TL;DR – A perfectly serviceable action film, competently constructed but with nothing remarkable to make it stand out.  

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

Normal Review Introduction

I decided today that I wanted to go on a bit of an action kick as this tends to be the time of year when they drop. However, today’s movie has the odd distinction of being both technically quite good, while also being an almost bland, if at best unremarkable experience.
 
So, to set the scene, we open in Normal, Minnesota, a very nice town … well, the parts that were not abandoned. Temporary Sheriff Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk) has arrived to fill in for the eight weeks before the town votes for a permanent replacement. The only odd thing is that this poor town does seem to have a lot of money for a town in a rural downturn, something that pulls on a thread for Ulysses that he can’t quite place. It was a perfect set-up, until some nobodies try to rob the bank and Ulysses’ life just got turned around.  

Solid Action

Where this film does work quite well is in the construction of the action scenes. Indeed, the one moment when Normal escapes its binding is in the build-up to the shootout at the bank. There is real thematic tension brewing as Ulysses walks into a situation that he has no idea how bad it is, thus is unprepared for his deputies to start firing on him from behind. Much like Hot Fuzz, we then run through all the locations in the town we were shown earlier in the piece, but now with all those references to ‘old-timey stump removers’ having more literal and thematic impact. I will be coming back to that comparison in a moment. The stunt team and the fight choreographers do a good job of making it work as well as it does. For example, you will see a nail at the start of the film that you know is going to be Chekhov’s nail, and it does not disappoint.

Lukewarm Fuzz    

What this film excels in action, it lacks in personality. The first thing is that Normal went out of its way to say it was set in Minnesota, where a lot of amazing action films have been set. However, you would be kicking yourself to know that outside of the snow. Why situate your film in one of the most distinctive rural American accents if everyone is going to be speaking in bland American/Canadian/British accents. Our main character is just Bob Odenkirk playing the same old-gruff action star he has played many times before. If you had told me this was the same character as in his Nobody films, then I would have believed it. Some choices take away from it all; for example, if Lena Headey’s character was meant to be so important, why is she only in two scenes? The narrative is full of missed opportunities like this. You can feel that its identity was shaped around the yakuza, but not a whole lot else. However, at its worst, watching this just made me think of a less ambitious Hot Fuzz, where the only improvement is that the obnoxious townspeople are fair game to the carnage. But if someone heard about Hot Fuzz second or third hand, and tried to re-create it set in America, but without watching the original.

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Normal? Look, it is a perfectly serviceable action film; you just come away from it feeling like they could have aimed a bit higher. Have you watched Normal? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked Normal, we would recommend They Will Kill You to you because it also works in the same space, but they get to really swing that axe.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Normal
Directed by – Ben Wheatley
Story by – Derek Kolstad & Bob Odenkirk
Screenplay by – Derek Kolstad
Music by – Harry Gregson-Williams & Ryder McNair
Cinematography by – Armando Salas
Edited by – Jonathan Amos
Production/Distribution Companies – OPE Partners, Tradecraft Productions, Le Foole Inc, Magnolia Pictures, Amazon MGM Studios, & Amazon Prime
Starring – Bob Odenkirk, Henry Winkler, Lena Headey, Reena Jolly, Ryan Allen, Billy MacLellan, Brendan Fletcher, Peter Shinkoda, & Jess McLeod
With – Derek Barnes, David Lawrence Brown, Chad Bruce, Lauren Cochrane, Dan de Jaeger, Takahiro Inoue, Brian Kawakami, John C. MacDonald, Alex MacMillan, Megan McArton, Aaron Merke, Carson Natteraa, Harry Nelken, Yosuke Mino, & Bradley Sawatzky
Rating – Australia: MA15+;