Novocaine

Nathan Kane, a vice president of a bank, was born without the sense of pain. Under this setting, he can accomplish almost everything. Although novel, it is not scientific. When we were young, "Reader" or "Yilin" taught us that the inability to feel pain is actually a very dangerous disease. Pain is a mechanism for humans to protect themselves. The inability to feel pain means that you are not aware of danger, but put yourself in danger. For example, you don't know if you are hit by someone, and you may die in an instant.

But the director doesn't think so. In the setting, "no sense of pain" and "invincible" are almost the same thing. Others would put on a Band-Aid when they fell, but he might not even feel a broken bone when he fell. Originally, his life was ordinary, but his goddess was kidnapped by a group of robbers. In a rage, he fished out a gun from a frying pan, stabbed glass with both hands, and pulled out his fingernails, doing whatever it took to make the villain dumbfounded. The police were willing to rush all the way to save people with their insensible physique, and turned Santiago upside down by the way.

The setting and plot are also quite disconnected. Apart from the acceptable quality of popcorn, the plot is like a half-fried dish without salt. The fighting design has some cool concepts because of this weird setting, and coupled with the exaggerated performance, it doesn't hurt to watch. However, the plot is straightforward and I almost fell asleep in the first thirty minutes. In addition, the whole story is set in the peaceful San Diego, which is a bit like playing a police and gangster movie in a tea restaurant. The atmosphere is not right. It feels like the fighting is going on here, while the city on the other side is still sleeping, which is not very consistent. If the story is set in the cyberpunk future, or at least Gotham City, it may have a different flavor.

As for the male lead, Jack Quaid, the son of Dennis Quaid, his performance was like a dish without salt. His appearance is boring, his acting is boring. I sincerely suggest that if the second-generation stars really love acting, they should just enjoy themselves and not rush to grab resources right away. The screen should be reserved for those with natural looks and talents, not those with resources and plastic surgery. Otherwise, one day, we will all prefer to watch movies performed by AI.

My first feeling was that I went from being a coward who covered his eyes when he saw bloody scenes to being Nurhaci who munched on popcorn in front of the fighting scenes. This transformation was a bit sudden!

What is this movie about? It's about an ordinary bank clerk named Nathan Kane (played by Jack Quaid) who is born incapable of feeling pain. Then his girlfriend was kidnapped by robbers, so he decided to use this "superpower" to save her and seek revenge. It sounds like a very old-fashioned hero-rescue-beauty routine, but I think the gameplay of this movie is quite unique, and the use of the "inability to feel pain" point is quite interesting.

A superhero movie? No, it's a bloody love story.

Don't be fooled by the poster! When I went there, I thought I was going to watch a superhero movie, but it turned out to be a bloody revenge story in the guise of a light comedy, romantic action movie.

Kane in the film was born with a genetic disease that made him unable to feel pain. He lived cautiously for 30 years and only dared to eat liquid food for fear of accidentally biting off his tongue... This setting is quite heartbreaking. Until he met that girl, his life finally became a little colorful. Unfortunately, they encountered a bank robbery and his girlfriend was kidnapped. He decided to fight the robbers alone.

"I am Painless Kane, and the audience is Super Painful Audience"

This short review really hits the nail on the head! The most brilliant part of the film is here - he doesn't feel any pain, but it hurts us to watch! The various physical tortures made me so nervous the whole time, like holding a freshly-cooked pancake, unable to let go. Oil pans, bullets, tattoo needles, and even electric shock devices... Is the screenwriter a pervert? How could he come up with so many ideas to torture people!

Jack Quaid: A champion on the underdog circuit?

To be honest, when I saw Quaid's face, I couldn't help but think of Hughie in The Boys. The image of that poor little guy who was crushed by the superhero world is so deeply rooted in my heart! In this Painless Kane, he seems to have returned to the old way of "ordinary people will bite when they are cornered."

"Jack Quaid is such a great loser"

Hahaha, this is so vivid! His face really gives off a feeling of "I am the accountant downstairs in your company who is always scolded by the boss", but at the critical moment, he can burst out with unexpected stubbornness. This kind of role seems to have become a routine in Hollywood. Some people say that he has taken over the role of "ordinary Hollywood warm men like Bill Hader". But I don't know much about these people. Anyway, they are the type that look very ordinary but unexpectedly likable.

