Explosive
Summary
It’s too bad I never got to see Normal on the big screen as it’s hugely entertaining and despite a slow-ish start the final hour is action movie heaven with plenty of kills, shoot-outs, fights and explosions. The 4k sounds amazing although the colours are a little drab at times; still, this is worth buying for the movie and special features alone.
Plot: For Sheriff Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk), a new job in the quaint Midwestern town of Normal was meant to be a welcome respite from his marital woes and recent injuries in the line of duty. When a botched bank robbery interrupts the peace, a sordid secret is exposed.
Review: Normal didn’t get a theatrical release here for some baffling reason despite the fact it’s from the writer of John Wick and deserved to be a bigger hit than it was. It barely got any marketing at all, but it’s finally out on 4K, so I blind bought it the other day and watched it last night.
I’d heard good things, and it didn’t disappoint. I love “action star” Bob Odenkirk; he’s so unconventional and brings that everyman quality that makes his substitute Sheriff (the amazingly named Ulysses Richardson) so appealing. He comes to the small town of Normal and at first everything seems great; the people are friendly, and the crime is minimal.
Ulysses just wants to mind his own business, but when a bank robbery occurs in the town he can’t look the other way anymore and a huge battle with the townsfolk and the Yakuza ensues. It’s crazy stuff and so outlandish and yet it is played seriously which is why it works.
The first 30 minutes is setting up the characters and story then when the action kicks in it doesn’t let up for the rest of the brisk runtime. I love that this only 90 minutes so it moves along well and the characters are great fun. The action delivers the bloody goods with several fight scenes, shoot-outs and explosions.
The 4K is a little drab looking but I think that’s just the way the film looks however, the Dolby Atmos sounded amazing and there are enough special features to make this worth picking up.
Features:
- Two-Disc Combo Pack: Includes the feature film on both 4K UHD and standard Blu-ray.
- Video/Audio: High Dynamic Range (HDR) presentation and Dolby Atmos soundtrack.
- The Making of Normal: A behind-the-scenes featurette on the production.
- Ben Wheatley: Storytelling: Featurette focusing on the director’s approach.
- Bob Odenkirk: Normal and “Ulysses”: Interview/featurette with the star regarding his character.
- Derek Kolstad: The Characters: Insights from the writer/creator.
- Henry Winkler: “Mayor Kinbner”: Spotlight featurette on Winkler’s role.
- Marc Provissiero: The Team: Featurette highlighting the producer and creative team.
- Trailers: Theatrical promotional clips.
- Subtitles: Optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles.
Although the cast interviews are very short, they are informative and I particularly enjoyed Henry Winker talking about the mayor and how he is a liar, but you can’t show that when he is on screen. There are some nice tidbits throughout. The Making of features interviews with the cast and director, Ben Wheatley who describes the film as a Neo Western which is the perfect description for it.
Overall, if you enjoyed the Nobody and John Wick movies then you’ll have a great time with Normal as it is packed with some fantastic action, fun characters and dark humour; the 4K has enough features to be worth adding to the collection although I think the Blu-ray would be fine too.