Release Date – 28th March 2025, Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 50 minutes, Directors – Robert Olsen, Dan Berk
Assistant bank manger Nathan (Jack Quaid) has a medical condition which means he can’t feel pain, when robbers take the girl he likes (Amber Midthunder) hostage, he goes in pursuit.
The idea of action sequences revolving around the idea that the central character can’t feel pain could easily wear thin. While they play a key part in the bloody fights which happen throughout Novocaine, the main source of humour within them comes more from assistant bank manager Nathan’s (Jack Quaid) constant apologies when he strikes, stabs and slashes his opponent, and at times his own awkwardness. He doesn’t want to fight, or kill, but in order to save himself and the girl he likes he may have to, even if sometimes accidentally.
He’s in pursuit of the people who robbed the bank he works at, but more importantly for him took colleague Sherry (Amber Midthunder) hostage when the police show up early. With back-up ages away, he chooses to take a gun and a police car and chase after the criminals himself, however when they split up he needs to find a way to track them down, and save Sherry. Things move from location to location breezily, with plenty to like about the action and indeed the gags about Nathan’s condition bring about a good few laughs along the way.
Quaid leads with a likable presence, bringing out plenty of amusement in the uncertainty of his character in the frantic search that will hopefully continue the happiness he’s finally found in his life – the one person who brought meaning into it and stopped him from shutting himself away from the world. He leads the film with an energy that matches the overall style of a simply entertaining actioner. One with plenty of impactful punches and splatters, even if the main character can’t feel them.
There’s an energetic flow that connects things without feeling chaptered. Things might start to feel a little bit drawn out in the third acts multiple stages which start to push things with each extension. Particularly as fights get more brutal, and to some extent more unbelievable; even in the confines of a film such as this that leans into comedy and ridiculousness. There’s still an entertainment factor in just how far the film pushes itself, but what it’s missing is the same overall slight-anxious charm of the central character as he becomes more of a straightforward action hero. There’s still an element of Nathan as he was, but not quite to the same comedic extent as in the entertainingly thrilling fights of the bloody, search-based build-up.
A funny, entertaining actioner that wants to be just that, Novocaine is led by a likable central performance by Jack Quaid who brings about a number of laughs in bloody fight sequences which manage to not fall into a set of one-note gags.
Just A Little Bit Random 