Action
Novocaine (15)
Review: Without it, pleasure would relinquish its seductive sweetness, valuable life lessons such as avoiding contact with an open flame would never be learned, the mourning process would be rendered obsolete, and the need for medical attention would be met with blissful ignorance. Dan Berk and Robert Olsen’s hare-brained comedy introduces an unlikely action hero: a mild-mannered bank executive with an incredibly rare condition – congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA) – who is incapable of experiencing pain in his day-to-day life. This real-life syndrome is extremely dangerous because patients are unaware if they suffer grievous physical injury or if their body is valiantly fighting off an infection that requires urgent antibiotic reinforcement.
Novocaine screenwriter Lars Jacobson concocts a simple premise that transforms an introverted everyman with CIPA into a 21st-century superhero, who is almost certain to die in the line of duty because he doesn’t know when to stop. Jack Quaid is adorable as the socially awkward saviour, whose limbs and appendages are horrifically maimed and mauled in breathlessly choreographed fight sequences that push the envelope thanks to the central character’s condition. A nifty narrative curveball in the second hour turns the film satisfyingly on its head and cranks up the jeopardy. Sadistic torture is played for ghoulish laughs.
Nathan Caine (Quaid) is an assistant bank manager, who has exceeded his predicted 25-year life expectancy by sheltering himself from the outside world, never eating solid foods and setting a three-hour timer on his watch to remind himself to urinate. He is smitten with bank clerk Sherry Margrave (Amber Midthunder) but doesn’t muster the courage to ask her out until a recently widowed customer, Earl (Lou Beatty Jr), spurs him into action.
Shortly after a dreamy first date, Nathan’s bank is robbed by Simon (Ray Nicholson), Andre (Conrad Kemp) and his brother Ben (Evan Hengst), dressed as Santa Clauses. The three incapacitate Nathan, empty the safe and take Sherry hostage as a human shield. When Nathan regains consciousness, he gives chase and inadvertently behaves like an accomplice to the crime and, thus, a person of interest to investigating detectives Duffy (Matt Walsh) and Langston (Betty Gabriel).
Opening with a tongue-in-cheek chorus of REM’s Everybody Hurts, Novocaine milks every droplet of bone-crushing delirium from Nathan’s condition, delivering myriad gasp-inducing moments when the bank worker vaults merrily over a non-existent pain barrier. Spider-Man star Jacob Batalon is fertile comic relief as Nathan’s online gaming buddy, who claims to ride a Harley-Davidson and look like Jason Momoa. Stunts are performed with brio but Jacobson’s script strays outside the bounds of strained credibility with a contrived homage to one of the biggest films of the 1990s. Even in Berk and Olsen’s outlandish caper, some things are too much.
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Horror
The Woman In The Yard (15)
Review: Some guests are unwelcome. A grief-stricken family encounter a shadowy figure that appears to mean them harm in a psychological horror directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) barely survives the car accident that claimed the life of her husband David (Russell Hornsby) and tore her family apart. The widow recuperates with children Taylor (Peyton Jackson) and Annie (Estella Kahiha) in their remote farmhouse.
Out of the blue, a woman (Okwui Okpokwasili) draped from head to toe in black manifests on the front lawn and stands guard outside the home. When Ramona approaches the figure to offer assistance, the unexpected visitor replies chillingly from behind her funereal veil: “You called and I came. Today’s the day.”
Reviews of The Woman In The Hard are embargoed until Wednesday evening. Please check back later in the week for our full review.
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Action
A Working Man (15)
Review: Jason Statham reunites with David Ayer, director of The Beekeeper, for a brutal action thriller adapted from Chuck Dixon’s novel Levon’s Trade by screenwriters Ayer and Sylvester Stallone. Levon Cade (Statham) is a former Royal Marines Commando, who proudly served his country for 22 years and now enjoys a quieter pace of life as a construction worker in Chicago. He is good friends with boss Joe Garcia (Michael Pena) and wife Carla (Noemi Gonzalez), who gave him a job at their family business and believed in him when he doubted himself.
Joe’s 19-year-old daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas) is kidnapped on a night out with friends and Levon leverages his skill set to spearhead a daredevil, one-man rescue mission. He learns that Jenny has been snatched by a human trafficking ring and Levon will need reinforcements including former servicemen Gunny Lefferty (David Harbour) to bring the girl home safely.
Reviews of A Working Man are embargoed until Thursday morning. Please check back later in the week for our full review.
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