Weekend Watch: Nobody And The Irregulars
Better Maul Saul and Sherlockian supernatural mystery
Image Credit: Universal
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Bob Odenkirk fights back and The Irregulars face dark forces in a Sherlock Holmes world. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite
Nobody has a lot going for it, even ahead of the opening credits even rolling. Who doesn’t want to watch Bob Odenkirk, a man better known for the comedy haunts of Mr. Show and the award-nominated shades he brings to Jimmy McGill in Better Call Saul, kicking ass and taking names as an ordinary man pushed to the brink. Add in the writer of the John Wick films (Derek Kolstad) and Ilya Naishuller in the director’s chair, bringing the same action flare he delivered with Hardcore Henry. And, continuing the Wick connection, training and choreography courtesy of 87Eleven, the stunt team that has been bringing the hits for years now. It’s sad to report, then, that Nobody only fitfully synthesizes all of that into an entertaining movie.
Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell is a workaday schlub, punching the clock and sleepwalking through life. But when robbers break into his house and terrorize his family, and he barely moves a muscle to help, something sparks within him. Hutch, you see, used to be far from an ordinary, man, working for “three-letter agencies” in the capacity of deadly enforcer. And, as he feels called to start writing wrongs and randomly beating up nogoodniks, that ends up putting him squarely in the crosshairs of the Russian mafia. It’s that aspect that troubles the most, even given the Russian at the helm – a lot here feels very familiar, and you almost expect Keanu Reeves to pop up and fight alongside Hutch. The mobsters are given some personality, but they are for the most part there to be punched, kicked, and shot by our hero.
Having come up with the original idea and committed to an extensive two-year training regime, Odenkirk certainly delivers on the action hero front, taking his licks as much as he delivers the solid blows. And there’s a surprising and very fun turn from Christopher Lloyd, a man himself better known for earning yucks than kicking ass. But for all of Naishuller’s visual flair and inventive moves from the stunt team, there’s the creeping sensation of numbness as one set piece after another unspools beneath an ironic cover of a classic song. Connie Nielsen, who has the opportunity to kick plenty of butt herself in the DCEU as Queen Hippolyta, is mostly wasted here as the wife who is either scared or unsure about her husband. She has one or two moments, but she’s capable of so much more.
If you’re in need of something to fill the John Wick gap in your life, Nobody will surely suffice. And there is certainly an effective action movie lurking within. I think I just hoped for something a little more than what made it onto the screen.
Image Credit: Netflix
With so many stories based on the Sherlock Holmes novels, it’s hard to find an even slightly fresh spin. And though the Irregulars – the group of orphans and homeless people who did street-level work for the great detective and Dr. Watson – have been on screen a few times before, this new Netflix series blends that with YA-level supernatural storytelling to fashion something that actually works.
Our heroes this time are Bea (Thaddea Graham), her sickly sister Jess (Darci Shaw), smooth-talking chancer Spike (McKell David), and hot-head Billy (Jojo Macari), who are quickly joined by Leo (Harrison Osterfield) a posh lad that the others think is with them A) because he wants to see how the common people live (TM Jarvis Cocker) and B) because he has the awkward hots for Bea. Unbeknownst to them, he’s actually Prince Leopold son of Queen Victoria and aiming to escape the stifling life in Buckingham Palace, and the royal staff who would keep him locked into duty.
The gang is hired by Dr. Watson (here played with troubled layers by Royce Pierreson) to investigate some missing babies, and that pushes them into a whole new, darker side of London. A terrible darkness is stalking the city (yes, more than the poverty, sickness, racism and smog) and the Irregulars will soon be up to their necks in it. Jess is already part of the way there, troubled by terrifying nightmares that are – no-one looked surprised – tied to what is happening.
For most of the early episodes, the focus is on the main characters, and they’re a welcome, likeable bunch. Graham in particular shines as Bea, an orphan who spent years protecting her sister in the workhouse, and is bubbling with righteous anger. As the story develops, and we learn more of how Sherlock (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) is connected to it all, The Irregulars slips into much more formulaic territory, heading to places that the likes of Buffy have already been, to far greater effect.
Yet with charismatic leads, a storyline that has some invention in places, and a decent spin on Victorian England (with a Bridgerton-style modernistic soundtrack), it should have different places to go in the future, with the promise of more adventures – assuming Netflix’s algorithmic gods see fit to grant it a second season.
The Irregulars is on Netflix now.