Rob Reviews "Novocaine"

When a film like Novocaine starts with the Paramount logo commencing with R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts,” the tone is SET so solidly that I laughed out loud knowing what was coming with Dan Berk and Robert Olsen’s latest film.

I think it is safe to say that Jack Quaid is the up-and-coming-next-big-thing, and this film continues his journey to superstardom.  He plays Nate, an assistant bank manager in San Diego who keeps to himself and really only has social contact with his friend, Roscoe (Jacob Batalon from the Tom Holland Spider-Man films) when they are playing video games.  When he meets new teller Sherry (Amber Midthunder), they form a connection, and after the bank is robbed and Sherry is taken hostage, Nate summons the courage to rescue her.

Sure, if I stopped there it would be your basic action film with the reluctant hero and the damsel in distress.  However, there is a wrinkle here: Nate has a rare genetic disorder where he cannot feel pain, hot, or cold.  On one hand, this makes him a bit of a weapon, but on the other hand, he is still mortal and not necessarily fight-ready.  In order to rescue Sherry, he has to use his wits and a lot of luck if he is going to find her and survive.  (There is even a couple of cool details in some of the sets that help drill his condition home.)

This film exceeded my expectations on every level.  From the trailer, I knew there would be some crazy action and even a bit of gore (actually, there is a LOT of it, and I had to look away more than once, but not in a “horror movie for the sake of gore” kind of way), but there is also a fun story here that is just as much about Nate’s growth as a person and his confidence as it is about the adrenaline-fest that lies on the surface.

This is also the first time that I have seen Midthunder since Prey, and her chemistry with Quaid is solid.  Her character also has levels that are not written into this type of story much, and that gives even more to both of their arcs within the larger narrative.  There are also a couple of cops that mix into the fun played by great character actor Matt Walsh and Jack Ryan’s Betty Gabriel, who do alright with what they are given.  Their story really doesn’t come together until the third act, and if I have to pick a piece of this script that was so-so, it would be theirs.  The dialogue is very stock for this type of film, and the payoff has a level of laziness to it that made me feel like it may have come later to tie them into the final resolution.

Novocaine is the type of film that should be watched on the biggest screen that can be mustered along with a group of people to see each and every reaction as the story unfolds.  With comparisons to films like Nobody and Crank, that is pretty high praise to me, and I can’t say that I disagree.