Normal Far from it (in a deliciously ghastly way)

Normal (2025) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five); rated R, for profanity and relentless strong, bloody violence

Available via: HBO MAX and other VOD options

By Derrick Bang

Paul Newman went through a period, for several years following 1961’s The Hustler, when superstition apparently prompted him to insist that several subsequent anti-hero single-word films begin with the letter “H,” in some cases prompting script character name changes: Hud, Harper and Hombre.

 

Confronted by unexpectedly overwhelming odds, Keith (Brendan Fletcher, left) Sheriff
Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk) and Lori (Reena Jolly) become unusual allies.

Bob Odenkirk seems to be doing the same with his second-career emergence as a “regular, down-home guy turned reluctant avenger,” first in Nobody, and now in this one. One wonders what’ll be next ... Nowhere? Nevermore? Naturally?

(Okay, in fairness, his family guy in Nobody and its sequel wasn’t that ordinary. But still...)

 

Odenkirk stars as Ulysses (no last name given), hired as a temporary substitute sheriff in the quaint little township of Normal, Minnesota. It’s a sleepy community, looking very much like a throwback to 1950s Americana, with an entryway city sign that reads “We like it here.”

 

Ulysses has greeted this temporary assignment as a welcome respite from both marital woes and severe moral trauma suffered during the line of duty. He’s scheduled to be in Normal for just eight weeks, as an emergency stand-in for former Sheriff Gunderston (Pat Harris), who died unexpectedly ... under, as Ulysses soon discovers, rather unusual circumstances.

 

But that isn’t his problem. As he and Deputy Mike Nelson (Billy MacLellan) cruise Normal’s downtown streets, Ulysses expresses his desire — via voice-over, and (later) unanswered phone calls to his estranged wife, Penny — to leave the town exactly as he found it. He views himself as a “midwife with a gun,” merely helping a transition.

 

He meets glad-handing Mayor Kibner (Henry Winkler); local doctor/coroner Walter Vilie (David Lawrence Brown); yarn and craft shop owner Mary Beth (Megan MacArton); hardware store owner Maynard (Carson Nattrass); bar owner Moira (Lena Headey, still well remembered as Cersei Lannister, on Game of Thrones); cheerful sheriff’s office receptionist Sally Johnson (Lauren Cochrane); and co-Deputy Blaine Anderson (Ryan Allen), who eagerly anticipates being elected permanent sheriff.

 

Everybody treats Ulysses kindly, but with an odd touch of amusement or even condescension.

 

But this isn’t actually where the film begins. A brief prologue, set in Osaka, introduces a powerful and vicious Yakuza boss (Takahiro Inoue, as The Oyabun) who — during an early sign of the carnage to come — enforces a rather grisly ritual to determine which of his men will be dispatched for “a job” in Minnesota. 

 

(Guess where.)

Mutiny: Plenty of shipboard action

Mutiny (2026) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five); rated R, for considerable profanity and strong, bloody violence

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 8.23.26

Jason Statham’s action thrillers usually follow a predictable, cookie-cutter series of plot beats:

 

• His character is a seasoned, hardened, stoic, impressively capable and highly decorated former cop/military officer equally adept with weapons and hand-to-hand combat, with a Tragic Memory in his past;

 

Moving cautiously through the innards of the cargo ship Artemis, Cole (Jason Statham)
and Angie (Annabelle Wallis) search for a first aid kit, which will allow him to attend to
her wounded shoulder.

• He has re-entered civilian life in either an isolated, quieter or conventional manner, usually befriending somebody along the way, but said person...

 • ... gets killed, for some nefarious reason, prompting a won’t-ever-stop vow of vengeance.

 

Lather, rinse, repeat. But why change? It always works...

 

This new entry in Statham’s oeuvre comes from scripters J.P. Davis and Lindsay Michel, who creatively dump Statham’s Cole Reed into an intriguing scenario during the bulk of the action.

 

I’m less impressed by director Jean-François Richet, who opens the film with a pointless flash-forward — what, he worried about gaining our attention? — and subsequently favors too many dizzy overhead drone shots and tight-tight-tight close-ups of Statham and the other actors. All are hallmarks of lazy, uninspired directing.

 

The flash-forward aside, events begin quietly, with Reed — a former Marine commando and London SCO19 Specialist Firearm police officer — five years into a happy position as security chief for his close friend and mentor, billionaire Thai shipping tycoon Tibu Campallo (Ramon Tikaram). The feeling is mutual: Tibu regards Cole as family, and they enjoy playing chess together.

