LOS ANGELES, April 14 (UPI) -- Bob Odenkirk's action phase has been fun to watch evolve. He's not yet getting the A-list vehicles of Keanu Reeves or Gerard Butler, but Normal, in theaters Friday, fills a void until the summer movie season begins.
Ulysses (Odenkirk) is the interim sheriff of Normal, Minn., whose previous sheriff recently died. Lori (Reena Jolly) and Keith's (Brendan Fletcher) bank robbery uncovers the yakuza gold stored in the vault, so the town turns on Ulysses as well to protect their Yakuza partnership.
Odenkirk is filling a niche that has always existed in action movies. In the '80s and '90s, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal did the movies that couldn't afford a Schwarzenegger or Stallone.
Normal is Odenkirk's Van Damme movie as a capable professional thrust into a high concept situation. If it were a Seagal movie, Ulysses would be a secret black ops agent, so Nobody is his Seagal franchise.
Ulysses' arrival in Normal establishes the playground he will navigate later. He responds to calls over minor conflicts to establish all of the town locals whose characters will become adversaries later in the film, and their stores or homes with weapons and devices he will use to his advantage.
