Novocaine | Film Review

 

When the girl he likes is kidnapped, Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) goes to extreme lengths to get her back - putting his inability to feel pain to the test.

This is a film I heard a lot about in the lead-up to it being released, and then once it came out I didn't hear anything about it at all. I liked the basic premise, but I didn't really know what to expect.

I was a bit disappointed with this film.

But as I've said, I liked the concept. It was really original and interesting. Having a character with this ability (or inability) is something that could be used in a hundred different ways.

The film is mostly character-based, and it works because the characters are so entertaining and endearing - which is mostly down to how good the actors are. Quaid, in particular, is completely perfect for this role.

The soundtrack was also great - it was so much fun and contributed to the overall fun tone of the film.

But as I said, I was disappointed.

For a start, it took a while for things to get going. Even when it was on for a while and the main plot was clearly underway, I still felt like I was waiting for things to really start. And it was like this the whole way through. I don't know if it was a problem with the pacing, but the order of events just felt odd.

I don't think there was enough chemistry between the couple. The story is rooted in this budding romance, but it never really felt like anything was budding. Not only did this take some of the realism away, but we rooted for the character individually without really caring about the outcome of the relationship.

The tone was different than I expected. It has moments of being both fun and funny, but overall I wouldn't really describe it as a fun or funny movie. It didn't really know what it wanted to be.

And as much as I liked Nathan Caine, and rooted for him, I never cared about him as much as I needed to to be fully invested in the outcome of this story.

Overall, I felt like a lot more could have been done with this interesting concept and character, but the end result left me disappointed.

5/10