Starring Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson. Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh and Jacob Batalon

Directed by Dan Berk & Robert Olsen

Paramount, out now

Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) is a polite, calm, careful assistant bank manager with a genetic condition, CIPA, that makes it impossible for him to feel pain. Every corner in his office has padding, he has an alarm set to go to the toilet every three hours. He’s careful, invisible, sad. Until he meets Sherry (Amber Midthunder) a co worker who brings him out of his shell. They fall in love, Nathan’s never been happier and then Simon Greenly (Ray Nicholson) leads a bank raid at Nathan’s workplace. Sherry is taken hostage and aided only by Roscoe (Jacob Batalon), his online gaming buddy, Nathan sets off to rescue Sherry.

Lars Jacobsen’s script is as careful as its lead, and just as well thought out. Nathan’s condition has boons and very real consequences, and we see both drive the story. He can still be knocked out, and frequently is, and he’s all too aware of what he’s doing even if he can’t feel it. An early fight culminates in him pulling a gun from an active deep fat frier and we laugh and wince. A later running gag involving a booby-trapped house is hilarious until we realise that Nathan’s running on a broken leg. He’s no tougher than anyone else, and as Roscoe says at one point, he isn’t Wolverine. Nothing comes for free, and every wound he suffers has a price, it’s just he’s able to keep ahead of that price for a long time.

It’s a great premise explored with equal measures of action movie joy and emotional consequence. Nathan’s depressed, Amber used to self-harm, another character is grieving their wife and a fourth is dealing with depression. No one is here without cost, and it grounds the movie even in its most maniacal moments.

But they’re still maniacal and incredibly good fun. A defibrillator is used to brilliant effect in one fight and the entirety of a restaurant kitchen in another. The whole way, the incredible stunt team and Jack Quaid’s performance keep us locked into the action. You laugh, you wince, you yell. So does Nathan. Then he gets up and keeps moving.

That strength is everywhere in the movie, especially the cast. Matt Walsh and Betty Gabriel play the two cops a step behind everyone like they’ve stepped in from their own movie. Ray Nicholson brings actual danger and menace to Simon, capped with a bloody embrace of life that’s a stark opposite to Nathan. Amber Midthunder, initially given a disappointingly light workload, soars as she always does too and Batalon is great as, again, he always is.

But this is Quaid’s movie and after his brilliant turn in Companion, it’s time to acknowledge just how good he is. Nathan’s an adorable berserker, a man whose determination and ruthlessness are as defining as his sweet nature. He’s a fascinating lead without his condition, with it, he’s a blood-soaked everyman with glass in his fists and love in his heart.

Verdict: Novocaine is brutal, romantic and enormously good fun. If you’ve got the stomach for some pretty bloody fight scenes, this is a joyful way to spend 90 minutes. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart