NovocainestarsJack Quaid(fromThe Boys) as a banker named Nathan Caine, who is almost like a superhero as he resists gunshots, stab wounds, and more. However, his resistance comes from a condition that makes it impossible for him to feel pain, which is where he gets his nickname, Novocaine, after the anesthetic that blocks pain. For most of his life, his condition just meant having to be careful around dangerous objects, but he uses his condition to fight crime after the woman he loves is taken hostage during a bank robbery.The action-comedyalso features Amber Midthunder (Prey), Jacob Batalon (Spider-Man: No Way Home), and Ray Nicholson (Smile 2) in some of the main roles.
The Girl of Nathan’s Dreams Is Not Who She Seems
At the beginning ofNovocaine,Nathan falls in love with a co-worker named Sherry. Nathan’s never really experienced love like he has with Sherry. She woos him by taking him out to eat, inviting him to an art show, tricking his high school bullies, and opening up to him about her past.
When threearmed men invade the bankwhere Nathan and Sherry work, they take Sherry as a hostage while fleeing the scene.Nathan, fully in love with Sherry, decides that he must save her from the robbers. What Nathan doesn’t know is that Sherry doesn’t actually need saving.
About halfway through the movie, as the lead robber, Simon, talks to Sherry, he says that she’s the reason they had to rob the bank. Simon says Sherry was supposed to get the code to the bank vault by getting close to Nathan, revealing that she’s actually working with the robbers. Simon and Sherry are siblings, which is how she got involved in the robbery, butSherry says that she really did fall in love with Nathan.
Nathan Deals With a ‘Home Alone’ Situation
Nathan’s only lead for finding Sherry is the name of one of the three robbers he followed from the bank and killed: Ben. Nathan finds a tattoo on Ben’s arm and has his online gaming friend Roscoe look it up. Nathan and Roscoe are able to track down the shop where Ben got the tattoo, and after Nathan has a brutal fight with the artist, he gets Ben’s address.
Nathan goes to Ben’s house to find more clues. As he walks into the house, he’s metby multiple trapslike tripwire arrows and a falling mace. His reactions to each of the traps are hilarious because he can’t feel any of them. However, he’s not resistant to a rope trap that pulls him into the air and keeps him captive. He calls his friend Roscoe to come help him, but unfortunately,Ben’s brother, Andre, shows up looking for Ben.
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Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid), a man who can feel no pain, tries to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend (Amber Midthunder).
Andre finds Nathan dangling from the rope and realizes Nathan murdered Ben. Andre takes Nathan down and straps him to a chair and starts to torture Nathan. Once again, Nathan’s inability to feel pain leads to a hilarious moment as he must pretend like the torture hurts him, so Andre doesn’t kill him instead. Thankfully for Nathan,Roscoe arrives before anything too serious happens to Nathan, and they take out Andre together.
Their problems don’t end there. The detectives following the robbery arrive at Ben’s house, ready to arrest Nathan for having killed Ben. Roscoe puts on Nathan’s suit and rushes out the door, driving away on his motorcycle. Roscoe doesn’t get far before the police catch up to him, but it does save Nathan enough time to get to the warehouse with Sherry and Simon.
How Nathan Beats Simon
When Nathan arrives at the warehouse, he fights with Simon. However, Simon pins Nathan down and has a car pressing its tire down on Nathan’s face.Simon nearly kills Nathan, but the two detectives arrive just in time to shoot Simon. Nathan is taken to an ambulance, but he doesn’t get much rest asSimon gets back up, shoots the detectives, and steals the ambulance.
One detective is dead, and the other is injured. Sherry had been arrested, but the living detective, Mincy, allows Sherry to follow the ambulance. Sherry drives Mincy’s car with Mincy and Roscoe as passengers. The ambulance and car rush through the busy streets of San Diego as Simon tries to get to a dock, so he can board an escape boat.Nathan crawls in the back of the ambulance and gets to a defibrillator, which he uses to shock Simon, who crashes the ambulance at the docks.
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Furious, Simon starts beating Nathan and breaks his arm. Shelly arrives to help Nathan, but Simon holds her down. Wanting to save Sherry, Nathan crawls to a first aid kit and takes an adrenaline shot, giving him the energy he needs to get up.He uses a bone protruding through his broken arm to stab and kill Simon, saving Sherry in a grotesque way.
Nathan wakes up in the hospital in a full-body cast with Roscoe and Mincy there.Mincy tells him that even though he killed multiple people, he did save her, which helped him get a light sentence. One year later,Nathan is living his life like normal, but he has to go meet Shelly for their anniversary, who’s still in prison for helping the robbers. Nathan had an unfinished tattoo at the start of the film that covered all but his chest. He reveals that he finished the tattoo, which now depicts Nathan and Shelly helping each other defend a tower. Shelly has to go, but she leaves behind a piece of cherry pie (a significant foodthey shared on their first date), and Nathan happily takes a bite as the film ends.
Is Nathan’s Disorder Real?
Novocaineis not based on a real story. However,the condition where Nathan cannot feel pain is something that happens in real life. It’s called congenital insensitivity to pain, and it’s rare. Like Nathan, people with congenital insensitivity to pain have the ability to feel, but they are unable to detect pain. Some people with congenital insensitivity to pain don’t live very long because they can’t detect diseases or injuries in their body. They also risk damaging themselves in ways like biting their tongue, just like Nathan says can happen inNovocaine.