I looked it up and found out that he is actually Meg Ryan's son? ? How can this second-generation star look like this? But his acting skills are really good, I admit.

Don't think about logic, just enjoy it.

To be honest, the plot is indeed as simple as rice in soup, and the logical loopholes are so big that an elephant can be stuffed in:

"That's not right. It's not that he won't feel any pain, it's that he won't die." "He won't feel any pain, but he won't die... The recovery period after this battle is too long."

Yes! The male protagonist was beaten into a pig head and shot several times, but he could still stand up and continue fighting. This is unscientific! But on second thought, who cares about science in this kind of movie? Isn't it just for fun? Just like eating a big bowl of ice cream without worrying about gaining weight, just enjoy the moment!

The bloody creativity in the action scenes really scared me but also made me want to watch. The one that impressed me the most was the one in the tattoo parlor, where he fought with the tattoo needle, which was painful and funny; the trap house that was like the reverse Home Alone, and the scene where the medical equipment was used to kill the enemy in the ambulance... I was watching in the theater and thinking, "Oh my God, what will be the next nightmare?", but I couldn't help but keep staring.

A wonderful experience that makes you feel sad and laugh

I think the best thing about this movie is that it finds a very delicate balance between bloody violence and comedy. The various scenes of the male protagonist being injured made me gasp, but on the other hand, his expressionless reactions were quite funny.

"A high-concept action comedy... it hurts to watch through the screen, it's so violent and bloody, it made my adrenaline rush."

Several times I found myself and the audience next to me making "hiss" sounds at the same time because of a bloody scene, and then laughing together. This collective "pain sharing" experience feels quite strange, a bit like riding a roller coaster together.

R-rated movie, but not so R

Although there are a lot of bloody scenes, I feel that the producers still held back a bit:

"A lot of shots that could have been focused on flesh damage were deflected. There weren't many actual close-ups, and the bloodiest ones were basically absent."

Maybe it was done to avoid being banned. If it was all filmed directly, half of the audience would probably be scared to death... However, this vague way of handling it made me imagine more terrifying scenes and it was more exciting.

Summary: Don't use your brain, just enjoy it.

"Painless Kane" is definitely not a masterpiece that can win an Oscar, but as a movie to relax on the weekend, it is definitely qualified. It plays with the point of "no pain" in a variety of ways and also gives us a brand new viewing experience.

Just like what one netizen said: "The hero doesn't feel any pain, but we do." This kind of reverse feeling of watching the movie is really addictive.

When the entire theater grimaces in unison because of a scene, I feel that this collective experience is the charm of the movie.

If you also like the crazy setting of "The Boys" and want to see how "Huey" beats up a group of bad guys without superpowers, this "bloody romance" should make you happy.

Of course, the prerequisite is that you have to have enough courage to finish watching it - believe me, compared to the male protagonist, it is us, the audience, who really need courage.

PS: Every time I see a frying pan now, I will think of this movie... I may not dare to eat fried food in the short term 😂

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The rhythm is very strange, and there are many useless plots crammed in. Even 110 minutes seems too long, and it would be best if it could be cut to 90 minutes.

The first half hour is too slow to get to the point, and it's painful to watch. Although it is used to shape the character's personality and lay the foundation for emotional relationships, it is after all an introduction and a digression. The theme of painlessness is not reflected in the first half hour, and it is just a concept. The character transformation is also weird. The male protagonist was originally a coward, but later he suddenly became very brave to save the female protagonist, turned into a superhero, killed people, broke the law, and broke into private houses. The reversal of the female protagonist's identity is okay, but it is also a conventional routine. It would be better to set the background to a crime city, and the male protagonist is directly a super hero, turning it into a superhero movie. Now putting an office worker as the protagonist is a bit boring. It was not until the setting of painlessness was really used that the movie became interesting. Fried palms, glass-encrusted fists, and hand bones inserted into the throat constantly stimulate the audience's senses. It's a boring movie to watch or not.

