{"id":30821,"date":"2025-03-12T22:21:57","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T05:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=30821"},"modified":"2025-03-12T22:21:57","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T05:21:57","slug":"the-exaggerated-novocaine-numbs-the-senses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=30821","title":{"rendered":"The Exaggerated NOVOCAINE Numbs the Senses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 110 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Paramount Pictures opens exclusively at\ncinemas on March 14th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you age, your tastes in film start changing. While you\nstill might admire an exaggerated action picture from your youth, a modern-day\nequivalent may not have the same impact. The new film Novocaine<\/em> is a\nslickly produced, staggeringly violent action\/comedy that takes gleeful joy in\nshocking its audience. It\u2019s the type of over-the-top picture that I would have\ngreatly enjoyed in my early 20s. Unfortunately, this type of material doesn\u2019t\nresonate as strongly with me now as it would have decades ago and so my\nreaction to the film was muted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) is a lonely, socially awkward bank\nexecutive and the reason for his solitary behavior is unusual. He suffers from\nCIP, a congenital insensitivity to pain. Nathan not only has to watch out for\nsharp objects around him, but must be careful with extreme temperatures in\nfoods, in addition to other sensory dangers. When bank teller Sherry (Amber\nMidthunder) starts a conversation with him, the two unexpectedly connect.\nNathan is smitten, but everything goes sideways when armed figures Simon (Ray\nNicholson), Andre (Conrad Kemp) and Ben (Evan Hengst) rob the bank and take\nSherry as a hostage. Worried for Sherry\u2019s safety, Nathan pursues the criminals\nhimself, using his odd condition to endure brutally violent attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s more or less the entire movie. After a first act\nestablishing Nathan\u2019s adoration for Sherry, it\u2019s one long chase with the\nprotagonist hunting down each individual villain. The movie leans in very\nheavily on the gruesomeness of these conflicts. Various jarring injuries befall\nthe lead, as viewers see his obliviousness as he is burned, cut, or impaled,\nand bones are broken. All of this is displayed using wince-inducing\nclose-ups.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quaid is likable as the meek Nathan, the relationship\nbetween he and Sherry early on is sweetly-handled, and there are some\ncreatively demented moments. This is especially true early on when the hero\nattempts to fight back against the first villain, still maintaining a polite\nmanner even as incredible damage is inflicted between the figures. There are\nother amusing scenarios, such as a scene in which the lead feigns agony while\nbeing tortured in order to buy himself time. Additionally, one very funny\nsequence involves Nathan asking for medical treatment from shocked client Earl\n(Lou Beatty Jr.). Earl\u2019s reaction to the lead\u2019s already flabbergasting state earns\nlaughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While a number of these moments are entertaining, there is a\nrepetitiveness to the story that eventually hampers some of the enjoyment. It\nseems that in each scene as he moves from robber to robber, the hero gets\nmaimed and then uses that injury (or a weapon used on him) to fight back. It\u2019s\nall fine for a while, but does become tiring. As written, the antagonists are\nall so blatantly cruel and nasty that they never distinguish themselves or make\na lasting impression. A twist in the story that arrives fairly early is obvious\nfrom the outset, and, with a vigilante story like this, one also has to\nconstantly overlook plot holes involving the bizarre quest and the concurrent\npolice investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I can easily see how all the exaggerated maiming would\nappeal to a young moviegoer simply looking for humorous shocks and gore.\nAdmittedly, bits and pieces of the feature did amuse me. But it feels like\nthat\u2019s all that the film is focused on, and there\u2019s only so many times you can\nsee a person be impaled on an unexpected item, before it fails to impress. And\ninstead astonishing the viewer, by the close Novocaine<\/em> ends up numbing\none\u2019s senses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTE: The film was shown to the press in 4DX. This reviewer\ndid not enjoy the experience, likening it to being randomly shook around on a\ntheme park simulator ride. Some elements, like wind blowing and a few well-timed\nhits worked, but there was an overabundance of shaking and thrashing during lengthy\nfights that felt more distracting than immersive. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 110 minutes This feature from Paramount Pictures opens exclusively at cinemas on March 14th. When you age, your tastes in film start changing. While you still might admire an exaggerated action picture from your youth, a modern-day equivalent may not have the same impact. The new film Novocaine is a slickly produced, staggeringly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":30827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[216,697,1189,4660,8172,10112,15152,15153,15154,15155,15707,16698],"class_list":["post-30821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-216","tag-action","tag-amber-midthunder","tag-comedy","tag-genre","tag-jack-quaid","tag-novocaine","tag-novocaine-film-review","tag-novocaine-movie-review","tag-novocaine-review","tag-paramount-pictures","tag-ray-nicholson"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30821\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}