Novocaine – Review

Jack Quaid is not the type of actor you write a movie around… not yet anyway. He may have that whimsical, everyday man charm about him ala Tom Hanks or Bruce Willis, but lacks their inner confidence, yet there’s something gripping about seeing the young actor in the trailers for his latest film, Novocaine, where he harms himself to save the woman of his dreams.

Born with a rare medical condition that prevents him from feeling the sensation of pain, sheltered bank executive Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid, The Boys, Logan Lucky) cannot feel the sting of a punch, the force of a bullet piercing him, nor can he feel his foot bleed were he to step on a nail, or realise that he bit on his tongue while chewing. His unassuming, protected life spent hiding from harm takes an overnight turn when one of his staff at the local bank, with whom he has had a crush on, asks him out and Sherry (Amber Midthunder, Legion, Prey) in turn draws him out of his shell, to experience life with a simple bite of a cherry pie. 

Clearly, pain and pleasure are treated as two distinct sensations, and audiences are asked to numb their feelings as they sit through this painless experience that sees Caine go after Sherry when she is held hostage the day after their date, after a botched bank robbery that sees three ex-military goons steal a bags of cash. Realising that he has a potential future with his one-date-stand, Caine goes after the trio of robbers and with no skills, experience or abilities in place, he inadvertently depends on his one special skill to survive.

And it’s here that the film moves between horror gorefest ala Final Destination and action thriller John Wick, as both genres merge in a sequence of well crafted fights that deliver a visceral display of blood, pain and spilled guts. Even as Caine gets put through the ringer where he’s shot at by bullets and arrows, thrown across the room and kitchen, and gets punched, stabbed and maced, audiences can feel his helplessness but also root for him as he takes a series of illogical and unnecessary abuse on his body to emerge victorious.

And as we wince in pain by the on-screen violence, we also let out a small cheer when he suceeds, and inflicts even more pain on those who would do him harm. Try to strangle our dear banker with your bare hands? How about you feel glass shards tear into your face as Caine laces his bleeding fists with the remnants of a broken mirror, and rails punches on his assailant.

With each battle, Quaid gets into more trouble, to the point where he locates the home of one of the robbers, only to get taken down by a series of Home Alone styled bobby traps within the home, which pushes him to call for help from the only friend he has ever known, Roscoe (Jacob Batalon, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Let It Snow), to save him, and this is the bit where the film’s logic takes a little dive. Assembled at this home are also police officers Mincy (Betty Gabriel, It Lives Inside) and Coltraine (Matt Walsh, Father of the Bride), and after several rounds of slightly predictable and rather sloppy plot twists, all your’re left with is a high level of satisfaction that directing duo Dan Berk and Robert Olsen (Body, Stake Land), who, to no one’s surprise, made their name across several horror films, knows how to deliver the pain in a way that numbs your other senses to logic. 

But without Quaid and his characteristically loveable and goofy charm, this movie wouldn’t work because let’s face it – any other action star wouldn’t want to walk away from this so broken and defeated, and not many actors can deliver the face of defeat much like this nepo baby, who, truth be told, has proven that to get as far as he had, takes more skill than other similar children of established actors can muster.

HSALS

Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?