 

After a long and successful career, Tibu has decided to retire. He clearly regrets abandoning the empire that took a lifetime to build, particularly since his son, Kameron (Chaneil Kular), has no interest in the business. At the posh retirement party, Cole notices a dapper but somehow sinister figure (Arnas Fedaravicious) hovering in the background; their eyes briefly lock, and then the unnamed guest moves on.

 

Later, while driving Tibu home, their car is ambushed. Cole kills all the attackers, but not before Tibu is mortally wounded. Knowing he has very little time, Cole scoops up the killers’ IDs and flees. The sinister figure, with numerous bent Thai cops in his pocket, arranges for Cole to be tagged as Tibu’s killer; this version of events is blasted through all media outlets, and an arrest warrant is issued.

 

Cole notices that the killers crewed on the container ship Artemis; by fortunate coincidence, he resembles one of them. Using that man’s ID, he’s able to pass through Customs and board the ship, determined to figure out What The Heck Is Going On.

The End of Oak Street: A complete mess

The End of Oak Street (2026) • View trailer

TURKEY: No stars (out of five); rated PG-13, despite considerable violence and gore

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 8.16.26

This film fails — jaw-droppingly — on every level.

 

The premise is ridiculous, poorly rationalized, and fails to maintain internal consistency. The main characters are inadequately conceived, one-dimensional stick figures that lack even enough depth to be considered clichés. The so-called “acting” ranges from risibly burlesque to line readings so wooden they warp.

 

All hell breaks loose, once the folks on Oak Street realize that — somehow, improbably —
their entire neighborhood has been dumped back in time, to the Jurassic Period.

Rarely have talented name actors — Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway — been handled so poorly by a director, although the blame isn’t entirely theirs. Nobody could have done better with the eye-rollingly awful dialogue in writer/director David Robert Mitchell’s so-called script.

I don’t understand. Back in 2014, Mitchell lit up Hollywood with It Follows, a smart, scary and genuinely original little shocker that frightened the Jujubes out of viewers.

 

What happened to that guy?

 

He sure isn’t anywhere to be seen here...

 

The year is 1982. Events begin during a lively block party in a middle-class suburban neighborhood. Greg and Denise Platt (McGregor and Hathaway) and their children — teenage Audrey (Maisy Stella) and adolescent Brian (Christian Convery) — are introduced gaily participating in a sack race. Family dog Starbuck watches from one side.

 

Ah, but — behind the scenes — all is not well in the Platt household. Greg uncharacteristically works odd jobs and drinks too much; Denise is writing a novel that reflects her own unhappy marriage; Audrey and Brian worry their parents will divorce.

 

Starbuck tends to poop in the back yard of next-door neighbor Mel Jacobs (P.J. Byrne), a Mr. Crankypants who threatens to shoot the dog if it happens again. (One suspects he won’t last long, when things go south.)

 

Brian pals around with three friends. He always carries a toy bow and arrow. (This would have made sense in the mid-1950s, when boys his age were part of the pop culture Davy Crocket/coonskin cap craze, but in 1982? It’s ... weird.)

 

The next couple of days are mostly uneventful. Brian and his pals spot a new girl in town (Jordan Alexa Davis, as Jeannette). They speculate whether she attends a private school. One of Denise’s neighbors shares a strange plant that sprouted overnight in her back yard. While Denise tries to determine what it is, the local librarian examines her photograph and immediately identifies it ... as something that has been extinct for millions of years.

 

(That’s an impressive bit of trivia, to have at the tip of her tongue.)

 

Late that evening, the night sky explodes with a thundering roar and blinding flash of light, and the power goes out. Assuming a blown transformer, they bunk together in the living room. The following morning, the power still is off; so is the plumbing. The basement is flooded, and the ambient temperature is warmer than usual.

The Furious: Breathtaking martial arts ferocity

The Furious (2025) • View trailer

Four stars* (out of five); rated R, for strong, bloody violence, gore and profanity

Available via: Amazon Prime and other VOD options

By Derrick Bang

The dramatic paradigm shifts in martial arts movies can be traced to specific actors and directors.

 

Bruce Lee kick-started the franchise (pun intended) with 1973’s Enter the Dragon, and Jackie Chan moved the needle a decade later, with his signature blend of death-defying stunt work and comedic touches.

