Normal Review

Normal is a dark action comedy that sees the star and writer of the Nobody movies reteam and got cult filmmaker Ben Wheatley to direct a small-scale bloody affair.

Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk) is a police officer who acts as interim sheriff for towns across America. He finds himself in the small town of Normal, Minnesota, after the previous sheriff has died. However, Ulysses suspects foul play, and the town’s secrets become exposed when the bank is robbed.

Bob Odenkirk and Derek Kolstad had great success with the first Nobody movie, which was one of 87North’s best films outside the John Wick series, and whilst Nobody 2 wasn’t as strong, it still had fun action sequences. Considering their team-up for a third film, some people would assume Normal would be an unofficial Nobody 3, but it was a different beast to the Nobody movies.

Wheatley is a different type of director to Ilya Naishuller and Timo Tjahjanto, who are known as pure action directors. Wheatley is a favourite of film critics like Mark Kermode, and he has made cult films like Kill List, A Field in England, and Free Fire. However, Wheatley is a marmite director because audiences generally love or hate his films: there’s little in between.

The first act of Normal played the premise fairly straight. Ulysses was shown to be a cop doing his job; he grew suspicious about how the previous sheriff died, and slowly found evidence and clues. He had to deal with minor issues, like an argument between a shopkeeper and an old man, and the owner of the knitting store receiving the wrong colour wool. Ulysses was also shown to be a decent man because he was willing to exercise compassion and leniency when required. A powerful moment was when Ulysses met Alex (Jess McLeod), a young person in a dark place. Deep down, Ulysses did care for people.

This first act also did a lot of work setting up the secretive nature of some of the residents, and showed that the town was heavily armed, even by American standards. Yakuza were using the town to secure their wealth. Combined with the bloody action, Normal felt like Hot Fuzz’s American cousin, even though Normal was directed by an Englishman. Normal has been compared to Fargo because it was also a crime film set in a small town in Minnesota in winter.

Wheatley is a genre fan, and he brought his filmmaking sensibilities to the second act. This was when the film turned into a mean-spirited shoot-out. The body count quickly accelerated as guns started blaring. For action junkies, it was bloody entertaining seeing people getting blown to bits by various firearms and explosives. Although Odenkirk and Kolstad have history working with 87North, Normal was produced by other companies. Normal lacked the physicality of 87North films, but it made up for it with the creative use of guns. The scenario where Ulysses was under siege with a couple of bank robbers felt a bit like the John Carpenter classic Assault on Precinct 13, and when the main characters did go out in the dark, snowy weather, it made Normal feel a little like 30 Days of Night.

Normal also had the air of a 1990s/2000s gangster film, namely the works of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie. This was due to the use of multiple characters being involved in the criminal world, and the brand of humour and violence. Normal was a linear experience compared to the works of Tarantino and Ritchie, which went on tangents, but it scratched that crime caper itch.

Normal was a lean-and-mean action movie that managed to convey some genuine emotions amid the gonzo action.