Bob Odenkirk has spent much of the last few years proving that the man once known for Mr Show with Bob and David could carry an action movie. After two Nobody films, he is back in the genre with Normal, a new thriller from Ben Wheatley that drops him into a Minnesota town where a routine job turns into something far stranger and far bloodier.
In Normal, Odenkirk plays interim sheriff Ulysses, who is sent to watch over Normal, Minnesota for eight weeks after the previous sheriff dies. A small bank robbery changes everything when it uncovers a vault full of Yakuza gold and weapons, and the town quickly turns on him after the theft and the discovery. The review of the film, published by FILMHOUNDS Magazine, calls it a blast of cartoony violence with people exploding and eyes being stabbed, the kind of excess that pushes it far beyond a standard crime story.
The cast around him gives the film more than just firepower. Henry Winkler plays the mayor, Lena Headey appears in two scenes with Odenkirk, and Jess McLeod plays Alex. The bank robbers are played by Reena Jolly and Brendan Fletcher, the pair who set off the chain reaction that leaves Ulysses trying to keep control of a town that no longer trusts him.
That is what makes Normal feel like the next step in Odenkirk's shift from comedy and prestige television into hard-charging action. A few years ago, he was still most widely associated with character work and sketch comedy; later, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul made him a far bigger dramatic name. The Nobody films confirmed that he could sell bruised, inventive action, and Normal extends that run with a premise that sounds built for chaos.
Wheatley is a fitting match for that energy. The review places Normal alongside earlier films such as Kill List and Free Fire, where the director's taste for sudden violence and off-kilter mayhem was already on display. It is less taken with his Hollywood work on Rebecca and Meg 2: The Trench, which it finds less effective, but says Normal brings back the sharper edge that made Wheatley stand out in the first place.
The film may not be setting up another franchise. The review says Normal is unlikely to spawn a sequel in the same way as the Nobody movies, which is another way of saying this one seems designed as a self-contained eruption rather than a launchpad. For Odenkirk, that may be the point: keep moving, keep surprising, and keep the audience watching long after the first shot is fired.