 

Having tracked the vicious Mr. Song to his ice factory, Navin (Joe Taslim, left) and
Wang (Miao Xie) prepare to battle several dozen knife-wielding thugs.

Welsh writer/director Gareth Evans and Indonesian martial arts star Iko Uwais upped the ante again, with 2012’s pulse-pounding The Raid: Redemption and its 2014 sequel.

And now we have this jaw-dropping burst of fury from Japanese director Kenji Tanigaki and star Miao Xie, which hits the ground running — literally — and never lets up. Given that it’s available via streaming services, rabid fans of such films are guaranteed to hit PAUSE and REPLAY more than once. Frankly, I challenge them to watch the entire film without having done so.

 

That said, Tanigaki’s film also gets grotesquely violent, gory and — on occasion — tastelessly macabre, making it totally unsuitable for mainstream viewers or those with delicate sensibilities. Tanigaki and his writers — Tin Shu Mak, Zhilong Lei, Kwan-Sin Shum and Frank Hu — go out of their way to be gleefully outrageous at times.

 

They revel in it. So will folks who love this stuff.

 

But Tanigaki and Xie can’t take full credit. Their efforts are tightly interwoven with the equally smashing work by cinematographer Meteor Cheung, editor Chris Tonick, and fight choreographer Kenske Sonomura, along with a supporting cast of martial arts notables from Japan, China, Hong Kong and the United States.

 

The term “copacetic” isn’t anywhere near strong enough to applaud the collaborative result.

 

The setting is “somewhere in Southeast Asia.” As established during a prologue, journalist Matia Phan (JeeJa Yanin) has been investigating the disappearance of numerous children, always from poorer neighborhoods ... much to the dismay of her husband, Navin (Joe Taslim), who regards this work as dangerous.

 

Probing an area on her own one day, the search leads to a particularly grimy hellhole, where she’s drawn to the sound of a crying child. Alas, her rescue attempt goes horribly awry, despite her heroic effort to out-fight a gaggle of baddies.

 

Cut to elsewhere, some time later, as we meet Wang Wei (Xie) and his adolescent daughter, Rainy (Enyou Yang). Wang is mute, and earns a modest living as a handyman; Rainy, who is visiting, usually lives in China with her grandmother. 

 

Brief mention is made of an unspecified “head injury” that occasionally prompts Wang to gingerly touch his scalp. (If this detail is intended to imply some sort of vulnerability, it’s apparently negligible, because it never impedes subsequent events.)

The Odyssey: An epic masterpiece

The Odyssey (2026) • View trailer

Five stars (out of five); rated R, for violence, gore, dramatic intensity and profanity

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 7.19.26

Not many screenwriters get to share a credit with Homer.

 

And Christopher Nolan is one of very few directors up to the challenge of the ancient Greek poet’s classic work.

 

Warriors three: Odysseus (Matt Damon, center), Cepheus (Jimmy Gonzales, left) and
Eurylochus (Himesh Patel) survey what's left of Troy, following their successful
siege of the city.

This is epic filmmaking on a truly grand scale, which is the only way to present a saga that has it all: gods and goddesses, men and monsters, full-scale battles, perilous sea voyages, and dastardly palace intrigue. Granted, Nolan skips some events, and minimizes the list of involved deities, but only scholars intimately familiar with Homer’s fabled poem will notice.

Nolan wisely holds our attention, during this three-hour masterpiece, by alternating the “money sequences” with quieter, even melancholy moments between primary characters. Indeed, judging by how Monday evening’s sold-out Sacramento crowd reacted, viewers were much more invested in what would become of Odysseus’ kingdom, during his absence, than with what he faced while struggling to return home.

 

Be prepared for a challenging initial character dump.

 

Nolan follows Homer’s template, opening the story in medias res — in the plot’s chronological middle — and then supplying What Came Before via flashbacks recounted by Odysseus and a few other key players.

 

Tensions are high in Ithaca, where 20 years have passed since King Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his men joined Agamemnon (Benny Safdie) in his army’s successful invasion of the city of Troy. During this time, Odysseus’ wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), has endured a palace invasion by an ever-expanding number of boorish suitors hoping to become her new husband.

 

She has held them at bay by promising to remarry when she finishes weaving a shroud for Odysseus’ aged father, Laertes ... but she secretly unweaves each day’s progress at night.

