Gain Without the Pain?

Novocain isn't the first action film to utilise the gimmick of its lead character being unable to feel pain but no others have gone quite this far with the grizzly potential for body maiming violence. It is also the first to acknowledge the very serious day to day consequences of having such a condition.

Jack Quaid plays Nathan Caine, a mild mannered assistant credit union manager who lives an isolated life as he sufferers from CIPA (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis). Not being able to feel pain means he blends all his food (to avoid chewing his tongue off), has baby proofed every hard corner in his vicinity and uses ice and a thermometer to drink his coffee. He keeps to himself at work and his only friend is online buddy Roscoe (Jacob Battalion) who he has never even met in person. Enter Amber Midthunder as sherry, a relatively new employee at the credit union who spills coffee on Nathan in the break room leading to a romantic night together. The following day, armed robbers led by Ray Nicholson target the credit union and take Amber away as a hostage. In one of many acts of insane stupidity during the film, Nathan steals a cop car and heads off in pursuit, leading to lashings of cartoonish violence as the leading man uses his immunity to pain to overcome larger opponents despite his complete lack of fighting skills or experience.

The movie spends a good bit of time on the first portion of the story, showing Nathan's day to day challenges and why the connection with Amber is so important to him. Still, whether his crusade is romantic and brave or stupid and creepily obsessive is a matter of opinion. Once his odesey begins things pick up considerably as Nathan's attempts at getting information invariably end up in grizzly confrontations. The fight choreography is nothing special but the lead's inability to feel pain is used in inventive ways as he mashes his hands into broken glass to create some impromptu spiked fists, melts his skin to get a gun and shrugs off booby traps without even noticing. On the downside, most of the most interesting bits have been shown in the trailer and the final showdown seems to last forever as the main villain shrugs off stab and gunshot wounds as if they where paper cuts. The strongest parts of the film are when it leans into slapstick comedy with a scene where Nathan stalls for time by pretending to be in agony under torture a stand out.

Quaid is good in the lead role although it is really just another shade of the awkward geek character he seems to be entrenched in portraying. This is probably the most earnest he has ever played it and he handles the comedy beats expertly. Playing to type is a bit of a theme among the cast as Battalion is the loyal best buddy we're used to seeing in the Spiderman movies and Ray Nicholson is unhinged. Betty Gabriel and Matt Walsh provide some laughs as the deadpan detectives following two steps behind but don't really bring anything to the plot. Midthunder gets more to do than simply be the damsel in distress but still feels underused and the film would have benefited from finding a way to make her more of a co lead.

Novocain is a perfectly entertaining actioner with a couple of real laughs but unless you are into wince inducing physical violence there isn't really anything to lift it above any number of other entries. If you are a fan of Jack Quaid being Jack Quaid or want to see someone impale an advisory with their exposed ulna bone then you are in for a treat.

6 knives through the hand out of 10

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