begin to notice things are just a little off in this unsuspecting town. Kolstad exercises restraint in not making the oddities Ulysses begins to notice feel too glaring as to raise immediate concern, instead merely presenting its protagonist with the most subtle of yellow flags. Why does the local bar have loaded guns on the wall? Why is the police department’s armory unusually well-stocked? Why was the former sheriff dressed only in his underwear when died of a heart attack outside in the middle of the night? These are just some of the questions that Ulysses is left to reckon as the tension slowly escalates and a moody atmosphere is established.
Then, out of nowhere, Normal demonstrates that it is just as unafraid to fast as it is to go slow. An explosive turn of events on the brink of the second act sees the film build upon its Western roots to become a high-octane action movie. This shift in tone, pacing, and genre is certainly jarring, which is likely the impression Wheatley and Kolstad were aiming for. However, the storytelling and exposition surrounding this shift comes across as more muddled than focused. As a result, the audience is left rather disoriented as it is forced to come to grips with the narrative reasons underlying this complete pivot as total chaos ensues on-screen.
The second act of Normal consists almost entirely of action set-piece after action set-piece with little respite in between. The action remains mostly grounded in reality, although there are bursts of more stylized violence throughout. Wheatley’s film does not feature the kind of sleek and sophisticated choreography of the John Wick or Nobody movies. In keeping with a story about a run-of-the-mill sheriff facing off against a normal town, the movie’s action is more raw, gritty, and only occasionally injected with bonkers carnage.
The breakneck second act of Normal will likely satisfy audiences seeking a film jam-packed with action, but, with so much violence and so little rest for substantive character work, the viewing experience quickly grows tiring. As the film does not embrace humor as overtly as Nobody or Nobody 2, the action set-pieces largely lack charm and levity, leaving entertainment value to come solely from the intensity of the choreography. The scenes are well-composed, although they don’t ever break new ground for the action genre. In turn, it doesn’t take long to become desensitized to all the action and feel somewhat bored despite the frenzy unfolding before our eyes.
Ensuring that this second act doesn’t lapse into a complete lull is star Bob Odenkirk, who compels and fosters empathy as a character plagued by a difficult past. In stark contrast to the buoyant and eccentric Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, Odenkirk’s Sheriff Ulysses keeps his emotions and personality firmly at bay. Odenkirk wears the anguish of a recent divorce and on-the-job trauma on his face in understated ways, delivering a reserved performance that aligns with his character’s inner turmoil. Odenkirk proves more than capable of selling the authenticity of the film’s myriad of action scenes and, despite relatively little effort afforded to fleshing out a unique and moving character arc, crafts a character in Ulysses that we immediately get behind and understand.
The cast surrounding Odenkirk, however, are given disappointingly little to do. Henry Winkler appears for a few scenes as the mayor of the town and, for a second, seems like he’ll make an unconventional antagonist for this kind of movie. Unfortunately, those hopes turn to dust pretty quickly as the story evolves. Then there’s Game of Thrones alum Lena Headey as Moira, the local barkeeper who develops a rapport with Odenkirk’s lawman. Like Winkler, Headey is introduced in a way that suggests she will play a rather sizable role but ultimately only pops up in a handful of scenes and leaves no mark on the story.
Reena Jolly and Brendan Fletcher, meanwhile, play arguably the two most important side characters as they take on the roles of two bank robbers that become unlikely allies of Ulysses. The film encroaches on something of a heartwarming story for their characters Lori and Keith but squanders this opportunity in failing to spend enough time with them before they prematurely exit the story.
It’s a Wonderful Knife actress Jess McLeod evidences the most potential out of a sizable supporting cast and yet it is also misused. McLeod plays the child of the deceased sheriff and, as such, seems like they’ll play an important role in the story, especially pertaining to the mystery surrounding her father’s death. But McLeod is entirely absent for much of the runtime before being shoehorned in as a key player in the third act. The mishandling of their character speaks to broader issues Normal has with every character outside of Odenkirk’s lead. No one undergoes a compelling arc and everyone either enters the story too late or exits too early.
Normal recovers somewhat from a tedious second act with a final act that leans more heavily into the absurdist humor inherent to the bonkers dilemma the characters find themselves in the middle of. Wheatley’s film is at its most unconventional in this third act as an unexpected story turn sees character dynamics, tone, and stakes all shift. Where this final act errs is in its unearned redemption of various characters, which takes the audience out of the believability of the story. By the time the credits roll, it’s clear that Normal is distinctly a film of three acts – the first is a tense, slow-burn neo-Western, the second is a generic yet balls-to-the-wall action movie, and the third is a more subversive absurdist comedy.
VERDICT: 6.5/10
Normal pushes Bob Odenkirk ever closer to achieving full-fledged action movie star status. The new film from director Ben Wheatley and screenwriter Derek Kolstad begins as a compelling neo-noir unafraid to take its time and slowly build atmosphere and tension. Unfortunately, a jarring shift into a frenetic second act sees the film evolve into a high-octane action movie that quickly becomes repetitive and tiring, despite bolstering some decent action choreography. The movie finds its footing again with yet another pivot, this time in the form of a more absurdly humorous third act only hindered by unearned character redemptions. While Wheatley’s film grossly mishandles its array of side characters, Odenkirk excels with an understated performance that juxtaposes the eccentricity of his most famous character Saul Goodman. Odenkirk deftly wears inner torment on his face and, with relatively little material of substance at his disposal, crafts Sheriff Ulysses into a lead we easily get behind, root for, and care about. Normal may have a rather normal middle act, but it’s bookended with elements of the neo-Western and absurdist comedy genres that ultimately render it a fun watch and yet another showcase of the remarkable talent of Bob Odenkirk.