WARNING: Spoilers about Novocaine ahead!
Novocaine is what I imagine a straight shot of pure adrenaline feels like: a sudden rush of energy, excitement, and action. Plus, a whole lot of dumb fun. The campy movie is made to entertain thrill-seekers who enjoy dark humor and don't mind a bit of gore—well, actually, a lot of gore.
All the bloodshed and wounds from gunshots, stabbing, hand-deep-drying, and other freakily painful sequences will either make you want to laugh, wince, or hurl. And that's all part of the fun of the film, because our unexpected hero, bank assistant manager Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid), uses his inability to feel pain (known as the condition called Congenital Pain Insensitivity and Anhidrosis) as a superpower. After his coworker and love of his life, Sherry (Amber Midthunder), gets kidnapped in a random Santa-themed bank robbery, he takes it upon himself to go to great lengths to try and rescue her.
Far from the usually straightforward hero-rescues-damsel storyline, the movie ends with a major twist that turns the whole story on its head. And with all the action going on, somethings might get lost in the mix, so here's a breakdown of Novocaine's ending.
Sherry was never in any danger.
About mid-way through the movie, we find out that Sherry was in on the bank robbery heist all along. It turns out that the big bad mastermind, Simon (Ray Nicholson), is her brother. Sherry got a job at the bank and purposefully got close to Nate in order to get the code to the bank's vault.
Looking back, you might have noticed that none of the robbers pointed a gun to Sherry's head, and she never got tied up or restrained in any way.
So, is Sherry evil?
Sherry's always had a moral compass. While she agreed to be part of her brother's plan, she highly disapproves of his violent ways. Her one condition for her participation in the bank heist was that they didn't hurt or kill anyone. So it seems like her heart was somewhat in the right place.
Nate nearly dies.
After numerous violent side-quests, and confrontations that could have very well killed him, Nate finally comes face-to-face with Simon. After Simon reveals the truth about his sister, the two men end up in a tussle. Simon ends up with the upper hand, having a car pressing its tire down on Nate's face. And while our protagonist seems invincible, this just about nearly kills him. That is, until a couple of detectives arrive in the knick of time. They shoot Simon, arrest Sherry, and put Nate on an ambulance.
But just when we think the battle is won, Simon gets back up, shoots at the detectives, then drives off on the ambulance—with Nate still aboard.
The "damsel" rescues the hero.
With one detective dead, and another injured, Sherry decides to go after the ambulance. The surviving detective, Mincy Langston (Betty Gabriel) lets her take her car, with Nate's friend Roscoe (Jacob Batalon) and herself in the backseat. They speed through the streets of San Diego, going towards the docks, where Simon plans to make his escape on a boat.
Nate, with the strength he has left, is able to use the defibrillator on the ambulance to shock Simon. This, of course, ends up crashing the vehicle. With his plans foiled, Simon beats Nate and breaks his arm. Sherry arrives to try and stop her brother, but her attempt is futile and he ends up pinning her down.
But this buys Nate time to crawl towards a first aid kit and give himself a shot of adrenaline. With the boost in energy, Nate uses a bone poking through his broken arm to stab and kill Simon.
Do Nate and Sherry still get arrested?
Despite all the heroic acts the two have committed, they still get some jail time. Nate, for killing multiple people on his quest to rescue Sherry. And Sherry, for helping with the bank heist. Of course, Nate goes the hospital first to heal up, but he also gets a lighter sentence for helping Detective Langston.
Flash forward to a year later...
Nathan Caine goes back to living his normal life, but now he has a girlfriend! In fact, it's his and Sherry's first anniversary and he goes to the women's prison where she's detained to celebrate. Nathan reveals that the unfinished tattoo that he had at the start of the film was now complete, showing an image of him and Sherry defending a tower.
Their visitation period ends, and she leaves him a slice of cherry pie—a reference to their first date.
