Film within the action space has been home to many types of combat and gunplay lately, so it’s interesting to view the perspective from which director Ben Wheatley lies within this map. Wheatley has bounced around between strong standalone shoot ’em up actioners and dark thrillers, such as Free Fire and Kill List, respectively, to director for hire with blockbuster sequels like Meg 2: The Trench. Normal represents an interesting mix of both, with Wheatley’s directorial touches being at one with the film’s visual flair, but the screenplay being penned by John Wick and Nobody writer Derek Kolstad.
What results is a somewhat normal (pun intended) action romp that exists as a pretty slight but more than adequate way to entertain oneself for 90 minutes. Much of the more comedic writing in the lead up to the film’s action leaves a bit to be desired, but when Normal leans into pure bloody lunacy with its gags and fight scenes, it finally starts heating up and with yet another rocking lead action role for Bob Odenkirk as the cherry on top, solidifying Normal as a blast even when faced with more mundane elements.
Normal takes place in where else but the snowy landscape of Normal, Minnesota, an extremely small populated town where Ulysses (Odenkirk) is acting as the interim sheriff post the previous sheriff’s suspicious demise. The town is quite quaint, with many small-scale ventures of customer squabbles and helping folks out with vending machines that match the laid-back attitude of Ulysses, when he enforces the law.
The town’s mayor, Kibner (Henry Winkler), is a big supporter of their little quirks and sees Normal as a unique space, but it isn’t long, of course, until the town of Normal is revealed to have quite a not-so-normal secret. After arriving at the scene of a bank robbery being executed by Keith (Brendan Fletcher) and Lori (Reena Jolly), Ulysses discovers a butt load of gold, guns, and cash that’s far more than a town like Normal could acquire. It turns out the town acts as a reservoir of sorts for the Yakuza, and nearly every one of the townspeople is in on it.
With the odds more than stacked against them, Ulysses must team up with Lori and Keith to fight off the folks of Normal before their superiors realize something’s up in what ends up a guns-blazing war to find a solution to their predicament.
While watching Normal, many will see the movie mashups of its conception all over its snappy dialogue and visual touches. It starts out with a bit of Fargo before going full tilt into Hot Fuzz, and while Normal is nowhere near the quality of its clear inspirations, it uses them to create its own memorable vibe, even after a fairly slow start. The more dialogue-driven comedic wordplay throughout the film’s first 30 or so minutes is a bit rough around the edges, with either jokes that explain themselves or tonal whiplash between more kooky elements and Ulysses’ dark past that don’t mesh as well as the movie thinks.
When Normal finally goes full throttle into its shoot ’em and beat ’em up action, however, it’s mostly a complete hoot. Even within Wheatley’s rougher projects, he’s always had a keen eye for great genre blends and exquisite gunplay within action setpieces, and those skills are on full display in Normal. Bullets whizz by every which way in rapid succession, and the camera flows through it all with such sharp precision that your eyes will be glued to nearly every swift way the camera moves throughout action scenes. An even more explosive element to the fun of Normal’s chaos is the amazing rube goldberg deaths on display that lead to heads getting blown clean off like it’s straight out of Final Destination. It’s often where the movie leans into full-blown slapstick mayhem, where the comedic tones are a lot more in place, and Odenkirk, being at the movie’s lead, is able to roll with every fight and gag with ease.
Odenkirk has actually been cementing himself as an action star as of late with his roles in the Nobody films, and he’s never been more game for a role than he is here with Ulysses. Even when the film is in a lull of sorts or isn’t able to make its genre mashups work, Odenkirk holds nearly everything together here, and he sells the comedy and action here incredibly well. What’s particularly impressive about Odenkirk’s action here is how he moves within scenes of hand-to-hand combat compared to the film’s large degree of shootouts within its runtime. He matches the rhythm of Wheatley’s camera so well and brings complete brashness to every head-bashing and eye-gouging. It’s always a pleasure to see Bob in virtually any medium, but his recent role as an action hero has been an utter delight to see.
Some will see it as ironic that a film entitled Normal could benefit from a less standard format, and the movie isn’t quite as sharp as its recent action beat-em-up contemporaries, but Normal is a great example of a “getting the job done” picture. It has plenty of absurd laughs, bloody fights, and delightfully deranged action shootouts, and even when it starts to slump, it has a sturdy lead performance from Bob Odenkirk at its center, making a somewhat slight but fun enough little action flick that makes the most of its 90 minutes.
Normal will debut exclusively in theaters on April 17, 2026, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Normal is a great example of a “getting the job done” picture
Lover of film writing about film. Member of the Dallas Fort-Worth Critics Association. The more time passes, the more the medium of movies has become deeply intertwined with who I am.
