Novocaine is what would be called a ‘high concept idea. The film sees Jack Quaid play Nathan Caine who is the Assistant Manager at a bank when he falls for Sherry the cashier at the bank and after they go on a date, the bank is targeted by robbers and takes Sherry. The thing about Nathan is that he was born with a condition where he cant feel pain. He has to watch what he eats and goes to the toilet. When Sherry is taken by the hostages, Nathan is racing to save her but also try and avoid the police who naturally think that Nathan is working with the robbers.
Jack Quaid is quite good as Nathan. As Nathan, he is a terrible fighter but realistically he isnt going to be very good because he works in a bank. He isn't suddenly going to be John Wick so he wins sort of by luck more than anything else and that might be a problem for some but I think that it works for the film. Amber Midthunder is also very good as Sherry. The last time I recall seeing her in was Prey the Predator sequel and she was very good in that and whilst she doesn't really have much to do she makes all her scenes seem important and you notice when she’s not around. Also making Sherry seem like someone worth saving is tougher than you would think yet because of Midthunder, you want Caine to save her. Ray Nicholson is ok as the leader of the bank robbers but only really gets to be any good in his fights with Caine. Jacob Batalon plays the sort of role that is use to playing in the Spider-Man films although he is good at doing it so why not play the comic relief that the protagonist can rely on.
There are issues with the film but they are mainly plot related. Firstly we are told quite early on that Sherry is related to one of the robbers long before Nathan finds out so the twist of him finding out is wasted because it sort of makes Nathan look like a fool even if he doesn't know it yet. The other issue is at the end when Nathan gets 6 months under house arrest and Sherry gets 2 years (??) in prison. I think that what Nathan does is way worse than what Sherry does and yet Sherry gets the tougher sentence.
Those two issues aside, the film is a lot of fun. Quaid has a lot of charisma that gets you through the early part of the film when nothing really happens and the fight scenes are enjoyable and mixing that in with the gore helps create a fun film that sort of knows what it is but has fun doing it. There are a couple of wincing moments which did make me want to look away. The first was when Nathan has not one but two finger nails pulled out. The next is when Nathan hammers his thumb back out of place so he can get the handcuffs off him and then snap it back. That looked horrible. Then there is a bit at the end when Nathan has his ulna bone (fancy name for his arm bone) broken and his hand is sort of flapping away at the side but it does lead to the death of Nicholson’s character and it's the last of many great deaths.
Novocaine is definitely worth your time. The only thing that ruined my movie experience was two people talking constantly throughout the film. Normally people talk during the trailers and shut up once the film gets started but these two a**holes carried on talking. I would like to watch this again but without talking. I thought this film did what I was expecting and wanted it to do.