SXSW '26: Normal
It seems like nowadays when you hit a certain age as a male performer, you give yourself over to the action stylings of a movie similar to John Wick but just different enough so that people can say it’s like John Wick but not exactly John Wick. This started with Taken, where Liam Neeson did an action movie that was a bit outside of his comfort zone and now he does a straight-to-DVD version of Taken meets John Wick every year or two. Then Bob Odenkirk got into the mix with Nobody, and that one was pretty good. It had some funny moments, some good action scenes, and an ending that made you think, “I’m not begging for another one, but if they decided to make one I don’t think I'd be too upset.” So then they made Nobody 2, which I assume is good (at the time of writing this I have not seen Nobody 2). But now Bob Odenkirk is back with Normal, and this time it’s like if John Wick met Nobody met Fargo. Innovative!
Normal stars Bob Odenkirk as an interim sheriff in the town of Normal, Minnesota, after the sheriff has passed away. It may be called Normal, but this town is anything but that. Weird business dealings happen and everyone seems a little too nice and happy even for small town standards. The town hires Odenkirk because of his anything-goes reputation, but they forgot one thing: he’s kind of good at his job. That’s always how these things go though. Someone underestimates a 40-plus-year-old man who used to get into gnarly shit back in his day and he has to put his demons to the side to bring out the old him and do big bombastic tricks with some kills that make you go “OOOOOOOHHHHHH!!!” What I’m getting at is you know the story here, but that doesn’t make it not a good vehicle for some fun kills and jokes.
The snowy-set town in Minnesota is at least different from the urban environments these movies normally take place in. Ben Wheatley makes good use of the environment because the majority of the action takes place during a blizzard. We aren’t tied to the tried-and-true city streets, but instead are stuck inside of an arctic tundra as the protagonist makes his way through the small town shops to uncover the conspiracy afoot. And boy is that conspiracy sick. The yakuza are involved and everyone is doing their bidding, and that’s all you really need to know. It’s interesting to see the path Wheatley is going down with these action movies—this one is arguably a Derek Kolstad film. Kolstad wrote the first through third John Wick entries and both Nobody films before taking on this this script, and it has his fingerprints all over. It feels like those other films conceptually but it’s Wheatley’s direction that gives this more character.
Bob Odenkirk is so badass. His comedic background only lends itself to the dry humor of the movie, but he’s also so agile and really leans into the stunt work in these film. If you thought Nobody was about the extent of his chops, Normal really bends that idea and subverts it by having him play a bit of a straight man who would rather be anywhere else but doing this job. He looks like he knows his way around a gun and that look in Odenkirk’s eyes just screams this is a resourceful guy who could get a job done if need be. Lena Headley is here as a steely bartender with a past who knows her way around a gun. She’s good for what the movie asks her to do, which is be there and look cool and be badass.
Normal is pretty paint by numbers, which for some people will be boring and disappointing, but to them I say, buy a ticket for a different movie. If you plan on having your head lodged so far up your own ass that you can’t tell that this is similar to the movie you already like but a little different and get mad that you decided to watch it, that's your own fault. The movie is good, not too long, and moves at a decent pace with some great action scenes, all of which is right up my alley. In a time where people want the short and fun action movies of the ‘90s and ‘00s to return, Normal gives you just that with a modern twist.
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Blake Williams has a B.A. in Film and Television Production from Ball State University. He aspires to one day be a director, but until that day comes you can find him at a showing of whatever's playing that day or at home alphabetizing a shelf of movies and games and muttering about how he should "slow down on spending."