Film Talk: Jack The Lad brings the pain in Novocaine
It’s good to see this particular Jack The Lad doing well for himself.
I’ve chatted before about the joy of Jack Quaid (progeny of Hollywood royals Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid) living up to his parents’ legacy and smashing it in Amazon satirical superhero sensation, The Boys.
Other than cutting a rug as a fine Hughie Campbell, Quaid has found voice acting success with Star Trek: Lower Decks and My Adventures with Superman. He also had a part in Oscar monster Oppenheimer, and earlier this year he was front and centre opposite Sophie Thatcher in sci-fi thriller Companion.
Mum and dad must surely be very proud, and now young Jack is stepping up with yet another leading man part in action comedy flick Novocaine.
Stepping into the shoes of a mild-mannered everyman who becomes involved in a violent world of pseudo-superheroism, cynics could, and will, argue that this is hardly a marked departure from The Boys.
So what. Elvis never played the tuba. Crack on, Jack.
Sticking with the realm of action, we have another leading lad this week who needs no introduction. That’s right, folks; ‘The Stath’ (not the one who lets flats) is back.
For his first flick of the year, Jason ‘Expendable’ Statham has stayed true to form and opted for a Sly Stallone-written bone-breaker, featuring human trafficking, corruption, and a whole host of bad guys in need of a dollop of rough justice.
Elvis was no fiddle player either. Crack on, Stath.
Directed by David Ayer, A Working Man is looking to bring the unapologetic muscle fix to the flicks this weekend, which leaves our prescribed dose of psychological horror to leading lady Danielle Deadwyler and The Woman In The Yard.
With Jaume Collet-Serra in the director’s chair, this one’s offering creepiness by the bucket-load that fans of The Woman In Black will be eager to lap up. Let’s dive in...
NOVOCAINE (UK 15/ROI 16, 110 mins) ***
Released: March 28 (UK & Ireland)
Pain is vital to the human experience.
Without it, pleasure would relinquish its seductive sweetness, valuable life lessons such as avoiding contact with an open flame would never be learned, the mourning process would be rendered obsolete, and the need for medical attention would be met with blissful ignorance.
Dan Berk and Robert Olsen’s hare-brained comedy introduces an unlikely action hero: a mild-mannered bank executive with an incredibly rare condition – congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA) – who is incapable of experiencing pain in his day-to-day life.
This real-life syndrome is extremely dangerous because patients are unaware if they suffer grievous physical injury or if their body is valiantly fighting off an infection that requires urgent antibiotic reinforcement.
Novocaine screenwriter Lars Jacobson concocts a simple premise that transforms an introverted everyman with CIPA into a 21st-century superhero, who is almost certain to die in the line of duty because he doesn’t know when to stop.
Jack Quaid is adorable as the socially awkward saviour, whose limbs and appendages are horrifically maimed and mauled in breathlessly choreographed fight sequences that push the envelope thanks to the central character’s condition.
A nifty narrative curveball in the second hour turns the film satisfyingly on its head and cranks up the jeopardy. Sadistic torture is played for ghoulish laughs. Nathan Caine (Quaid) is an assistant bank manager, who has exceeded his predicted 25-year life expectancy by sheltering himself from the outside world, never eating solid foods and setting a three-hour timer on his watch to remind himself to urinate.
He is smitten with bank clerk Sherry Margrave (Amber Midthunder) but doesn’t muster the courage to ask her out until a recently widowed customer, Earl (Lou Beatty Jr), spurs him into action.
Shortly after a dreamy first date, Nathan’s bank is robbed by Simon (Ray Nicholson), Andre (Conrad Kemp) and his brother Ben (Evan Hengst), dressed as Santa Clauses.
The three incapacitate Nathan, empty the safe and take Sherry hostage as a human shield.
When Nathan regains consciousness, he gives chase and inadvertently behaves like an accomplice to the crime and, thus, a person of interest to investigating detectives Duffy (Matt Walsh) and Langston (Betty Gabriel).
Opening with a tongue-in-cheek chorus of REM’s Everybody Hurts, Novocaine milks every droplet of bone-crushing delirium from Nathan’s condition, delivering myriad gasp-inducing moments when the bank worker vaults merrily over a non-existent pain barrier.
