Nobody Trailer: Can We Really Accept Bob Odenkirk as John Wick?

Are you ready for one of the more inexplicable movie trailers of 2020? Sneaking in just under the wire is this first look at Nobody, a pulse-pounding action film starring … Bob Odenkirk? The 58-year-old Better Call Saul star/Mr. Show comedic legend is just about the last guy you’d take seriously as an action star, but that didn’t stop John Wick writer Derek Kolstad from seeking him out for the part. It also doesn’t stop the trailer below from being deeply strange on a number of levels. It begs for comparison to John Wick along the way, although perhaps Liam Neeson’s unexpected action turn in the original Taken would be a more accurate parallel? Regardless, the film is currently scheduled for a Feb. 26, 2021 release.

Nobody stars Odenkirk as Hutch Mansell, a “mild-mannered family man” suffering from PTSD who elects not to fight back when his home is robbed, earning him the condemnation of his family and neighbors. Little do they know that Hutch is actually some kind of retired super-assassin, and has avoided violence for years in an effort to not slip back into his old ways. Of course, that’s exactly what happens, and Hutch’s family ends up the targets of a Russian drug lord. Very standard action movie tropes here, made notably only by Odenkirk as the unlikely star. Typically, you’d expect a movie with this plot description to star Scott Adkins and involve more jumping spin kicks.

Watching the trailer for Nobody, on the other hand, you can’t really avoid the odd tonal mishmash—it’s like the first half of the trailer is promising an entirely different sort of film than the second half. The first half makes Nobody look like a serious drama about a milquetoast, trod-upon man with a dark past finally snapping and becoming a vigilante, ‘ala some combination of Falling Down, A History of Violence, The Brave One and Death Wish. The tone then shifts momentously in the back half of the trailer, however, with machine guns, car chases, hidden gold and absurdist dialog that makes Nobody look more like a comedy parody of John Wick. It’s really difficult to tell which half more accurately represents the film as a whole, but it seems impossible take take Nobody seriously with a line like “give me the goddamn kitty cat bracelet!” Suddenly, this sounds more like Key & Peele’s Keanu, does it not?

Nobody is directed by Russian musician Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry) and co-stars Connie Nielsen, RZA and an especially grizzled-looking Christopher Lloyd. One thing you can say in its favor: It certainly seems to feature some of the same great choreography previously seen in the likes of John Wick. Check out the full trailer below.