Knee-jerk review: "Novacaine"

1. Maybe this is the old man perspective, but it sure seems like there was lot more of these kinds of entertaining, highly-polished B-movie actoiners back before streaming took over the world and people used to actually go to theaters every weekend.
2. We were pleasantly surprised that the filmmakers took so long to establish the main characters and their relationship before the shooting started.  If audiences care about the characters, they'll be more emotionally invested in what happens to them.  Screenwriting 101.  The dialogue in that first act sets up the entire movie.  Lean and sharp.  Plot comes from character wants and needs.
3. We really, really should have seen that plot twist coming.  We've gotten so rusty.
4. Gruesome.  We didn't understand at first how the bad guy died at the end, but then suddenly we realized and it was completely insane.  Gross.
5. Jack Quaid has definitely got the gawky, stammering geek thing down.
6. Imagine slurping down a shot of ghost pepper sauce.
7. We love movies that take a high-concept premise like "imagine a guy who feels no pain tangling with ruthless bank robbers" and then explore it in every possible way.
8. We can take take most movie violence no problem since we know it's all fake, but there's something about breaking bones that crosses the line for us.  Maybe it's just the sound effect that adds that extra level of squeamish realism.
9. By now doesn't everyone know that the bad guy is never really dead the first time he's "killed"?
10. Poor Nigel.
11. Everyone is hiding something.

Tweet