“Novocaine” follows Nathan Caine, a man who turns his inability to feel pain into an unexpected advantage as he fights a bunch of thugs to get the woman of his dreams back after she is kidnapped.
Jack Quaid is off to a fast start in 2025, with “Companion” in January and now “Novocaine” in March. He proved himself as a charming, charismatic leading man, and that’s no different here. Quaid is able to pull off some absolutely hilarious moments with his range.
The action sequences are also (mostly) great. “Novocaine” utilizes several creative shooting techniques, quickly rotating and tracking the characters’ movements to generate a surreal feeling. The action is also heightened by the central premise, as it’s able to stretch the realm of plausibility more generously due to Nate’s condition. This leads to a multitude of comedic moments and over-the-top violence.
The film features multiple twists and turns, but… they do come at a cost. With every surprising revelation also come very questionable character decisions. “Novocaine” asks the audience to buy into these characters, spending almost the entire first 30 minutes on development. By the end, it almost feels like the movie is counting on you to forget everything that you learned. Because of this, the romance aspect is fairly weak and even frustrating at times.
“Novocaine” is 110 minutes long. The opening act takes its time to set up the characters, but from then on, it’s nonstop action. The train eventually begins to steer off the tracks as the movie nears its end. What felt like a tight-knit script slowly unravels. Characters make bizarre decisions that stretch any sense of believability to its edge. Despite this, the film still manages to end on a satisfying note of Nate finding an identity in himself that had been hidden before.
The shortcomings in “Novocaine” can be forgiven to some degree, but Nate’s journey feels less impactful than it should have been. It’s a serviceable action-comedy that sticks to the script — nothing more, nothing less.
Rating: 3 out of 5
