The title might remind you of the ending to the Mary Elizabeth Fry poem:
This film isn’t raging against the dying of the light, however. The main character wishes for death, but is doomed to immortality by his role in Judeo-Christian mythology. In fact the title suggests, and even possibly demands, that the audience recognize the boundaries in place here, yet it’s a while before one fully understands how profoundly and paradoxically under-determined and over-determined the characters are by broader moral codes and legends.
The film itself, like the main character, is all about understatement. Anti-hero Jack never gives any more information than he has to, and he doesn’t often have to, preferring instead to communicate via dismissive mono-syllables delivered with deadpan simplicity by a superb Henry Rollins. Initially benign, if socially awkward, grumpy, and mysterious, Jack is soon tearing his way through his town’s criminal low-life with brutal efficiency, a one-man killing machine. His motivations are as dubious as his origin story. In fact one of Jack’s only explanations for being an un-killable death-magnet is nearly thrown away in his wry dismissal of his considerable history: “I’m in the bible if that means anything.”
Jack is in fact Cain of Cain & Abel fame, doomed, as the story goes, to wander the earth as punishment for committing the first murder. The next line in the Bible notes that “anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over,” which in this film transforms Jack / Cain into an immortal who pulls bullets out of his head with ease and who is driven to consume human flesh. Why the inclination to munch on fingers and drink blood? “I don’t know why, but I have to… it’s the way it’s always been.” That is as close as we get to an answer, though given Jack’s past and pedigree the metaphorical implications are somewhat obvious. As the father of murder, it’s hard to see where the Cain-the-myth ends and the Jack-the-man begins. For the most part, however, his numbingly violent past and his biblical origins are very nearly meaningless to Jack… at least until a long lost relative shows up and raises questions about human relationships and moral responsibility.
Bad day, difficult clean-up… we’ve all been there! |
“Cain slaying Abel” by Peter Paul Rubens, 1609 |
There is very little universe-building in “He Never Died”’ and it works in the film’s favor. The only other supernatural figure who shows up is simply known in the credits as Goatee Man, and his role is never explained. Is he an angel, a ghost, God, Satan? Is he some other Being outside of human understanding? Is he responsible for Jack’s predicament? Why does he intervene or not intervene at particular moments? Does it matter?
Jack’s questions about his place in the world, and the audience’s questions about what Jack is and why he does what he does, aren’t going to be answered… not by Jack or anyone else. In fact, attempts to impose a recognizable ‘monster’ identity or code of conduct are played for laughs:
Jack: “Can we please not speak of it?”
Cain is frightening and sympathetic because his story is so basic, and there is no attempt to turn theological mysteries into mechanical rules or to reduce metaphysical figures to easily-digestible (no pun intended) characters. When you find out that Jack is Cain the impulse is not to roll your eyes… ‘Cain’ is secondary, while Jack is rather a broader study of one of the most recognizable tales we use to examine morality. His action-hero ‘superpowers’ don’t negate the fact that he is a very human monster going through a constant moral crisis he does not and cannot fully understand, and that for all his power he is in a situation completely out of his control.
108 Media is developing “He Never Died” as a mini-series, and I think it’s a mistake. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Henry Rollins’ deadpan, hilarious, and emotionally-wrenching portrayal, and the tone and style of the whole film is spot on for a solid horror-comedy. However, part of the point is that the boundaries of Jack’s existential rationale are so ill-defined… it leaves room for larger anxieties without reducing a profound mythological figure to a Jason Bourne character with an extended backstory. “He Never Died” isn’t afraid to ask questions or leave those questions unanswered, which I think is going to become one of the defining strategies of solid horror cinema in years to come.
I don't usually comment on articles, but that was very well written and insightful. Thanks.
This article explains why the film lacked explanations. Which I was fine with, honestly. This review makes a viewer think about the tiresome formula we see in a lot of cinema. I have a new appreciation for this film as well.
This article explains why the film lacked explanations. Which I was fine with, honestly. This review makes a viewer think about the tiresome formula we see in a lot of cinema. I have a new appreciation for this film as well.
Very clever film. Well acted and great script. I would love to develop the character of jack and his battle with self determination and his reflections on his actions. If you would have lived 100s of thousands of years as you would have if you were Cain from the bible and you were blessed or cursed depending on your perspective with eternal life as punishment how would your id develop.
Agreed!
I think the push for a miniseries will actually make this movie better by offering the little closer needed at the end of the movie, while offering a deeper in insight into jacks character. I think the uniqueness of the movie plus the miniseries will make this s cult classic. The movie itself is definitely on my favorite movies of all time list.