Normal

In the latest from writer Derek Kolstad (John Wick, Nobody) and director Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Sightseers, Free Fire), Bob Odenkirk stars as a temp-sheriff assigned to the sleepy town of Normal, Minnesota, who discovers the snowy hamlet he's in charge of is part of a vast criminal underground. The filmmakers describe this movie as Bad Day at Black Rock crossed with Final Destination. I personally would have liked to see more of the former and less of the later, but oh well. The story is basically an excuse to stage cool actions scenes, and the action scenes are cool. But the set up is a little lazy, relying on too heavily on voiceover narration from Odenkirk to set things up. The creators seem to think they are doing something revolutionary by even having this first act establishing the place they're about to run around in. If only they understood how much more satisfying action movies are when the proper time is taken to fully create a world for the outsider character to inhabit, rather than just tell us about one.