How much of yourself would you sacrifice for someone you loved if you would never face the consequences?
Recently, I’ve been in a bit of a movie kick after realizing how uncultured I am compared to many of my friends. If a friend asks me if I’ve seen a particular movie or TV show, more times than most, my answer is “no.” A typical response to my “no” is looking at me crazy and saying something along the lines of: “What? Have you been living under a rock?”
The answer is no, I haven’t. And no, I have nothing against movies or TV shows. In fact, there are a few movies that I’ve seen throughout my life that have left a huge impact on me, and I consider them my all-time favorites to this day: Remember the Titans, The Florida Project, La La Land. It’s just that somewhere down the line, life got busy and since then, I haven’t had a lot of time to watch TV.
Over spring break, I watched seven movies, an overwhelming amount for someone who usually doesn’t have time for even one movie a month. Among these movies was Novocaine, which I watched in theaters with my brother. This might be a slight over-exaggeration, but I think it changed my life.
Although, indeed, I don’t watch many movies, it’s also true that I have a preference. I’ve never enjoyed action movies. In fact, throughout my life, if I’ve had a choice between movies of different genres, I have avoided action films completely. I have always been a big fan of movies that make me laugh or feel deeper emotions, and action movies never hit that mark.
I gave my brother a choice: We could see Opus or Novacaine. I was rooting for Opus because of Juliette Lewis, but my brother wanted to watch Novocaine after I showed him the trailers. I begrudgingly agreed, figuring that if I was voluntarily spending time with my brother, it would be more enjoyable for both of us if he was having fun! (I’m more adaptable, and I wasn’t completely opposed to Novocaine because I do love Jack Quaid as well!)
The reason that I was less attracted to Novocaine was because, to me, it looked like a basic action trailer: man fights bad guys to reach some greater goal. (In this case, saving his girlfriend.) I was severely mistaken. The movie was so much more than that.
Here’s a spoiler-free summary: Novocaine is essentially about a man, Nathan Caine, who has a genetic condition where he can’t feel pain. Lonely all his life, he meets a girl, Sherry, who he is convinced is the one after one date. When she gets taken hostage shortly after, he uses his condition to save her.
The biggest problem with film trailers nowadays is that they make the biggest mistake anyone could possibly make in a trailer: they give the whole storyline away. This was the case with Companion, where the protagonist Iris being, in actuality, a robot, was given away in not only the trailer but the online description as well. I could provide many more examples, but that would be a waste of time. The point is, because of this trend in movie trailers, I figured that Novocaine would be exactly what the trailer showed.
Instead, I was so blown away by the plot twists in the theater that I audibly gasped multiple times. It is so rare to find a movie that brings out a visceral reaction, so the shock I experienced during this watch made it all the more enjoyable.
Another problem with today’s movies is that they dedicate too much time to one detail of the movie and not enough to others. A good movie is well-paced, with a skillfully developed plot and full-circle character development. Finding a movie that hits all of these marks is especially difficult. To me, Novocaine did just that.
Not only was the plot more meaningful than I expected, but the character development was richer as well. I found myself really connecting and feeling for Nathan Caine and the motives behind his quest.
It was also hilarious. I found myself audibly laughing at various times. And because the movie had so many components to it, the action scenes were way more enjoyable. I’ve recently been trying to desensitize myself to gore, so I wasn’t very bugged by the injuries Nathan sustained throughout the movie.
With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 83%, (not bad at all!) critics have had a majority of good things to say. One of the critics, Jack Martin, described how I feel about the movie perfectly: “A very enjoyable ride that doesn’t waste its premise, whilst also giving us a new kind of action hero that you’ll feel everything for, even when he cannot.”
If you are 100% “no” when it comes to gore, I might suggest that some of you avoid the movie, but if you want to give it a chance still, it never hurts to shade your eyes at the parts that might elicit squirms! Other than that, I would recommend this film to action, comedy, and romance fans alike. I’d say that’s a pretty large portion of people! The film has strong elements of all three.
Overall, I was extremely impressed with Novocaine, and I’m glad I gave it a chance despite my hesitation. This is a big sign to try things you wouldn’t normally do… say yes to experiences, even if they may be out of your comfort zone. Who knows? You might discover that your preconceived notions were wrong all along!