Normal

Normal works best when it does not try to seem important. It starts from a relatively simple criminal situation and gradually twists it until the entire setting becomes a source of suspicion, violence and paranoia. That escalation is exactly what I liked most: the sense that the problem is not contained in one place or tied to a single enemy, but that everything around the characters starts to feel potentially hostile.

The idea is very good because it turns something recognizable into a kind of small-town nightmare. Ben Wheatley plays with streets, neighbors, businesses and ordinary spaces that slowly stop feeling normal. The title ends up working almost like a joke: the more the film insists on an apparently ordinary environment, the less ordinary everything becomes.

Bob Odenkirk once again proves how well this kind of character suits him. He has a very particular quality as an action lead: he never feels like a superhero. Even when he shows that he can handle himself, he still projects exhaustion, confusion and the expression of a man who would rather be anywhere else. That physical normality makes the excess around him even funnier.

The film also succeeds in building a group of characters who, under different circumstances, would hardly share the same path. They do not need enormous psychological depth for the dynamic to work; it is enough that the situation forces them to cooperate while the danger keeps growing. That improvised-alliance element gives the story plenty of energy.

I especially liked the feeling of being surrounded. Normal does not need a supernatural threat or a world-spanning conspiracy. It simply turns its own setting into something unpredictable. Every encounter can go wrong, every apparent refuge can stop being safe, and every familiar face can create suspicion. That simple paranoia carries much of the entertainment.

Wheatley mixes thriller, western, black comedy and action without worrying too much about keeping the tone perfectly clean. Sometimes that combination is genuinely funny and sometimes it simply seems determined to accelerate until everything explodes. But the film knows that its main goal is to entertain, and for much of its running time it succeeds.

The violence is exaggerated, dry and occasionally deliberately absurd. It is not always filmed with the clarity I would have preferred, because some confrontations become a little chaotic, but it does have energy. There is a constant feeling that any situation can get worse within seconds, and that keeps the film moving.

I also appreciate that it does not overstay its welcome. A premise like this would have suffered badly from another half hour of explanations and subplots. Normal works best as an action mechanism that starts moving and keeps accumulating problems. The less time it spends justifying its own madness, the better.

Not everything convinces me. Some coincidences are too convenient, certain characters mainly exist to push the next scene forward, and the film does not fully exploit the potential of its central idea. There are moments when it feels as though it could become even wilder or stranger, but instead settles for racing toward the next burst of action.

I also do not think it revolutionizes action cinema. Many of its pieces are familiar, and the shadow of other films about apparently ordinary men who turn out to be far more capable than expected is clearly present. What gives this one some identity is the setting: the town gradually stops being background and becomes an essential part of the threat.

What remains for me is exactly that: a good idea executed with enough pace, black humor and violence to work. Bob Odenkirk carries the film very well, the rural paranoia gives it personality, and the movie knows how to preserve the feeling that everything can still get worse.

I liked Normal. It is not extraordinary or especially deep, but it is a very entertaining action film with a premise that becomes more enjoyable as the world around its characters grows less trustworthy. When it embraces chaos and turns the everyday into a trap, it finds its best version.