Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Nobody 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 25, 2021

Nobody isn't exactly teeming with originality. The film, from John Wick Writer Derek Kolstad, simply repurposes established tropes in which a one-man army wreaks havoc on some bad people. A bastion of novelty the film indeed is not, but at the same time, through the familiar narrative tentacles, it builds a nicely developed story of things going from bad to worse that offers a subtle exploration of the role of violence in a man's life, a man who was trained in it and now finds himself thirsting for more, eager to get into trouble if only to prove to himself that he's still alive, that he's still got what it takes to dish out the hurt. But at its core is a very familiar picture that will certainly entertain genre fans with its well versed blend of action, character exploration, and mild humor.

Hutch Mansell (Bob Odenkirk) is an average Joe – a nobody – who lives the daily grind of riding the bus, going to work, crunching numbers, staying in shape, taking out the trash: the mundane routine of a forgettable existence. But it wasn’t always that way, and after tonight, it may never be again. When his home is burglarized with the whole family inside, Hutch is briefly held at gunpoint, seemingly the victim of a petty crime. When his teenage son (Gage Munroe) jumps one of them, Hutch is able to pull a golf club but refuses to take a swing. Instead, he tells his son to let the man go. The criminals flee in confusion and get nothing but a few dollars and Hutch’s daughter’s favorite kitty cat bracelet.

It turns out that there’s more to Hutch than a meek and mild-mannered pacifist. He has an eye for detail. He knows the make of the gun the criminal wielded, recognized that it was unloaded, and precisely remembers a distinguishing tattoo on one of the perpetrator’s wrists. He takes his retired and nursing home-bound father’s (Christopher Lloyd) FBI badge and gun and tracks down the tattoo artist and, subsequently, the girl on whose wrist it sits. He doesn’t get the bracelet back but he regains his confidence as a man of action, purpose, and ability. On the bus ride home, he violently decimates a handful of partially drunken mobsters eyeing a pretty young girl. Unfortunately, one of them is the son of a powerful Russian mob boss named Yulian Kuznetsov (Aleksei Serebryakov) who will now stop at nothing to exact revenge on Hutch and his family.

What the film lacks in sheer creativity it makes up for with its careful construction of character, even if character plays behind action. Action is directly born of character, though. Hutch is something of a dormant adrenaline junkie. He once worked for one of those governmental alphabet agencies and while he's long removed from the field he's not long removed from the skillset and the thirst to put himself in the middle of a game -- any game, really -- and go to work. That's where the film works: it contextualizes the violence within the character. The movie is much like Peppermint but approaching the violence from opposite ends of the spectrum. In that film an everyday mother trains herself to become a killer in order to avenge her family. Here, a man who has (in his mind) devolved from a capable killer into an everyday "nobody" reignites his passions when a petty robbery becomes a relentless bloodbath.

The film is appropriately stylized and technically adept. Shootouts and fisticuffs are well choreographed if only par for the high-end action movie course. But it's Odenkirk's carefully layered performance that will win over audiences, critical considering the otherwise superficial content at work. Odenkirk is very well cast, building a character of two extremes -- apathy and adrenaline fueled anger -- with exacting balance and precision. He's well capable of holding up the character's new life as a husband and father but is also well capable of transforming mentally, emotionally, and physically alike into a man who both thrives on and is well capable of dishing out the pain. He's well rooted in both ends and there's never a sense that the character is on one extreme or the other a robot but instead a flesh and blood man defined by who he was, who he has become, and what he would like to be again. And when it's time for action, Odenkirk proves well capable of giving and receiving. The character spends much of the film bloodied and battered, but so too do his enemies. He's not content to just shoot them, either. Everything from a tea kettle to a city bus pole are used as weapons to ruthlessly brutal impact. It also has Christopher Lloyd as you've never seen him before, so that alone makes the movie worth watching.

Nobody 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

Nobody's UHD is certainly very different from the companion Blu-ray. Universal presents the film at 2160p with Dolby Vision color grading. The "grainy" look is much more aggressive here, making the gritty façade a much more obvious component. The picture is unquestionably sharper, too, boosting both essentials like faces and clothes as well as a variety of environments -- the bus interior, Hutch's kitchen, and the like -- to a much more visually satisfying, clear, and robust textural level. Brightness is considerably elevated here, too. White levels seem to have been cranked substantially here to the point that when comparing scenes, like an outdoor scene that features a white Dodge Charger at the 11-minute mark, the UHD almost has a blindingly brilliant look about it. At the same time, black levels depth has been improved a good deal, rendering low light interiors, like the home invasion early in the film, looking much more substantial for accuracy and absorption without crushing out details. There are boosts to everything in between as well, whether orange shelving and yellow beams in the factory, bus interior components, or knickknacks around the home. This is a very aggressive Dolby Vision application. The UHD certainly has its points of improvement, and the adds to color pop, depth, and intensity are welcome, but the white brightness seems a bit on the excessive side.

Nobody 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Everybody is going to love Nobody's Dolby Atmos audio mix. The presentation flourishes with every opportunity. Gunplay is deep and expansive, punches hit hard, knife slices and jabs are squishy real, and combined music plays with large front end extension, healthy surround content, and subtle overhead support. Spacing is never a problem, and neither is stage fill. Every inch is well saturated; there are no extraneous channels in play. The track integrates some excellent directional and stationary surround elements alike as well, particularly considering more atmospheric elements but also, of course, in action. The overhead channels are not used to obviously discrete effect but the basic fold-in style adds some added spatial awareness to the proceedings. Dialogue is clear and center focused for the duration.

Nobody 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This UHD release of Nobody includes deleted scenes, a few featurettes, and a pair of audio commentary tracks. A Blu-ray copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Deleted Scenes (2160p/Dolby Vision, 4:58 total runtime): Scenes given no identifying markers.
• Hutch Hits Hard (2160p/Dolby Vision, 3:52): Looking more closely, albeit still briefly, at Bob Odenkirk's turn in his first Action film role with emphasis on his physical training.
• Breaking Down the Action (2160p/Dolby Vision): Exploring several key scenes form the film: their place in the story, fight choreography, and more. Included are Bus Fight (5:31), Home Invasion (4:19), Car Chase (3:13), and Tool and Die (6:02).
• Just a Nobody (2160p/Dolby Vision, 12:53): The film's place as "wish fulfillment" and "urban fantasy," Ilya Naishuller's direction, Odenkriks' contributions beyond the screen, casting the support roles, and more.
• Audio Commentary: Actor/Producer Bob Odenkirk and Director Ilya Naishuller.
• Audio Commentary: Director Ilya Naishuller.

Nobody 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Nobody doesn't score many points for originality but it does score plenty of others thanks to Odenkirk's willingness to sink his teeth into the part and because of the script's above average attention to detail and character building. Action junkies will love it. Universal's UHD is reliably solid all around for video, audio, and special feature assortment. Recommended.