Requiem For John Wick

Director Ilya Naishuller and "John Wick" alums David Leitch and Derek Kolstad team up for an action-thriller that may feel all too familiar for genre fans

If imitation is sincerest form of flattery, then Hollywood must be in a constant state of self-adulation. The film industry has been and will most likely continue to be built on trends and when it comes to American action films, "John Wick" is the current flavor of the month. Back in 2014, writer Derek Kolstad and co-director David Leitch helped launch what would become one of the premier action franchises in modern cinema. The film's DNA has been imprinted on the genre, with Leitch's own "Atomic Blonde" bearing clear shades of influence. Now, the torch has been passed to "Nobody". With Leitch serving as a producer, Kolstad again penning the script and Ilya Naishuller ("Hardcore Henry") at the helm, they've delivered another novelty variation on Mr. Wick's adventures, this time subbing Keanu Reeves' unflappable hitman for a seemingly milquetoast suburbanite.

Bob Odenkirk, mostly known for his comedic chops and his role as Saul in "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul", stars as Hutch Mansell. Hutch is married with two kids and has slipped into the malaise of a very mundane and ordinary life. He and his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen) are distant and his son (Gage Monroe) doesn't respect him, but at least his daughter (Paisley Cadorath) still treats him nicely. After their slice of monotony is interrupted by buglars, a long-dormant beast inside Hutch is reawakened, which leads to him unintentionally infuriating a Russian crime boss. To protect his family, he'll have to use all of his old tricks and throw himself back into a life he thought he was done with. Christopher Lloyd, RZA and Aleksei Serebryakov also star.

Odenkirk is probably one of the last actors audiences would envision as an action star and the movie is fully aware of it. He prepped two years for the role, training and getting the fight choreography down and the final results speak for themselves. He totally sells himself as a retired hitman and does so in a way that naturally lends itself to his strengths as an actor. The action sequences have a few ambitious flourishes, but are fairly run-of-the-mill for a film of this ilk. They're still entertaining, however, and there's a late game surprise that's sure to put a smile on some faces. Perhaps its biggest flaw lies with the main villain. Despite some colorful eccentricities, he never truly feels very interesting or threatening. The story itself also is a tad convoluted, which is strange, considering the plot is standard issue for an action picture. There's also the fact it's copied and pasted from the "John Wick" series, right down to the Russian bad guys and nearly identical gags where people become visibly scared when they find out who Hutch is. However, is it a tired stereotype if the director himself is Russian and can someone plagiarize their own work? Maybe nobody actually cares. B-