 

(And she has gotten away with this for 20 years? That doth raise an eyebrow or two.)

 

The suitors have remained at bay, in part, because Odysseus’ renown, skill and might leave a massive shadow, even in his absence. During one flashback, we see that he’s the only man able to string his bow, inevitably following that up with his favorite party trick: shooting an arrow through a series of bundled axe heads.

 

Odysseus and Penelope’s son, Telemachus (Tom Holland), has come of age during this time. But he’s more eager to find his father — or, at least, to learn if he’s alive — than challenging his mother for the throne.

 

But one of the suitors, Antinous (Robert Pattinson), has grown tired of waiting. His vile nature emerges early on, when he grossly insults Eumaeus (John Leguizamo), Odysseus’ loyal, loquacious friend and swineherd. Although now blind, Eumaeus still is able to tell the young man what he’s doing wrong during a swordplay training session. Leguizamo exudes honor, honestly and loyalty.

 

Worse yet, Antinous contemptuously abuses Argus, Odysseus’ faithful and now quite aged dog. Pattinson oozes smarmy menace, with a scowl to match. (Do we hate Antinous? You betcha.)

 

Such behavior violates what becomes a crucial theme, as these events proceed: Zeus’ Law, the “guest friendship” decree that decrees how hosts should and should not act, and requires them to treat all guests with respect.

Jack Ryan: Ghost War — Insubstantial

Jack Ryan: Ghost War (2026) • View trailer

2.5 stars (out of five); rated R, for violence and profoanity

Available via: Amazon Prime

By Derrick Bang 

This seems to be the week for popular streaming shows to spawn feature-length films.

 

I hope the Mandalorian and Grogu are treated with more respect.

 

When a tightly planned operation goes horribly wrong, CIA Deputy Director Greer
(Wendell Pierce, center) must be restrained by MI6 operative Emma Marlow
(Sienna Miller) and veteran CIA agent Jack Ryan (John Krasinski).

Sadly, John Krasinski’s newest Jack Ryan adventure feels like a six-part serial clumsily slashed down to a 105-minute film. Back in the day, I’d have called this a Readers Digest Condensed Movie.

(On a trivial note, the unwisely chosen title evokes memories of 2011’s vastly superior Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.)

 

Director Andrew Bernstein and editor Jason Ballantine’s hyperkinetic pacing amplifies the overall sense of racing to be done with this puppy, a feeling that’s particularly true during the expository, banter-laden initial conversation between “retired” CIA agent Ryan (Krasinski) and CIA Deputy Director James Greer (Wendell Pierce).

 

Honestly, it feels like their chat is being timed by a stopwatch.

 

Three years have passed since the events in Ryan’s fourth-season streaming show, which concluded when he left the CIA for a vaguely defined “civilian job in hedge funds.” His relationship with Dr. Cathy Mueller (Abbie Cornish) is ancient history, and he greets each day jogging along the streets of New York City.

 

Meanwhile, in Dubai, two MI6 agents scramble to crack a computer bank in the upper floor of an unfinished DAMAC tower building. Their goal, under the remote guidance of Nigel Cooke (Douglas Hedge), is to extract evidence of off-books black-ops activity thought to have been shuttered 20 years earlier.

 

Alas, ruthless thugs sent by Liam Crown (Max Beesley) kill them before the information is fully downloaded.

 

(And what, pray tell, is such a sophisticated, unguarded computer bank doing in an otherwise dusty and littered construction site? Well might you ask...)

 

Back in the States, Greer begs a favor of Ryan: Go to Dubai, liaise with Cooke, and collect some intel he’s apparently desperate to share. Ryan reluctantly agrees, and travels with a longtime friend: former CIA colleague-turned-private contractor Mike November (Michael Kelly), quick with a quip, and capable in a pinch.

 

Alas, this “simple” assignment goes south. Cooke is killed, Ryan winds up with nothing but a cigarette pack — and a warning that Greer is “in trouble” — after which he and November are taken into custody by MI6 agent Emma Marlow (Sienna Miller). She’s furious over the way these two Americans have interfered with her surveillance of the situation.

 

War Machine: Badly built

War Machine (2026) • View trailer

2.5 stars (out of five); rated R, for profanity and strong, gory violence

Available via: Netflix

By Derrick Bang

Alan Ritchson can’t be blamed for parlaying his success on television’s Reacher into a bigger career, but he needs to be more selective.

