By John Corrado
The setup for Normal, the latest film from director and auteur of ultra-violence Ben Wheatley, involves a lot of “Chekov’s gun” (or, perhaps, Chekov’s explosives); that being the rule that a gun shown in the first act must go off by the third. As much as the first half of this ninety minute film is laying the groundwork for the story, the running gag throughout is showing the absurd amount of firepower within the small town where the film is set, all of which will be utilized in the second half.
The film is set in the sleepy Midwestern town of Normal, where Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk) has been sent as interim sheriff, following the sudden death of the last guy. But Ulysses starts to realize that everything might not be exactly right in Normal, which is run by your prototypical small town mayor (played by Henry Winkler). The Japanese Yakuza also play a role, being introduced in the opening scene.
The plot can feel like it is setting up something deeper that doesn’t necessarily materialize, but it’s hard to really care while watching it. For a brief ninety minute movie, probably at least the last half of it feels like one continuous action sequence. It’s setting things up to blow them up. This is Wheatley back in Free Fire mode, the warehouse shootout movie that played Midnight Madness in 2016. But, instead of limiting the action to a warehouse, this one utilizes the entire main street of a small town in a snow storm (the film was shot in Manitoba).
The film basically delivers exactly what we expect and want from Odenkirk and John Wick writer Derek Kolstad, who previously teamed up on the Nobody movies. This is Odenkirk in grizzled action hero mode, kicking ass as a whole town conspires against him. The directorial touches of Weheatley behind the camera elevate this extreme shoot ‘em up.
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