Story summary:

Nathan, a bank manager with painlessness, rekindles hope after an unexpected date with his colleague Shirley. However, the next day the bank is robbed and Shirley is taken hostage. Nathan uses his painlessness to launch a violent rescue and joins forces with his netizen Roscoe to deal with the robbers and the police, staging a bloody revenge in the Christmas atmosphere.

Viewers are complaining:

In the film's bank robbery scene, Nathan Kane, played by Jack Quaid, was shot in the abdomen by a shotgun, and his shirt was soaked with blood. This shot, full of black humor, accurately summarizes the core characteristics of this action comedy directed by Dan Burke and Robert Olsen - when the aesthetics of violence and existential philosophy dance together under the Christmas lights, the audience can witness an absurd carnival about the nature of pain.

Directors Burke and Olsen continued the tradition of visual violence in the "Prank" series, transforming the pain-free setting into a testing ground for the aesthetics of violence. In Nathan's counterattack in the kitchen, the camera switches quickly in 0.5 seconds, showing him attacking the robbers with a boiling pan, a rusty kitchen knife, and burning olive oil. This weaponization of daily necessities forms a cross-time and space dialogue with Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction", but it is more existentialist - when the perception of pain is deprived, violence becomes a pure physiological reaction.

Jack Quaid, who plays Huey in the Black Robe, finally becomes a superhero in this film: he accurately interprets the duality of the character: a cowardly nerd in the first half and a violent anti-hero in the second half; at the same time, he also conveys emotional changes through micro-expressions, such as the nervousness when facing Shirley and the madness during the rescue operation. His performance is remarkable!

For movie fans who love black humor or are obsessed with the aesthetics of violence, and for urbanites who are looking for spiritual anchors in the digital torrent, this film is a must-see masterpiece of the year.

Novocaine (B+) This movie is very creative, and the action scenes are all novel, which is very different from other action movies and superhero movies. It is very fresh and funny. The main reason is that the male protagonist Nathan Kane (Jack Quaid) is an ordinary person. In addition to not being able to feel pain, he has never learned any self-defense skills. However, he has to fight many strong men alone, and the means of attack and winning skills he can use are very different from other action heroes. When a person does not feel pain, he will become more fearless, and can often survive in desperate situations.

What surprised me was that the lines in this movie were quite funny. In addition to the action scenes designed with comedy elements, many characters in the movie were built according to comedy characters, especially the two detectives and Nathan Kane's online friend (Jacob Bertalon), who are all talkative. Jacob went from being Spider-Man's good helper to Kane's good helper, which always effectively increased the highlights. I was very happy to see him. Moreover, the plot is quite tortuous, with frequent dangers and the villains are also very vicious. Basically, there will be no scenes of empty shooting and no one falling down, but most of the scenes are very tragic.

Many of the jokes come from the cruel and bloody content. For example, he often needs to self-harm to defeat his opponents, and many of his injuries are caused by him. The director is ruthless and must let you see clearly what he encounters every time. Because from the expression of the male protagonist, he almost has no reaction, and can only directly show the bloody wounds. The most interesting thing about this character is that he does not have the ability to revive quickly like Deadpool, but he can be hurt, and he has no self-recovery ability at all, so if his hand is broken, it is really broken, but he will continue to move forward because he doesn't care. This actually reflects that many times we look "very injured" but it is not necessarily true. The body itself can still perform tasks, but the brain makes us no longer dare to do many things because of the pain, which makes it look "very serious". That is, if your hand is burned, you may not dare to use it immediately, but if you don't feel the pain, you will find that you can continue to use your hand. You can continue to run even if your leg is injured.

The audience's reaction was very enthusiastic when I watched the show, mainly because most of the content was "startling" and contained many surprises, which is relatively rare in similar genres. I expect the media reviews will be very good.

Jack Quaid is the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan. He has performed in almost all movies such as Red Tomato. He also played Novocaine 89%. He looked very hateful in the previous female robot movie "Companion", but he is still very likable in this movie. He shows the helplessness and sadness of a "special person", which makes people feel distressed. He is very successful in shaping. If you want to develop a series, this is a good start, which effectively introduces the characters. I hope Nathan Kane can practice more physical fitness and return again in the future.

Novocaine itself means anesthetic.