 

Surely he can do better than director Patrick Hughes’ laughably ludicrous, hyper-violent sci-fi cartoon.

 

With an unstoppable, massive killing machine pursuing rapidly, Staff Sergeant 81
(Alan Ritchson) does his best to save himself and his badly injured companion
(Stephan James)

In fairness, Hughes and co-scripter James Beaufort establish a reasonably solid first act. A prologue, set in Kandahar, Afghanistan, introduces an unnamed Staff Sergeant (Ritchson), who arrives with a support team to help a broken-down convoy under the command of his younger brother (Jai Courtney). The two are tightly bonded, and discuss a long-ago promise to apply to the Army Ranger program.

That conversation doesn’t get far; the Americans are hit by Taliban insurgents, and everybody is killed except the Staff Sergeant.

 

Two years pass. The Staff Sergeant is among a large cluster of hopeful recruits who enter the Ranger Assessment Selection Program, at a Colorado training base supervised by Sergeant Major Sheridan (Dennis Quaid) and First Sergeant Torres (Esai Morales). Everybody is assigned a number, by which we know them from this point forward; the Staff Sergeant becomes 81.

 

He carries baggage, both physical — a lingering knee injury, inflicted during the Taliban strike — and mental. He’s withdrawn, and refuses to socialize with the others (perfect for Ritchson’s signature bottled-up emotions). He also suffers from PTSD nightmares, blaming himself for having failed to save his brother.

 

Some of 81’s fellow trainees stand out, starting with 7 (Stephan James), sensitive to this big guy’s issues, but with a perceptive gaze that suggests he knows something of the man’s past. 15 (Blake Richardson) is a wisecracking smart-mouth; 44 (Alex King) is a plucky young woman who keeps up with the guys.

 

That’s about it, in terms of development; Hughes and Beaufort don’t care enough to give any of these characters a back-story, or even much of a personality.

 

The training sessions are punishing, with Ritchson’s driven 81 often outdoing everybody else. But Sheridan and Torres worry about his mental state, and his refusal to accept a command position. As a “last chance,” they make him team leader during the final “death march” exercise: a simulated mission in the nearby mountainous forest.

 

Meanwhile, ongoing radio reports have described an asteroid-like object approaching Earth, then orbiting and breaking off into pieces.

The Wrecking Crew: Aptly titled

The Wrecking Crew (2026) • View trailer

Three stars (out of five); rated R, for strong, bloody violence, relentless profanity, drug use and sexual content

Available via: Amazon Prime

By Derrick Bang 

Star charisma and actors who don’t take themselves too seriously can compensate for eye-rolling material, which is why last year’s Minecraft Movie was so popular, with its fan-favorite pairing of Jason Momoa and Jack Black.

 

James (Dave Bautista, left) and Jonny (Jason Momoa) ponder a document that suggests
a link between a local developer and a shady company dubbed Hayashi Imports.

The same is true of this mostly larkish crime thriller, with its equally successful team-up by Momoa and Dave Bautista.

That “mostly” is warranted, though, because at times Jonathan Tropper’s original screenplay veers into appallingly graphic violence. Director Angel Manuel Soto obviously tries to keep such carnage in a darkly humorous vein, but severed limbs and split heads — as just two examples — go a bit too far.

 

Hawaiian-born half-brothers James (Bautista) and Jonny Hale (Momoa) haven’t seen or spoken to each other for a decade: an estrangement that hearkens back to childhood grievances and traumas. James, a U.S. Navy SEAL commander, trains cadets at Pearl Harbor; Jonny, who relocated to Oklahoma, is a trouble-prone cop, currently suspended.

 

Their equally estranged father, Walter (Brian L. Keaulana), works as a low-rent private investigator in the islands. The film opens as he’s killed by what local police assume is a hit-and-run driver … although we viewers know better, having watched the ominous blue van approach its planned target during the title credits.

 

Before dying, though, Walter pops a small parcel into a post office box.

 

In Oklahoma, Jonny’s typical day goes south when he’s dumped by girlfriend Valentina (Morena Baccarin), who packs all her stuff and displays impressive stunt-driving skills during her departure. (Take note of that.)

 

Shortly thereafter, Jonny is attacked by three Yakuza thugs who demand the parcel; he has no idea what they’re talking about. The subsequent melee is way over the top, pretty much trashes Jonny’s home, and certainly signals the film’s tone to come.

