Normal

I thought there something of the "Twin Peaks" about this as a temporary sheriff arrives in the town of Normal for a short stint following the untimely death of his predecessor. "Ulysses" (Bob Odenkirk) is about as laid back as a man can get, and so expects to do little in the sleepy town aside from settle squabbles between shopkeepers and listen to his deputy's squeaky leather jacket. Then the ala... Read more

I thought there something of the "Twin Peaks" about this as a temporary sheriff arrives in the town of Normal for a short stint following the untimely death of his predecessor. "Ulysses" (Bob Odenkirk) is about as laid back as a man can get, and so expects to do little in the sleepy town aside from settle squabbles between shopkeepers and listen to his deputy's squeaky leather jacket. Then the alarm in the bank goes off. Surely it's not being robbed? Anyway, his entire force race to the scene only to discover that - well that would be telling. Suffice to say, this new lawman finds himself in quite a predicament and with military grade hardware lined up against him; an unexplained giant pile of gold; an angry man with a sliced half-pinky and some very narked Yakuza heading to town, it looks like it's going to be a long night in Normal. Meantime we are treated to something of the obligatorily complex marital backstory from the sheriff as he strains to find an ally in this town that is so very much not what he'd (or we'd) come to expect. Odenkirk is a master at playing the understated character and he does that really quite well here, but the rest of the roles are a bit too undercooked. Just ask the "Fonz" himself (Henry Winkler) whose blink and you'll miss it effort makes very little impact in his snowy mayoralty. The last quarter of an hour is lively, messy and quite good fun and the whole ninety minutes passes along effortlessly enough, but I'm not too sure I'll remember this for very long - moose notwithstanding.Show less

Enjoyable and refreshing. There's a lot of police movie tropes that people revert to when writing their scripts. There's a certain amount of side characters, plots and twists you can introduce. This movie does something interesting with all of that and while the execution isn't flawless, it's still a very entertaining movie and its casting is phenomenal. Parts of the movie are unbecomingly dark,... Read more

Enjoyable and refreshing. There's a lot of police movie tropes that people revert to when writing their scripts. There's a certain amount of side characters, plots and twists you can introduce. This movie does something interesting with all of that and while the execution isn't flawless, it's still a very entertaining movie and its casting is phenomenal. Parts of the movie are unbecomingly dark, which takes away from the action on screen as you simply cannot observe it. Other than that, I think it's a very technically proficient movie, and it is definitely funny enough to keep you engaged. The characters are interesting enough so that you get invested in them, which means that you care, and that builds the tension around them. I would say that this is a solid action movie and a far better cop movie than it initially presents itself to be.Show less

“Normal” feels like a self‑conscious ‘woke’ spin on the modern action thriller, and for me that’s where it completely loses the plot. It plays as a politically one‑sided, ideologically heavy‑handed shoot‑’em‑up that’s more interested in attitude and messaging than in building believable characters or a coherent story. Asian yakuza are mostly reduced to stereotyped cannon fodder, while other charac... Read more

“Normal” feels like a self‑conscious ‘woke’ spin on the modern action thriller, and for me that’s where it completely loses the plot. It plays as a politically one‑sided, ideologically heavy‑handed shoot‑’em‑up that’s more interested in attitude and messaging than in building believable characters or a coherent story. Asian yakuza are mostly reduced to stereotyped cannon fodder, while other characters are framed as more complex and sympathetic, which gives the violence a racially tone‑deaf, hypocritical edge instead of anything resembling clever satire. Even the better‑staged action beats can’t hide how thin, repetitive, and smug the whole thing is, so by the end I was just bored and irritated rather than entertained.Show less