Dan Berk and Robert Olsen’s “Novocaine” is the latest post-“John Wick” thriller in which the lead is put through a physical gauntlet and the audience can ooh and aah at dazzling choreography and the sound of bones snapping.

These types of movies have come a long way.

The shaky cinematography and deadly serious storylines of the Jason Bourne series have given way to the vengeance and mythos-building and oversized, wonderful and vividly staged duels to the death of the “Wick” franchise.

What’s most important about those films, as well as the best from James Bond or Samantha Caine (that’s a “Long Kiss Goodnight” reference) is that we care about the characters more than the actual mission. In “Novocaine,” an ultra-violent gimmick, repetitive fight scenes and an emphasis on nihilism over wit drown out a promising start.

Jack Quaid stars as Nate Caine, a bank worker who has an uneventful life and manages to be self-sufficiently alone and also bored by always playing it safe. Amber Midthunder plays Sherry, the newfound love in Nate’s life who gets him out of his comfort zone and convinces him to go out on a date.

When Sherry finally gets Nate to herself, he confesses a startling secret: he can’t feel pain and has to plan his day in order not to injure and/or impale himself, as he’d be the last to find out. When the bank is robbed the next day and Sherry is put in harm’s way, something kicks in with Nate.

He now has a newfound mission and springs to Sherry’s rescue.

As comic variations on “John Wick” go, I greatly prefer “Nobody,” the 2021 Bob Odenkirk-led sleeper, which was character-driven as well as funny and brutal. In “Novocaine,” the protagonist is presented as a gimmick – he gets the stuffing beaten out of him but is only winded, often talking during fights and not always aware of the objects that have impaled him in between fists flying at his face.

It’s a limited idea and as thin as the characters.

Quaid’s highly mannered performance, a series of ticks and prim and proper mannerisms, reminded me of a caffeinated Topher Grace. Admittedly, Quaid’s performance and character grew on me, but the actor was better showcased in this year’s “Companion.”

“Novocaine” admirably takes its time and isn’t in a rush to get to the action. In fact, if you haven’t seen the trailer and walk in without knowing the plot, it actually plays like an old-school romantic comedy for the entire first act.

A dinner date conversation belatedly introduces the central concept, though the payoff is just a series of scenes that are so grisly that the eventful second and third acts are hard to watch.

To be clear, this isn’t about a man who learns he possesses superpowers. We see Nate constantly on the verge of death after yet another increasingly nasty fight scene. I found the similarly ugly “Kick-Ass” (2010) and its wretched 2013 sequel to be equally hard to like and not as “edgy” as the hype indicated.

Those films and “Novocaine” attempt to be envelope-pushing without truly giving us people onscreen to care about. A halfhearted attempt to shape this as a blood-spattered love story fizzles mid-movie.

What we’re left with is the perverse spectacle of watching the son of Jack Nicholson (who plays the film’s heavy) beat the living daylights out of the son of Dennis Quaid. Both Jack Quaid and Ray Nicholson have what it takes to go the distance as actors, and I wish them well.

Overall, “Novocaine” isn’t bad, but I wanted it to be over long before Nate weaponizes his fist by bashing them repeatedly into shards of broken glass.

Why? To embed the shards in his knuckles and weaponize his punches, of course!

Two Stars (out of four)