I’m not completely sold on the Bob Odenkirk action star rebrand. That’s not a knock on him, either. I actually think he fits the role quite well, given the right circumstances – those being the break out Nobody which remains the best use of his new look. But something about it feels off and limiting; there’s only so many times we can see him be the everyman who also happens to be really good at inflicting pain. For me, the jury is still out on how many times I want to watch that, but I guess that’s a bit unfair considering the amount of Jason Statham films I watch every year.

Normal is sort of the Nobody 2 we were promised, using similar plot points but has a little bit more fun executing them. Ben Wheatley returns to Free Fire form and returns the guns and fisty cuffs to Odenkirk, and for the most part both make quite the pair for a silly, violent, albeit derivative action thriller. Normal is a neo-western that plays all of the greatest genre hits and becomes quite fun once the bullets start flying and bodies start dropping. It’s by no means the best of its kind, but at a certain point, it stops mattering and just becomes an entertaining action romp.

About Normal

Directed by Ben Wheatley and written by Derek Kolstad (John Wick 1-3, Nobody, Nobody 2) Normal follows Sheriff Ulysses, a down on his luck cop whose wife won’t return his calls after a separation, and on a temporary assignment in Normal, Minnesota. The small, quiet town seems friendly enough, and Ulysses plans not to ruffle any feathers until the town can elect their own permanent sheriff in a few weeks. It’s all nice and peaceful and mundane, that is, until a couple of outsiders decide to rob the bank and discover some dark secrets buried in the vault. The once friendly, fun loving town turns deadly and hellbent on keeping their secrets and pits Ulysses against, well, everyone. Normal also stars Henry Winkler, Lena Headey, Billy MacLellan, and Jess McLeod.

Normal

Destructive Action, Derivative Story

Normal is at its best when it’s relying on its more successful inspirations, namely Hot Fuzz and Assault on Precinct 13. If you’re gonna pull from the greats, the two mentioned aren’t a bad movie baby to make. Playing inside the confines of the genre doesn’t always have to be a detriment, and Wheatley more than demonstrates his love and homage to those action successes that came before him. It excels in carnage, having a literal blast blowing things – and people – up and adding to the body count in as many colorful ways as it can think of. Odenkirk is of course game and up to the challenge, and at this point knows his way around weapons and well-choreographed fights. Wheatley too, knows action and has a grand old time staging and framing small town mayhem.

Kolstad can write these kinds of films in his sleep, and there’s a sense of diminishing returns in the overall narrative here. Normal is a bit slow to start, really burying the lede of its eventual gonzo second half. It’s designed to be a slow burn of escalating tension, and sometimes it works pretty well. But it can’t quite escape from underneath the weight of its predecessors – borrowing the strengths and flaws in almost equal measure – and Kolstad’s repetitive thematic conceit.

His previous work spills out all over the pages of Normal and sprawls itself too thin, attempting to add new wrinkles to a tired game and overstuffing it all for a rather straightforward action thriller. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but Normal would be better suited trying to be a little different where it counts. It unfortunately lacks an identity of its own, and while that’s perfectly fine on the action front, it’s a major hindrance on the story front.

Final Thoughts

Even for all its flaws, it’s hard not to (mostly) have fun with Normal. When things pick up and the action becomes nonstop, you just have to throw your hands up and let it take you on a ride. It has just enough creativity in dispatching townsfolk to keep things moving, and whenever you start to feel yourself drifting, it introduces a new method of street battles to bring you back in again. There’s fun to be had so long as you’re willing to have it, and the film mostly rewards you for sticking with it through its setup.

Normal is classic dudes rock action, your dad’s new favorite movie to watch on TNT on a Tuesday afternoon. And that’s most likely where this will end up; fun in the moment, largely forgotten, and then reminded of some of your favorite scenes when you catch it again on cable. So ya, Normal isn’t the best of its kind, nor is it the best of Wheatley or even Odenkirk. But it doesn’t really set out to clear too many bars to begin with, and sometimes the middle is a really fun time at the movies.