He Never Died (2015)
Jun. 22nd, 2020 03:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexxkayKes and I recently shared this movie with some friends over Netflix, and I wanted to recommend it to a wider audience.
Henry Rollins stars as "Jack", a character who reminded me a lot of Murderbot. Both of them are *extremely* skilled at violence, but don't *like* violence. They just want to be left alone. Neither of them is very good at dealing with the normal human emotional spectrum. They *have* emotions, but that always seems to get them caught up in more of that ultra-violence. And both stories leaven the violence with considerable amounts of humor and heart.
They differ significantly in genre, of course. Murderbot is a cyborg in a space opera setting. "Jack" is in more of an Urban Fantasy, and appears to be approximately undead. The "v-word" is mentioned once in the movie, and cut off abruptly. "Jack" certainly shares many similarities to a traditional vampire, but many differences as well. There's one right in the title, for instance.
Jack is played to perfection by Henry Rollins, famed punk rocker and poet. The rest of the cast are basically unknowns, but are also excellent. I particularly want to call out Kate Greenhouse as a waitress diner who is the closest thing Jack has to a friend, and David Richmond-Peck as one of the traditional "couple of incompetent hitmen" that have been amusing audiences since Shakespeare days.
While the movie contains a great deal of violence and blood, it is all, to paraphrase a horror comic publisher testifying before Congress, "in good taste for a horror film". Wikipedia describes it as "horror comedy", which is not inaccurate, though I, as I said above, would more term it "urban fantasy". (I'm writing this at least partially in hope that Rick and Libby will watch it, and give me their opinions on the violence design :)
Kudos also to the filmmakers for conveying a huge amount of detail about Jack's backstory and his emotional state while only rarely actually *telling* any of that. The physical props around Jack's apartment, and the soundscape that appears to be Jack's memories all tell stories allusively. Even when they do resort to telling, it tends to be brief and/or allusive, rather than expositional. A standout scene is one where Jack gives a (partial!) account of "Jobs I've had" that is the resume equivalent of that scene where a character is asked to disarm, and keeps pulling out weapons long after you think they *must* be done by now.
All in all, a fun movie,but with more meat on its bones than a typical action or horror flick. Recommended.
Henry Rollins stars as "Jack", a character who reminded me a lot of Murderbot. Both of them are *extremely* skilled at violence, but don't *like* violence. They just want to be left alone. Neither of them is very good at dealing with the normal human emotional spectrum. They *have* emotions, but that always seems to get them caught up in more of that ultra-violence. And both stories leaven the violence with considerable amounts of humor and heart.
They differ significantly in genre, of course. Murderbot is a cyborg in a space opera setting. "Jack" is in more of an Urban Fantasy, and appears to be approximately undead. The "v-word" is mentioned once in the movie, and cut off abruptly. "Jack" certainly shares many similarities to a traditional vampire, but many differences as well. There's one right in the title, for instance.
Jack is played to perfection by Henry Rollins, famed punk rocker and poet. The rest of the cast are basically unknowns, but are also excellent. I particularly want to call out Kate Greenhouse as a waitress diner who is the closest thing Jack has to a friend, and David Richmond-Peck as one of the traditional "couple of incompetent hitmen" that have been amusing audiences since Shakespeare days.
While the movie contains a great deal of violence and blood, it is all, to paraphrase a horror comic publisher testifying before Congress, "in good taste for a horror film". Wikipedia describes it as "horror comedy", which is not inaccurate, though I, as I said above, would more term it "urban fantasy". (I'm writing this at least partially in hope that Rick and Libby will watch it, and give me their opinions on the violence design :)
Kudos also to the filmmakers for conveying a huge amount of detail about Jack's backstory and his emotional state while only rarely actually *telling* any of that. The physical props around Jack's apartment, and the soundscape that appears to be Jack's memories all tell stories allusively. Even when they do resort to telling, it tends to be brief and/or allusive, rather than expositional. A standout scene is one where Jack gives a (partial!) account of "Jobs I've had" that is the resume equivalent of that scene where a character is asked to disarm, and keeps pulling out weapons long after you think they *must* be done by now.
All in all, a fun movie,but with more meat on its bones than a typical action or horror flick. Recommended.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-06-23 03:44 am (UTC)This movie also did abject vampirism in a way I haven't seen, apart from "Kronos" (with another dad vampire who licks blood off a gross floor, now I think of it). Never did it ever look like fun to me. Though I will admit I cheered when "Jack" ripped a pinch out of a guy's throat, misted over, and ate the piece of flesh like another person might impulsively eat raw cookie dough.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-06-23 05:39 am (UTC)