Spider-Man star Jacob Batalon is fertile comic relief as Nathan’s online gaming buddy, who claims to ride a Harley-Davidson and look like Jason Momoa.
Stunts are performed with brio but Jacobson’s script strays outside the bounds of strained credibility with a contrived homage to one of the biggest films of the 1990s.
Even in Berk and Olsen’s outlandish caper, some things are too much.
A WORKING MAN (UK 15/ROI 15A, 116 mins) ***
Released: March 28 (UK & Ireland)
Jason Statham reunites with David Ayer, director of The Beekeeper, for a brutal action thriller adapted from Chuck Dixon’s novel Levon’s Trade by screenwriters Ayer and Sylvester Stallone.
Levon Cade (Statham) is a former Royal Marines commando, who proudly served and now enjoys a quieter pace of life as a construction worker in Chicago.
He is good friends with boss Joe Garcia (Michael Pena) and wife Carla (Noemi Gonzalez), who gave him a job at their family business and believed in him when he doubted himself.
Joe’s teenage daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas) is kidnapped on a night out with friends and Levon leverages his skill set to spearhead a daredevil, one-man rescue mission.
He learns that Jenny has been snatched by a human trafficking ring and Levon will need reinforcements including former servicemen Gunny Lefferty (David Harbour) to bring the girl home safely.
THE WOMAN IN THE YARD (UK 15/ROI 15A, 88 mins) ***
Released: March 28 (UK & Ireland)
Some guests are unwelcome and must not be invited inside.
A grief-stricken family encounter a shadowy figure that appears to mean them harm in a psychological horror directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.
Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) barely survives the car accident that claimed the life of her husband (Russell Hornsby) and tore her family apart.
The widow recuperates with children Tay (Peyton Jackson) and Annie (Estella Kahiha) in their remote farmhouse.
Out of the blue, a woman (Okwui Okpokwasili) draped from head to toe in black manifests on the front lawn and stands guard outside the home.
When Ramona approaches the figure to engage the woman, the unexpected visitor replies chillingly from behind her funereal veil: “Today’s the day.”
THE END (UK 12A/ROI 12A, 149 mins) ***
Released: March 28 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
Humanity’s downfall is heralded with songs in a post-apocalyptic musical drama directed and co-written by documentary filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer.
It has been two decades since dire warnings about environmental catastrophe were proved right and the surface of the Earth was rendered uninhabitable.
Wealthy couple Mother (Tilda Swinton) and Father (Michael Shannon) survived the devastation in their vast subterranean bunker, where they have raised a Son (George MacKay) who has only known life underground.
The family is joined in seclusion by Mother’s Friend (Bronagh Gallagher), their Butler (Tim McInnerny) and a Doctor (Lennie James).
During a regular sortie beneath the planet’s poisoned surface, the group stumbles upon another survivor, Girl (Moses Ingram), and her presence stirs long dormant feelings within the Son.
TIME TRAVEL IS DANGEROUS (UK 15/ROI 15A, 99 mins) ***
Released: March 28 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
Stephen Fry narrates a zany British sci-fi comedy directed by Chris Reading starring real-life shop owners Ruth Syratt and Megan Stevenson as characters based on themselves.
Best friends Ruth and Megan run the ChaChaCha vintage emporium in leafy Muswell Hill, filled with artefacts and trinkets from the past.
The two stumble upon a time machine and realise this miraculous discovery will allow them to source authentic wares, including Victorian lamps, for free as stock for their business.
Unfortunately, tampering with the time-space continuum has consequences and the duo risk being sucked into a vortex known as the Unreason.
The film’s ensemble cast includes Johnny Vegas, Jane Horrocks, Sophie Thompson and Mark Heap.
LA COCINA (UK 15/ROI 16, 139 mins) ***
Released: March 28 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)
Sharply traded words are almost as spicy as some of the dishes on the menu in director Alonso Ruizpalacios’s timely drama.
Chef Pedro (Raul Briones) oversees one of Manhattan’s busiest kitchens, carefully co-ordinating food orders during the frantic lunch rush hours.
His relationship with hard-working waitress Julia (Rooney Mara) starts to fray as events spiral out of control.
