Novocaine (2025)

Review: written April 2025

Wry blackly comic deconstruction of action movies

Nathan Caine, nicknamed Novocaine , has a medically explained condition which prevents him from feeling pain. Rather than this being the superhero power it sounds like, it leads him to take life carefully and cautiously, isolating from hazards such as avoiding solid food to minimise risk of biting his tongue off, or setting a timer to remind him when he needs to urinate to avoid a burst bladder.. and yes, maybe even avoiding romance. Nathan is played with just the right note of nerdiness by Jack Quaid, son of Meg Ryan and Denis Quaid, and known as the voice of Boimler in Star Trek Lower Decks.

He has just found Sherry (Amber Midthunder) with whom romantic chemistry pops, and she is coaxing him out of his shell, when the bank where he works is robbed, and Sherry’s life put at risk. Nathan’s fear of accidental self harm now comes second to saving his newfound love.. requiring car chases, law flouting, knife fights and all manner of increasingly gruesome interactions with henchmen.

It's the chemistry between quad and Midthunder that keeps you hooked, and Quaid plays the character with just the right balance of straightfaced ‘normal guy pushed to extreme acts’ and wry humour. It’s this that helps immensely in suspending belief that this level of punishment could leave him walking around, impervious to pain or not.

Fun while you watch it, likeable performances, even if in the end the actual story is somewhat slight.