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August 7, 2025 14 mins

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Jack Quaid stars as Nathan Cain (Novocaine), a man impervious to physical pain who transforms from a reluctant banker into an action hero when his girlfriend is kidnapped. The film balances comedy and gore effectively while exploring the journey of a man who initially sees his condition as an embarrassment before embracing it as a superpower.

• Clean, simple premise: a man who can't feel physical pain placed in emotionally painful situations
• Strong character development establishes a convincing relationship in the first 30 minutes
• Jack Quaid perfectly balances comedy and emotional depth
• Realistic, imperfect fight scenes make the action more engaging than polished superhero films
• Extremely graphic gore had reviewers wincing and covering their eyes
• Plot twist in the third act undermines character motivations
• Generic villains (bank robbers) leave room for improvement
• Both reviewers give it 3.5/5 stars - entertaining but not groundbreaking
• Perfect "bloke movie" for watching with friends

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Novocaine stars Jack Quaid as a somewhat superhero
who is impervious to pain, andwe are about to review it, so
let's get into it.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
F***.
Yeah, let's go for it so what'syour deal?

Speaker 1 (00:21):
My deal I'm just a regular guy with a regular job,
but I've got this conditionwhere I don't feel pain.
Hey, there we go.
Oh my God, you're a superhero.
Nathan Cain, also Novocain.
See what they did there.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
It's Nathan, that's the N.
Cain is his last name, butwhere's the Ovo came from?

Speaker 1 (00:44):
No, the Novocain is the nickname.
Kane is his last name, butwhere's the Ovo came from?
No, the Nova Kane is thenickname.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
I forget, but where's the Ovo coming from?
I don't know.
The name is not quite justified, Should they?

Speaker 1 (00:53):
have just made his name Nova, last name Kane, and
then be like oh, and he's alsoimpervious to pain, so he's Nova
Kane.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
How are?

Speaker 1 (01:02):
you.
That would have been reallycringe.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
I reckon let's start from the beginning.
First things first.
There are going to be a fewspoilers, but this is not a
movie that we spoil much aboutit.
There's one plot twist.
We won't discuss too muchexactly what it is.
Let's start from the beginning.
The setup, I think, is reallyclean.
It's so freaking, freakishlysimple.
You got a man who cannot feelphysical pain, so you place him

(01:30):
in a place where he feelsemotional pain Makes sense as
far as it's so simple as far aslike the mundane yeah From just
being a banker.
Yeah, and the fact that he hasto foreclose people's, companies
, businesses, because theycannot pay back the mortgages.

(01:51):
That's literally the setup.
It hurts them from the inside.
So it's an extremely cleansetup.
I love that.
It's simple, it is classic.
I thought that was done reallywell.
Oh oh, oh, no, stop it.
Ah, oh, oh, oh, no, stop it.
Ah, I mean, oh, ah, wow, thathurt.
That one hurt the most.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
When I watched the trailers, my first thought was
is the relationship going tohave time to develop enough so
that when Nathan Cane, novaCain's girlfriend, gets
kidnapped, am I going to care,am I going to understand his
journey of leaping into action?

(02:32):
And I felt like that was donepretty well.
The movie gave us a good halfan hour of investing in the
relationship, seeing it developover time, seeing them bond over
similar physical weaknesses.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
It's kind of like a empathy that they have for each
other and understanding aconnection they relate to each
other they're both outsiders tosome degree.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
I like that.
They made it very clean, veryclear that nova kane doesn't see
this illness as a gift.
At the start he's veryembarrassed by it.
He doesn't want people to knowthat he's impervious to pain,
like he avoids eating solidfoods because of this fear that
he's going to bite his tongueoff.

