I completed Breaking Bad like 2 weeks ago and now I’m in that phase of exploring more about the actors who took part in the best TV show I’ve ever seen.
I must confess that I’m not taken by Better Call Saul. It can’t parallel Breaking Bad and it doesn’t match what I had expected: a dark comedy as outrageous as Saul Goodman’s commercials.
Still, I really like Bob Odenkirk so I’ve decided to check a movie of his shot between Better Call Saul seasons. I was curious to see Bob portraying a badass that would intimidate even Mike Ehrmantraut.
On top of that, I found out that the director is Ilya Naishuller, the genius mastermind behind Hardcore Henry, leader of the rock band Biting Elbows, which music video (still directed by Ilya) Bad Motherfucker spread virally around the globe in 2013. I couldn’t miss this explosive mix!
The plot is already in the tagline “Never underestimate a nobody!”
Bob Odenkirk is Hutch Mansell, an apparently normal family guy working at a local factory as an auditor, married to the boss’ daughter, laid back, and well-tempered. A perfect ordinary nobody you may say.
Things change when Hutch confronts a gang of drunk thugs taking over the bus he was sitting in. The brutal fight erupting reveals to us that Hutch is a former secret agent who tried to hide his past behind an ordinary life, but crazy events will make his real self emerge again.
This character has nothing to do with Saul Goodman. He’s more similar to John Wick, if we want to exaggerate. This will make you appreciate the acting range Bob Odenkirk is capable of. The movie won’t give you a minute to rest. It has the perfect pace an action story demands. The sequences are wrapped by beautiful cinematography with wise use of lights and shades. Kudos to the director of photography.
The story itself is nothing original, but it’s the perfect theme if you want to enjoy a no-brainer plot to keep you entertained while you can’t go out, as happened to me today following food poisoning.
I will rate this movie a 6.5/10, mostly thanks to Bob Odenkirk’s performance and Ilya Naishuller’s always impeccable directing.