 

This assault and Walter’s subsequent ceremonial funeral — a lovely touch — bring Jonny to Hawaii, and a prickly reunion with James. They couldn’t be more of a contrast: James is a calm, methodical and responsible family man, whereas Jonny is a vulgar, boorish, profanity-spewing slob.

 

Soto and Tropper overplay this mutual antipathy, which continues far too long into this film. The fault lies primarily with the way Momoa has been directed to handle the role; his relentless, horse’s ass behavior threaten to derail what clearly needs to become a “buddy picture.” Thankfully, all concerned get there … just not quickly enough.

Shelter: Another solid Jason Statham thriller

Shelter (2026) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated R, for violence and profanity

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 2.1.26

Check your dictionary for the word “laconic,” and you’ll find a photo of Jason Statham.

 

He has perfected the role of Hard-Bitten Loner, a guy whose penetrating, steely eyed gaze invariably is accompanied by a scowl that (and only Statham can pull this off) forever seems on the verge of softening into a thin, mocking smile.

 

Fleeing both local police and a stop-at-nothing assassin, Mason (Jason Statham) and
Jesse (Bodhi Rae Breathnach) scramble to find a working vehicle, as a means of escape.

His newest action thriller is a solid piece of spyjinks, thanks to Ward Parry’s intriguing script, Matthew Newman’s rat-a-tat editing, and director Ric Roman Waugh’s taut direction. This puppy moves.

But not immediately. Things begin quietly.

 

Mason (Statham) lives an isolated existence on a tiny, rocky lighthouse island off Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. His only companion is a soft-eyed dog with no name. Mason passes the time by gazing out to sea from the top of his lighthouse, playing chess against himself, consuming constant meals of porridge … and often drinking himself to sleep.

 

Supplies are delivered, on a regular basis, by a similarly grizzled fellow (Michael Shaeffer) who brings his small fishing vessel as close as possible; he then sends his niece, Jesse (Bodhi Rae Breathnach), to shore in a rowboat. This ritual apparently has been unchanged for a long time; she drops off a crate filled with provisions, collects the now-empty previous crate, and returns to her uncle.

 

This time, however, she impulsively leaves a small, gift-wrapped package atop the newly delivered crate.

 

It remains unopened, when she returns the next time. She confronts Mason; he closes the door in her face.

 

Alas, she doesn’t make it back to her uncle’s boat this time. The sea has turned rough, thanks to an approaching storm; Mason watches, in horror, as both boats are swallowed by waves. He manages to rescue Jesse, but her uncle drowns. She’s injured, with a badly sprained ankle.

 

Jesse tearfully reveals that her uncle was her sole family; she has lost everything. As the next few days pass, Mason — despite himself — cannot maintain his gruff reserve.

 

Meanwhile…

 

In London, MI6 head Stefen Manafort (Bill Nighy) is grilled by an oversight committee, regarding his deployment of an all-encompassing AI surveillance network — Total Human Engagement Analytics, or THEA — which scoops up data from every possible source: the ubiquitous street cameras, car cameras, smart phones and anything else in the “connectivity of everything.”

 

Manafort blandly assures the committee chair that THEA has allowed MI6 to enhance the elimination of potential terrorist activity; she sternly counters that surreptitiously harvesting the data of every British citizen is, well, illegal. (He clearly couldn’t care less.)

Nobody 2: Escapist wretched excess

Nobody 2 (2025) • View trailer

Three stars (out of five). Rated R, for relentless profanity and strong, bloody violence

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 8.17.25 

This is the guiltiest of guilty pleasures.

 

Director Timo Tjahjanto’s deplorably violent thriller is palatable solely because of the macabre dark humor in Derek Kolstad and Aaron Rabin’s crazy script, and the hilariously stoic performance by star Bob Odenkirk.

 

Four men get into an elevator, followed by the apparently mild-mannered Hutch Mansell
(Bob Odenkirk, center). How many will survive the trip?

The result is so excessively outrageous, that you can’t help laughing ... although you’ll likely feel guilty for having done so, when later describing this film to more conservative friends.

