Ilya Naishuller
A sturdy but familiar entry, Nobody hews so close to standards that it brings the whole genre into question.
A bystander who intervenes to help a woman being harassed by a group of men becomes the target of a vengeful drug lord.
Action cinema is a pain to bring to light. Let’s be clear that every film is difficult to make and they all have inherent problems, ranging from little to gigantic nuances. But action takes the cake when it comes to painstakingly long hours and the mundane repetition that is required to capture the choreography of a scene just right.
2015’s Toronto International Film Festival gave audience awards to Room, the quietly affecting story of a mother and son, and Hardcore Henry, a first-person action film about a super-soldier fighting his way through Russia. Yes, Hardcore Henry’s win was in the Midnight Madness category, but that contrast is still amazing. I don’t buy into the divide between daytime and nighttime festivalgoers, because I know there’s a lot of people, like me, that start in the morning hours and stay to the raucous end.