I remember, one time, when I was a kid, I was playing hide-and seek. I chose to hide behind a wall next to a closet. Little did I know that my hiding place was where someone left a freshly used clothes iron to cool off. So, there I was, sticking close to the wall and not noticing my left leg was slowing getting fried by the aforementioned iron. I guess my hiding spot was really good because no one found me. The only reason why I got out was because I could smell my own flesh burning. The weird thing is it didn’t hurt one bit! I thought it was pretty cool how I didn’t feel any pain while this was happening. Yes, I was a weird kid. Why do you ask?

Anyway, years later, I did learn how pain is important because it does warn you about life threatening things like accidentally cooking yourself or not knowing you’re cutting off your own finger. Well, the main character of Nathan Caine is well aware of this as he can’t feel pain. So, what happens when someone who doesn’t feel pain tries to become hero? The people behind the recently released action comedy Novocaine are here to answer that question!

Although Novocaine has been out for around a week by now, I’m still making this a SPOILER FREE review. Judging by its box office returns over the weekend, it’s doing fairly well but there are still a bunch of people who are on the fence regarding to see this or not. So, yeah. SPOILER FREE review.

Anyway, Novocaine follow one Nathan Caine, a seemingly normal guy but he does have a rare condition. He has congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis or CIPA, a real condition that makes the person unable to perceive pain or temperature. Although people with CIPA usually don’t lead long lives (as they unwittingly injure themselves very often), Nathan Caine has amazingly lived much longer than expected. However, that all might change as the girl of his dreams, a teller in the bank he works in, is kidnapped by robbers and he goes after them.

I think the biggest question for most people coming into Novocaine is how well used the premise is. As in do they make full use of the concept of an everyman who can’t feel pain becoming an accidental badass? In all honesty, the answer is a wholehearted “yes.” They do a good job of putting Nathan Caine into some fun situations where he uses his, well, non-ability to feel pain really well. There’s a good mix of action and comedic moments where terrible things happen to him and it is both fun and squeamish. Fans of blood and gore will have a blast here.

It certainly helps that Nathan Caine is played by Jack Quaid. While most people are more familiar with him as Hughie Campbell from The Boys, I personally can’t help but see Brad Boimler from Star Trek: Lower Decks when I see Jack Quaid. He manages to make Nathan Caine feel very dorky but in an endearing way, which makes you root for him throughout.

Unfortunately, the rest of the cast are pretty forgettable. Amber Midthunder plays the love interest and she just has a rather flat delivery on her lines. I guess Jason Batalon, who plays Nathan Caine’s best friend, is okay but nothing really amazing. The bad guys are also generic as hell! By the end, I honestly couldn’t differentiate them from each other because they generally looked and acted alike! Even the big bad guy was just a sadist… which could apply to the other bad guys! At least make the top dog different!

I also have to say I have a problem with the overall plot and pacing of the film. Things start of rather slow and it takes a while to get to the good stuff i.e. the parts where our hero maims himself to various degrees. The climax and final action sequence also feels overly long, as if they needed to stretch it to the 110-minute runtime Novocaine has. They even added a little twist (that you could see coming) to the story, which felt unnecessary. But I can’t really say the writing is lazy as, in a weird way, I do like how they sneak in a factoid or two about CIPA and the problems of the people who live with it have to face. There is some creativity when it comes to how our hero uses his non-ability to his advantage. It’s just that the situations our hero has to go through kind of feel like it was written by AI at times as it feels nonsensical.

Then again, you’re not really watching this movie for the story. No, you’re watching this to see Jack Quaid get into some gruesome situations and watch his non-reactions to all the pain he should be feeling. In this aspect, the film works. The action scenes were grisly and exciting. The non-reactions were more than just chuckle-worthy. And the gore was over-the-top and top-notch.

Novocaine is definitely a movie that is, much like my burning flesh that was singed by that iron all those years ago, more sizzle than anything else. Jack Quaid definitely carries the movie on his back with his charming portrayal of a dorky guy who doesn’t feel pain. The story is very forgettable but you’re not watching it for the plot. You’re watching it because it’s just so gosh darned fun! If you don’t get squeamish from gory action scenes, you’re going to have a blast with Novocaine. You assuredly won’t need any painkillers to get through this.

Have you seen Novocaine? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!