(03:17):
But as the movie progresses hestarts to see like oh, this is
actually awesome, because now Ican use these abilities to save
the woman I love.
Yeah, I felt like it was a fun,simple journey.
It was like john wick.
If john wick didn't know thathe was john wick.
I.
I felt like the gore was reallygross, like it was over the top

(03:42):
at times, but then it got intolike like we were wincing.
We were both in the theaterlooking at each other like
covering our eyes, like we werewatching a car crash.
It was fun, but near the end Iwas just like oh, that's too
gross, that's too, that's toomuch man.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
I don't usually wince for gore, but with this movie I
really did.
I've seen a few of the Sawmovies and I was like, yeah, go
on watching it, but doesn'treally affect me.
This one's like Get out of here.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
I would have liked it to be a little bit more
over-the-top with the way it wasportrayed, so that it's less
gross.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
No, no, I don't, because then you would lose a
lot of it.
I would say the realism makesyou feel the pain, though he
doesn't.
But if it's over the top, asaudience member, we don't
connect with it anymore, and Ithink that's the whole point.
We all need to be like ah, andhe's like that, hurt yourself.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
What the is that there was also like a lot of
revelations about the characterthat were kind of sad and tragic
Imagining a little kid gettinglike bashed, because everyone
knows he can't feel physicalpain.
But seeing Jack Quaid show theemotional turmoil that he's
carried from living a life likethat and how his parents treated

(05:10):
him, all those type of thingsyou feel a lot of sympathy for
the character, which I felt likethat was all done really well.
I feel like Jack Quaid doesthis really well, where he's
balancing the comedy of beingimpervious to physical pain
while giving us all theemotional insight of his

(05:31):
character, and it makes thefight scenes really entertaining
to me.
You're seeing him not beingperfect Not that John Wick
perfect way of fighting.
He's a couple of steps behindso he's missing things.
He's not doing like perfectdodges or stuff like that.
That is way more engaging forme now Just watching John Wick

(05:53):
where like everything's quickand fast and he's just killing
like a million dudes all at oncewithout any.
It's more relatable Any woundsMore relatable.
So we disagreed on one thing,though I feel like this lends
itself to a sequel that could bea bit more improved on some of
the things from this.
Give us a bit of a strongervillain.

(06:16):
I did feel the villain wasquite generic, like these guys
are just bank robbers, which insome ways is good, because it's
not super unrealistic for him todefy the odds and fight them.
But it would be good to seejust just a stronger villain.
I felt that was lacking and Ifelt that the, the relationship

(06:37):
with the love interest wasreally good.
But then there was a massive,creative, creative decision made
that I felt, completely,completely it for me.
You're talking about the plottwist.
Yeah, I didn't like the plottwist.
That plot twist made me thinkit needs to go in a different
direction for its ending to besatisfied.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
A few characters had a change of minds or change of
ways or change of behavior.
They decided to do things in adifferent way, and I feel they
weren't justified.
They were all justified upuntil the midpoint, and then the
plot twist came, and thensuddenly everything.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Didn't make sense.
Why?
So, that this action sequencecan happen.
Exactly so that this set piececan happen.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
It's imperfectly said by the creators of South Park,
trey Parker and Matt Stone.
Thank you, they did amasterclass on writing.
You have a story that that goesa happens, then b, that happens
, then c happens, then d happens.
You have a shit story.
It always needs to be a happens, therefore b happens, and

(07:41):
because of b, c happens, butbecause of e, d happened and
therefore c had to happen.
So there's a correlationbetween the story points.
It's not just A happens, then Bhappens, then C happens,
because then they're completelyseparate.
That's how it felt like withthis movie after the plot twist.
So what I'm saying?

Speaker 1 (08:00):
is that you come up with an idea and it's like, okay
, this happens, right, and thenthis happens.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
No, no, no, it should be.
This happens and therefore thishappens, but this happens,
therefore, this happens, butthis happens, therefore this
happened.
And to go back a little bit onwhat you were saying before, the
thing I I disagree with of whyI don't believe there's going to
be a sequel, for this is whatwe just said, because it's a
sink, it's a one trick pony,this movie, and I feel like they

