‘Normal’ review: Bob Odenkirk’s small town sheriff heads Ben Wheatley’s uninspired shoot-’em-up

Dir: Ben Wheatley. US/Canada. 2025. 90mins

A brand new sheriff discovers a small city has massive secrets and techniques in Regular, a routine hyper-violent actioner with loads of bloodshed however not sufficient enjoyable. Bob Odenkirk reunites with No one franchise creator Derek Kolstad for the story of a disillusioned cop who unexpectedly finds himself within the literal crosshairs of everybody inside the seemingly folksy group to which he has simply moved. Director Ben Wheatley employs among the similar close-quarters mayhem he dropped at his 2016 shoot-‘em-up Free Fireplace, however his new movie lacks the wit or originality essential to elevate such commonplace style fare.

Hardly ever achieves the gonzo extremes promised by the premise

Regular premieres in Toronto’s Midnight Insanity part, with potential patrons probably intrigued by this newest work from Kolstad, who additionally created John Wick. Veteran English filmmaker Wheatley loved his greatest hit with 2023’s Meg 2: The Trench ($398 million worldwide), however the limits of Odenkirk’s industrial enchantment might be illustrated by motion sequel No one 2’s underwhelming $37 million gross to this point. This B-movie could enchantment mainly to hardcore motion followers, with mainstream crossover unlikely. 

Ulysses (Odenkirk) has been known as in to turn into the interim sheriff in Regular, Minnesota — inhabitants beneath 2,000 — for 2 months following the tragic loss of life of the city’s beloved high cop. Adjusting to laidback Midwestern life, he hopes to drag himself out of a private rut after enduring a painful divorce and nursing a non-public trauma in his skilled previous. However after coming to love the unassuming locals, he responds to a name for an in-progress financial institution theft, solely to be shocked when his fellow law enforcement officials begin opening fireplace on him.

Odenkirk, a preferred comic who garnered important acclaim as a dramatic actor because of Higher Name Saul, turned an unlikely motion star with 2021’s No one, during which he portrayed a deceptively abnormal man who’s really a deadly authorities operative. In Regular, whose story Odenkirk developed with Kolstad, he performs a variation of that franchise’s troubled everyman, his character’s bushy mustache and reserved disposition suggesting somebody who desires to sit down on the sidelines of life.

Regular’s stunning plot twist includes one thing within the financial institution vault that Ulysses was not meant to see — one thing that binds the city in a shared prison cover-up — and as soon as that revelation involves mild, Regular’s residents will cease at nothing to kill him and the 2 financial institution robbers, Lori (Reena Jolly) and Keith (Brendan Fletcher), earlier than they inform the press what they now know in regards to the group. The situation units the stage for a presumably raucous orgy of crunching battle scenes and operatic gun battles as Ulysses tries to remain alive over the course of 1 intense, snowy night time.

However these anticipated narrative fireworks fail to materialise, largely as a consequence of the truth that Wheatley not often achieves the gonzo extremes promised by such a premise. Audiences can be handled to decapitations, punctured eyeballs, impalements and our bodies exploding into bloody pulps, however the nasty thrill that often accompanies such violence in over-the-top trendy motion movies is noticeably lacking. Consequently, Wheatley’s hyperbolic set items really feel perfunctory moderately than euphoric or hilariously bombastic.

Enjoying this fill-in sheriff who way back stopped caring about being a diligent cop, Odenkirk shows shades of the archetypal grizzled good man in Westerns who alone should stand as much as the forces of evil. Sadly, Kolstad’s script doesn’t present the character with attention-grabbing layers, and Ulysses’ shameful historical past, as soon as it’s divulged, is pretty pedestrian. The actor has demonstrated his battle chops within the No one movies, and right here  punches and shoots with absolute authority. However contemplating that the novelty of this famend funnyman dispatching countless baddies has already been considerably exhausted, Regular’s shootouts have little of the shock that made the primary No one such a deal with. 

The filmmakers introduce a second twist during which former rivals will reluctantly group up in opposition to a brand new, extra imposing foe. With out spoiling any plot factors, let it’s stated that this, too, proves disappointing – though at the least Wheatley ups the graphic violence to such a level that Regular turns into diverting, if by no means particularly impressed. Providing wan satire in regards to the smallmindedness of Midwestern communities whereas making halfhearted stabs at poignancy as soon as Ulysses begins to regain his sense of function, this shoot-‘em-up largely fires blanks.