If you put a gun to my head and demanded I tell you who we should cast as the least likely superhero of all time, I’d tell you to save your ammo because The Boys’ Hughie already exists. But Jack Quaid’s been on a role bender of late, delivering Marty in Heads of State, Josh in Companion… and now a bona fide superhero as Nate in Novocaine.
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The core idea of Novocaine is, “What if not feeling pain was a huge problem that could get you killed… right up until you needed it to save the love of your life?” Jack Quaid is the titular character, a mild-mannered bank manager who finds his purpose in a blood-and-gore rampage through the city to save Amber Midthunder’s Sherry.
Let’s park for the moment whether Sherry needs saving, because Nate’s had an entire life of being sidelined, making him feel this is His Moment™. Novocaine is a riotous delight of a one-man-army flick, but it’s far more Kick-Ass than John Wick. While Novocaine owns the one-man-army shtick, its thematic purpose is different from Wick’s. Wick demands justice for a terrible injustice. Novocaine demands delight and punch-the-sky moments as Nate tries to save Sherry, each action moment in service to who he is: a decent, good man who wants to do the right thing and, for once in his life, isn’t the nerd who’s picked on, the kid who’s never chosen for team sports because he might die. He recognises his own death is quite likely, and it’s this recognition of the inevitability of fate that makes us cheer for him all the more.
Nate Caine: Accidental Hero
Our hero, Nate Caine, is special. He has Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis (CIPA). This is different from Dave Lizewski in Kick-Ass, who ends up with nerve damage that gives him a higher pain tolerance. Nate literally doesn’t feel pain. None at all, which creates a life full of lethal hazards like, say, chewing off your own tongue while trying to eat solid foods. But it also lets him reach into a deep fryer to retrieve a gun, and if you think this talent will come in handy, you’re ready to buy what Novocaine is selling.
See, Novocaine is joining the ranks of movies like The Accountant, where difference is celebrated, not marginalised. CIPA is a unique condition, but it sets the stage for Nate’s extraordinary transformation.
Jack Quaid absolutely nails the lead role here. He’s the guy we’re rooting for: bullied as a kid, he’s become a decent, kind adult who just wants to live a life like everyone else. You know what I’m talking about, because you’ve been raised in the same world: Nate wants love, friends, and happiness. He doesn’t want to be scared of sharp objects and accidentally bleeding to death from an unfelt razor cut. Despite the school of bruising knocks that life’s turned out to be for him, we can see the cut of his cloth in how he deals with those bank customers who need a little extra help. He’s clever and principled, a man who sees the person behind the paperwork, and we get a glimpse of the hero he might become as we meet him at work.
Still, Novocaine would be a terrible movie if it was an hour and fifty minutes of bureaucratic victories. Enter: bank robbers. The first time Nate needs to ’stand up’ is when criminals turn up to knock over the vault. Sherry’s in danger, and he tries to hero up… and gets knocked the fuck down. But he won’t stay down after her kidnapping; he leaves, and in desperation, steals a cop car. Each step he takes is more severe than the last, from high-speed chases to murder in self-defence, each brick of criminality laid on the inevitability of his desire to save Sherry. It’s here he discovers an untapped well of heroism within him that allows him to go one step further at each choice point.
The Audience’s Complicity in Pain
There is genuine charm in how the movie shows us pain through Nate’s eyes. He doesn’t really understand it, more puzzled by injury than anything else. However, we in the audience are very familiar with pain, so when we see him experience something gruesome, we involuntarily wince along with every blow. And yet… we can’t look away. We’re waiting for the next gruesome moment because it gets Nate closer to finding Sherry. Directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen make us accomplices in their quest to hurt Nate, because we know the more pain Nate has, the closer he is to winning.
In other news, we’re all sickos.
A good example: there is a scene where Nate is being tortured. He’s got to convince the torturer that he’s really suffering. But Nate doesn’t really know what that’s like, so as the torture progresses, he says things like, “Wow, that really sucks.” This serves a dual purpose: alongside us being unable to look away, we feel excused for going along with the pain train because Nate isn’t actually hurt. He may be injured, but we’ve found some moral wiggle room to enjoy the movie through, a sub-clause that allows us to laugh at the horrific moments that turn this into a true action comedy.
If it were just torture porn, that would be almost as bad as bureaucratic victories, so it’s good the film has a deeper side. See, Nate’s having moral quandaries. Betty Gabriel plays Mincy, the cop on the case, and through their conversations we see Nate struggling with the wrongs he’s doing to try putting something even worse to rights. Nate knows he’s on the slip-n-slide to criminality, and he’s willing to do the time… if only he can get to the finish line with Sherry. It makes us ask what ends we’d go to: we may all consider ourselves law-abiding citizens, but would we pull the trigger if our loved ones were in danger? Would we be able to stand by and ’let the police handle it’ if we had one weird skill or talent that could save the day?
Sherry & The Filmmaking
Amber Midthunder shows us some decent range here; we fell in love with her work in Prey, but Novocaine is an entirely different beast. Here, she is a complicated supporting star, ostensibly a love interest, pitched as a coworker with benefits, but also something deeper and far darker. What we can reveal through the glaze of spoiler-free reviews is that Sherry is as damaged as Nate is, but she’s on his side. The girl falls for the guy as hard as the guy falls for the girl, and despite the snowballing events of the film, we can’t help but wonder if they should get away with it. It’s her view of Nate that allows us to see him less as a casualty of a genetic lottery; he is the hero she needs but definitely doesn’t deserve.
Maybe it lets us wonder what we’d become if we had a little more Nate to help us out.
Beyond the performances, the filmmaking itself is superb, and the fight choreography is off the chain. The genius of it makes us believe Nate can fight combat experts without training; he just bulls through because of who and what he is. While we’ve covered the feels-no-pain angle, Nate is also focused.
Berk and Olsen also use cinematography to convey Nate’s… unique experience. There’s a set of scenes where Nate is in a booby-trapped house. He knows there are traps, and so do we. And then… he starts triggering them. We hear things like the whoosh-thud of a spiked ball impaling his back, but we don’t know what it is until he turns around. Nate is perplexed, even confused by what’s happening, and we get to share that because in this moment, Berk and Olsen don’t show us the pain as it’s happening. We’re not allowed to wince until later, when Nate discovers what’s happened. It’s a technique used to help us understand what it’s like for Nate as a CIPA sufferer: a weird sound, possibly a sensation, and then realisation hits—we’ve stumbled into a mantrap.
Final Thoughts
Novocaine is a movie of consequences; there are cops, the law, and all the things that go along with that. We hope Nate and Sherry get out of this together. Even if they don’t die, we can’t help but think they’ll be doing some hard time. But we also can’t help but think… maybe it’ll be worth it for these two beaus to find peace together.
The conclusion absolutely delivers. You won’t be confused about what’s going on or need a sequel to get payoff. Bad things happen to the bad people, and for the most part, there is justice and a future for the good people. We get to see the consequence train as it boards at the station, and we’re left complete. Novocaine is a truly unique ride, balancing gruesome action, dark humour, and genuine heart.
It’s a film that asks us to root for the improbable hero and revel in the absurdities of a man who literally feels no pain but gives us all the feels.
What did you think of Novocaine? Let me know how it made you… feel in the comments below. And if you could handle ironing your hands…
Hey Richard,
Thanks for the great review of Novocaine, it sounds truly remarkable. I’ll certainly be watching it as soon as I can.
I still haven’t watched Megan 2.0, but it’s still definitely on my to do list.
Cheerio my friend!
Your forever fan,
Captain Brittany ❤️