In this film’s 2021 predecessor, Hutch Mansell (Odenkirk) was introduced as a mundane office worker whose bland life concealed the fact that he was a former “auditor” (assassin) employed by the U.S. Intelligence Community. His ordinary existence — alongside emotionally starved wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), teenage son Brady (Gage Munroe) and adolescent daughter Sammy (Paisley Cadorath) — was interrupted by “events beyond his control.” In the aftermath, he and his family began anew.

 

Except not really, as this sequel quickly makes clear. A fleeting prologue, mimicking an identical scene in the earlier film, finds a bruised and badly damaged Hutch being interrogated by FBI agents ... this time alongside a large dog with a soulful gaze.

 

One bewildered agent asks, “Who are you?,” prompting Hutch to respond via a long flashback.

 

Things having gone very wrong during the intervening years, Hutch now spends his days “processing” assignments for “The Barber” (Colin Salmon), his former government handler. Hutch is slowly working off a $30 million debt incurred when he earlier destroyed the Russian Mob’s cash reserve.

 

Sadly, the constant daily grind — skirmishes, fights, all-out melees — have taken a toll on Hutch’s marriage and home life. He barely sees his wife and children, and Becca — fully aware of what he does, although this is kept from their children — flirts with the notion of leaving him.

 

Hutch isn’t blind; he recognizes the need to make amends. He therefore proposes a vacation to Wild Bill’s Majestic Midway and Waterpark, a family-friendly theme park in nearby Plummerville. It was the one and only place where Hutch and his brother Harry went on vacation as kids. In short, it’s one of Hutch’s few happy childhood memories.

 

(Filming actually took place in Winnipeg, Manitoba; production designer Michael Diner was inspired by classic Midwestern Americana burgs like the Wisconsin Dells, where Odenkirk’s family vacationed when he was a kid.)

 

The Barber tolerates this brief respite, albeit with a warning: “Wherever you go, you’ll be you.”

 

Meaning, Hutch can’t help finding trouble that needs to be extinguished.

Heads of State: Way over the top

Heads of State (2025) • View trailer

Three stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, and quite generously, despite strong action violence and profanity

Available via: Amazon Prime

By Derrick Bang 

This relentlessly silly movie will require a lot of patience, even from undemanding viewers inclined to be forgiving.

 

When Air Force One is blown out of the sky during a coordinated drone attack, U.S.
President Will Derringer (John Cena, left) and UK Prime Minister Sam Clarke
(Idris Elba) wonder if the next few minutes will be their last...

It’s basically a live-action cartoon, and the dog-nuts script — by Harrison Query, Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec — has plot holes large enough to swallow Air Force One. I frequently was reminded of Jackie Chan’s goofiest martial arts comedies, and the degree to which this flick succeeds, does so for the same reason: sheer star power.

Idris Elba and John Cena are a lot of fun together, and appear to have a great time in the midst of all the chaos ... so we do, as well. 

 

To a point.

 

Will Derringer (Cena) is the gung-ho President of the United States: a political neophyte after a successful career as an action movie star. Imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Governator as the President: Derringer constantly employs Cena’s wide smile as if he’s greeting folks on the Hollywood red carpet, as opposed to anything resembling a statesman.

 

Sam Clarke (Elba) is Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a relentlessly serious man who grieves over the state of the world, and quietly despairs over his inability to make things better. He’s refined, well-educated and loathes Derringer’s glib, glad-handed egocentricity; Derringer, in turn, never has forgiven Clarke for a deliberate slight during the U.S. presidential campaign.

 

But we don’t meet them immediately. Director Ilya Naisheller opens with a prologue set amid Spain’s annual Tomatina, a tomato-throwing festival that takes place in the town of Buñol, and is famed as the world’s largest food fight. Senior MI6 agent Noel Bisset (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) leads a surveillance team that hopes to capture notorious terrorist Viktor Gradov (Paddy Considine), who has been spotted in the town square.

 

Alas, it turns out to be a trap; Bisset and her entire team are ambushed by thugs led by Viktor’s ruthless pet assassins, Sasha and Olga (Alexander Kuznetsov and Katrina Durden, both impressively nasty).

 

This sequence is typical of the frequent, brutal violence that often works against the story’s humor, and also stretches the generous PG-13 rating.

 

Much as Clarke and Derringer dislike each other, they’re forced to make a public show of togetherness and mutual respect — displaying the long-standing “special relationship” between the U.S. and UK — while attending a NATO meeting in Italy. It’s a crucial gathering, because membership is wavering, in the face of an increasingly hostile and unpredictable world.