n Paragraphs: Nobody

 2021, Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry) -- download

So, here I am about three weeks later, two of which were weeks of lying on the sofa or in bed fighting fevers, body aches, fatigue and a cough, two weeks of not being allowed outside. While social media is full of people having booked their vaccine, I left my social media feed empty of my own news -- having tested positive for COVID19. And showing symptoms. I didn't need to drive that sort of viewership. But I need to write about it, so here it is as I relate some of my viewing habits while on the sofa. Some, not all.

There hasn't been a lot of New Content being absorbed by me when the only thing to do was to absorb content. My brain hasn't allowed for much of an absorption factor. TONS of rewatching has been going on, but easy stuff, best-loved stuff, stuff I won't be writing about. But I knew this action flick, which I runs down the lane of John Wick with Bob Odenkirk was coming soon, and would be generally easily absorbed. And I was pretty much correct.

"There’s a long-dormant piece of me now awake that wants so very badly to play this out...."

Its a line that stood out for me, in the teaser, from earlier this year. Odenkirk's character Hutch is relating it to a bad guy. He's more talkative than Wick but they both share ultra-violent pasts which they tried to bury. And both of them are driven to pull that person they once were out for another spin. At least Hutch doesn't see his dog killed, but they do threaten his family, the family he obviously has built a life for, even if that life has begun to suffer the doldrums of suburban mediocrity. His kids don't respect him, his wife sleeps with a pillow barrier between them and he does the same boring bus commute every single day. And every week, he pretty much forgets to take the garbage out. Then some barely capable burglars attempt to rob his house, getting nothing but they draw his ire... almost. Just when he seems capable of exploding, he pulls back and his son takes a punch. The last straw for Hutch's family. And for Hutch.

Hutch is not only a man suppressing a violent past, but also a man suppressing a very violent now. Its coiled up inside him and he is very adept at keeping the lion at bay. When he lets it go, his wrath is visited upon some Russian gangsters who blunder onto the bus Hutch is riding. Some bone crushing moments later, most of the gangsters are unconscious and one is dying, despite Hutch's effort to assist. He went too far. He assaulted the wrong Russian gangsters. We know where this goes next.

There are some beauties of ultra-violence in this movie, but there are also some very farcical scenes. While this movie is not the stylish ballet of bullets and death that John Wick was, it does have its own sense of working man style. Being shot in Winnipeg really helped out here, as this looks like no movie you have scene, like no city we are familiar with. I see a grand role for the Peg to play in future thrillers. Unfortunately, the tenuous grip the movie has on style is entirely dropped in the third act, much as Hutch himself drops any pretense of having been a mere suburban working man. The movie degrades into a body count mirrored in 80s muscle bound action flicks, making as little sense as they did. But for the level of focus I had at the time, it was a perfect choice, somewhat fever driven, somewhat easy to digest but with a lot of impact.