Watched: 03/21/2026
Format: Amazon
Viewing: First
Director: Dan Berk/ Robert Olsen
This movie hits that awkward spot of being "fine". It's more or less what you were expecting from the trailer - a bit better in some spots, and a bit lacking in others, but when you saw the trailer you were like "I know exactly what this will be". And you were 85% correct, with that remaining 15% not exactly blowing the doors off.
Novocaine (2025) should maybe have been like, one episode of a show. The concept is both interesting and wildly limiting, and the story here is not really enough to fill the runtime of a whole movie. And the movie around the concept is just boilerplate action stuff that feels deeply constrained by budget.
But it's also not bad. I wouldn't say that. It's fine. It's deeply gross at times, maybe a bit hard to watch in a scene or two. And maybe weirdly should not have named the condition that our lead is supposedly suffering from, as it exists and sounds very rough. It's kind of like turning epilepsy into a super power for a movie. Maybe a fictional condition would have sufficed.
I'll argue the performances outshine and make up for a lackluster story and concept that feels stretched really thin, really fast.
Our hero, Nate Caine (Jack Quaid), suffers from a condition where he cannot feel pain. Which sounds amazing, but it means he doesn't know if he's cut or burned himself, or really bruised himself, etc... Scalding coffee is just wetness to him. He's an assistant manager at a bank, and leads a life where he plays online games.
He has his eye on the new girl at the bank, Sherry (Amber Midthunder), and the two go out on a date - something Nate never does. His condition has kept him socially isolated as he must be careful doing everything - he won't even eat solid foods.
However, the bank is robbed and Sherry is taken hostage. Fearing the cops will take too long, he steals a cop car and takes off after them. The rest of the movie is his afternoon and evening pursuing the thieves and trying to rescue Sherry who he thinks will be killed to cover their tracks.
If you thought this was going to be a movie about a guy getting burned, shot, mangled and mauled in increasingly grim ways, you were right. It is that. And I think in the right theater with the right people, this might have been a hoot. At home, it was fine.
Speaking of fine, the movie co-stars Amber Midthunder, who you will remember from Prey. In the end, I get why they cast her - but it took a while to get there. I don't really get why she isn't a huge star at this point, just a kind of big one people know about, but who knows? Maybe 2026 is her year? She has 4 projects listed as coming soon on IMDB. Anyway - she's solid here!
Jack Quaid is always good, and the movie really relies on his ability to play the kind of nerdy guy with the fighter inside - which he's pulled off numerous times now. Guy is a star, and deserves it.* He handles the action really well here.
I was also delighted to see Jacob Batalon, who is finding a place for himself in movies as everyman comedic relief. Matt Walsh and Betty Gabriel as two cops who do not want to deal with all this are really good.
And I don't know who Ray Nicholson is - but he understood the assignment.
I kind of think something happened to the movie in editing because a few bits of connective movie tissue were missing - like why is this guy here now? sorts of stuff. Someone figured we needed to just keep the movie going. But it also feels oddly bloated with Nate tracking down the thieves in ways that just don't add up. So it was either editing or the screenplay.
Anyway - it was streaming free on Amazon, and that seems like the right place for it. But be ready for some old fashioned grossness and try not to expect a lot, and it's at least not a $250 million movie that is, in fact, pretty bad like so many flicks.
*if he's a nepo baby, actually so is Amber Midthunder in a way. I believe her mom is a casting director.
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