PLOT: When the girl of his dreams is kidnapped, a man incapable of feeling physical pain turns his rare condition into an unexpected advantage in the fight to rescue her.
REVIEW: It really was beginning to feel like we’d seen every variation of the “everyman becoming a hero” trope. It almost gives us the impression that it can happen to anybody, making the hero all the more relatable. And inevitably, it becomes a bit unbelievable as they take way more damage than should be humanly possible. But hey, it’s a movie right? Novocaine fixes that problem by giving our heroic lead a genetic condition that makes it so he can’t feel pain. I’m sure you can imagine all the wonderful ways this can be exploited in an action movie and it’s glorious.
Novocaine follows Nate (Quaid), an assistant bank manager who has been coddled his entire life due to his limited life expectancy. He doesn’t eat anything for fear of biting off his tongue, and despite exceeding his expected departure date, he’s hardly even living with how bubble-wrapped his life is. But all that changes when Sherry (Midthunder) starts working at the bank and shows interest in Nate. The first act is intentionally on the slow side, really wanting us to get to know both Nate and Sherry. It’s not so cutesy that it feels like a romcom but you can genuinely feel these people making a connection. So as much as the slower side may be annoying to some (especially with the high octane marketing) this really sets up the rest of the film beautifully.
For someone that can’t feel pain, Jack Quaid is really able to get you to feel for Nathan Caine. He proves to be a fantastic lead where you are genuinely rooting for him to succeed. Even the multiple people he kills, all feel deserved, so he maintains a moral center despite the chaos. He and Amber Midthunder have great chemistry together, and they had me completely won over with their love story. I was a little worried that they were going a little too cutesy with it, but they threw a wrench into things that I think really layers their romance well.
Ray Nicholson shows up as the main bad guy Simon, and it’s not quite as flashy as his Borderline role, but he still makes for a decent villain. If anything, I wish he was dialed up just a little bit more. Jacob Batalon is exactly who he usually plays: the reliable best friend with funny quips and a heart of gold. He has some funny lines but his storyline is very predictable. I have to shoutout Matt Walsh because he’s hilarious as Coltraine, a detective who wants to be anywhere except working on this case. I wish his pursuit of Nate was more prominent just so we can get more Walsh one-liners.
Any film like this is judged on its action and the gimmick of not being able to feel pain sets up some pretty fun stunts. While Quaid has been part of The Boys for years, this is easily the most he’s gotten in on the actual stuntwork, with plenty of hand to hand fighting. Nate isn’t some judoku or karate champion, so it’s mostly defensive, and it never feels unbelievable. He gets his ass kicked an appropriate amount. The highlight of Novocaine comes from a set piece inside of a booby trapped house. The Home Alone nature of the traps combined with Nate’s ignorance to pain makes for a fun time. If anything, I wish this element was dragged out longer as it’s such a fun sequence.
I feel like whenever some action movie comes along that impresses, it’s always “this reminds me of the kind of film from a different era” but that doesn’t apply here. Novocaine feels very modern, and builds off of all the similar movies that have come before it. There were some twists and turns that I never saw coming and it helped keep the film fresh. While it doesn’t break from the norm too often, when it does, it gives the film a lot more personality. Jack Quaid has added yet another character type that he can pull off effortlessly: action star.
NOVOCAINE RELEASES TO THEATERS ON MARCH 14TH, 2025.
