Ticket 2 Ride

It’s amazing how films have evolved or devolved over the decades. My wife and I stumbled onto these films, more out of curiosity than word of mouth or recommendation.

Bob Odenkirk has been working a longtime and despite increasing television and film success, he doesn’t appear to have peaked yet. Not bad for a 60-plus year old that stars in unlikely action film hero. I guess he’s a hero in Nobody (2021) and Nobody 2 (2025). Without knowing, I immediately thought of the John Wick films in watching Nobody.

In looking at the credits, the writer of Nobody wrote the first three Wick films. Actually, the film that seems closed to the Nobody vibe is Crank (2006), the Jason Statham film about a hitman, who goes from one impossible fight to the next, as the body count escalates. Crank contains a lot of visual humor and is non-stop action.

Odenkirk cut his teeth on improv and sketch comedy, his first jobs were as a writer on SNL, The Ben Stiller Show, Conan O’Brien, Get a Life, The Dennis Miller Show, The Mr. Show With Bob and David, The Dana Carvey Show and others. Along the way, he picked up acting roles in The Larry Sanders Show, Entourage, How I Met Your Mother, and then Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.

Odenkirk as “Hutch” is an unlikely action star, but he injects an average guy quality and gets punched, stabbed and bleeds. His opponents underestimate him. Repeatedly. The dark humor of the films gives them a panache that connects to the audience. Hutch is not your typical cartoon protagonist with a full magazine on his gun. We still don’t understand his dark past, or even the nature of his relationship with his wife “Becca”, played by Connie Nielsen. She understands his past, but they seem disconnected. What’s up with that. Hutch’s father “David” is played by Christopher Lloyd, a former FBI agent, and willing participant in Hutch’s misadventures.

The first film was directed by Ilya Naishuller, and the sequel by Timo Tjahjanto. Lots of fighting, shooting and explosions. Thankfully, the violence is less graphic as it could be, but it’s real enough for a cartoon action-adventure flick. We know that Hutch, his brother and his father are not going to die, although they will get bloody. That’s expected.

The road from action hero has gone from Dirty Harry to Rambo to Taken to John Wick. Believability has decreased while visual excitement has throttled up. We can thank Steven Spielberg, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joel Silver and others for making contemporary action films like the serial film adventures of early days of Hollywood. Keep the focus on the screen and the rapid-fire action, make it spectacular and keep the audience engaged, not analyzing what they see. These aren’t thinkin’ movies, just the popcorn variety.