(08:29):
have done the same trick fouror five times already in this
movie.
I mean, you could do the samething, but it's not going to be
any different.
Yeah, but that's like saying,well, john Wick was a one-trick
pony Well.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
I disagree Because I feel like John Wick.
The first film, greatstandalone, but then the second,
third and fourth movie openedup the lore Let me give you one
sentence and tell me if itdoesn't fit the any of the
movies.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Extremely good shooter I lost.
Gets hurt emotionally, goes ona rampage, kills other people
the end.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
Yeah, that's pretty good, that's pretty.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
That's every single john wick movie yeah, that's
pretty good summer.
It's a one trick pony, justseen from a different light, or
expand the world or give them adifferent storyline, but it's
the same storyline.
In essence.
The same thing will happen toNovocaine, though I don't think
this movie is as big of a hit asJohn Wick.
So what I would say why JohnWick really succeeded, same as a

(09:27):
lot of very successful movies.
They really align themselveswith what their essence is.
Exactly what we were sayingabout John Wick before.
It's a one trick pony.
It's about the action.
It's about the killing of asmany people as he can in as many
ways as he can.
Now we justify it very wellwith the loss of his puppy and

(09:48):
the thing that his dead wifegave to him.
Right, yeah, and we did it in acruel manner.
So we really want him to takethe revenge.
And then we really hone in onthe one trick he's going to.
We know he's going to do, wewant him to do, and he does With
Novocaine.
I think they missed out on that.
It's simple.

(10:09):
It's so simple that the essenceis this kid, this guy is a
f***ing rag doll.
Use it as a f***ing rag doll,hit it as many ways as you can,
and then you can bring a littlebit of the sadistic side out of
the audience that wants to seewell, how far can we push this?
I think then you can get a cultfollowing.
I think then you can make thismovie a success and get 17

(10:32):
sequels out of it.
But I don't think they went forthat.
I think then you can make thismovie a success and get 17
sequels out of it, but I don'tthink they went for that.
I think they gave this guy anice story, good story, but
nothing as heartwarming as withJohn Wick.
And it was fun, it wasentertaining, but that is it.
But if I think if they'remaking a market out of this,
there's so much more to gain outof it, that's what I think.

(10:53):
If they're making a market outof this, there's so much more to
gain out of it.
That's what I think yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
Final review, final review I would give Novocaine
three and a half stars out offive.
Like it's fun while it lasted.
Some things could definitely beimproved upon if they were to
make a sequel.
Like you said, addy, it's a funone-trick pony kind of film
that utilises that one conceptstory.

(11:21):
So he was perfectly cast in itand it's great to see him keep
doing stuff after the boys,because I feel like he is one of

(11:42):
those actors that can elevatevery simple concepts.
Would I see it again Onstreaming services?

Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah With friends With friends, yeah with friends,
yeah with friends you gottawatch this as a group.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
This would have been a perfect movie to go straight
to streaming.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
To be honest, so one thing I've learned from our
previous two reviews is ourrating system is very relative.
We gave snow white a higherrating than black bag.
Oh oh, I did, we both did.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
Oh, we both did Okay.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
But I think, yeah, f*** that movie.
No, but I think Black Bag isbetter than Snow White.
But I think we gave Snow Whitea higher rating because it was
way above expectations.
Where Black Bag I had a highexpectation but then it kind of
disappointed me a little bit soI gave the lower Looking at Snow

(12:43):
White being rated higher thanBlack Bag makes me question how
you rate.
I stand by it.
F*** that movie.
Fair point how I rate, I willgive it the three and a half
stars as well.
I thought the comedy wasdisappointing.
The trailer was hilarious, butin the movie the build-up is
just too slow for the jokes toreally land a punch.
Would not watch it again unlessit's on TV and with a bunch of
mates and a few beers.
Given the fact that it's not acomplex movie, there's no deeper

(13:08):
message to it.
It's a simple fun entertainmentfor the night.
Yeah, it's like, and there'snothing more than that Perfect
bloke movie.
It's a perfect bloke movie,absolutely.
The movie itself doesn't carryany weight.
It's kind of refreshing thatthere's no political message
behind it either.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
So that's kind of nice.
So that is Novocaine, nathanCain Novocaine.
If you enjoyed this review,please like, share and subscribe
for more reviews like this.
Until then, no pain, no gainbro.
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