Nobody

Few images are cooler than Bob Odenkirk, RZA, and Christopher Lloyd standing back-to-back-to-back, gunning down bad guys like they were born to do it.

Nobody gifts viewers that image and plenty more moments in that thoroughly entertaining vein as it tracks the return of titular anonymous suburban family man Hutch Mansell (Odenkirk) to a life of elite ass-kicking.

Comparisons to the John Wick series are warranted, and having those films’ writer Derek Kolstad on this script helps Nobody share their high-octane DNA, but the real difference-maker is the confident direction of Ilya Naishuller, taking a significant step up from his flawed but promising first-person shooter Hardcore Henry.

As Hutch is pulled back into a world of fists, bullets, and blood after accidentally crossing Russian mobster Yulian Kuznetsov (Aleksey Serebryakov, Leviathan) — himself an insidiously unpredictable character and a fine foil for our hero — Naishuller keeps the pace cooking with inventive showdowns and gallows humor, all filmed like he’s got one shot to prove his worth.

It all builds toward an inevitable big showdown, but in the process Kolstad loops in the appealing wild cards of Hutch’s brother Harry (RZA) and nursing-home-bound father David (Lloyd), the combination of which hits an exhilarating sweet spot between nostalgia, hip-hop, and offbeat comedy.

The filmmakers also not-so-subtly hint at a possible sequel, and after such a thrilling and darkly comic first round with the Mansells, a second (or third) spin would be most welcome indeed.

Grade: A-minus. Rated R. Now playing at the Carolina Cinemark. Available on VOD April 16

(Photo: Allen Fraser/Universal Pictures)