I had started to watch this movie long ago. But Henry Rollins has never impressed me with his acting skills. Essentially he has one role “Quiet detached bad ass.” At least from the things I had seen him in.

And in He Never Died, that is exactly the role he plays as Jack. I pushed through though and watched the whole movie this time. And he doesn’t deviate from that description. In fact, that description gives him more nuance and flair than he exhibits in this role. And yet, it isn’t a terrible thing.

Jack appears to be the ultimate anti-social loner. He refuses to engage in casual conversation with anyone. When his landlord comes knocking for the rent money, he hands her several hundred dollar bills and then closes the door in her face while she is mid sentence. Then crawls back in bed. A move we will see repeatedly throughout the movie. It’s his go to move. Aside from being a quiet brooding selfish dick.

That’s his real go to move.

We see him at a diner where there is a woman interested in him. We see him get a phone call from a woman telling him he has a daughter and she is in trouble. We see him fight two thugs in his apartment. We see him meeting with an intern from a hospital and getting some contraband package.

And all of these things he seems to be absolutely detached from. Like he wasn’t even involved in them. But it works. We see some unusual characters are following him. Watching him. Always nearby. To what end, we don’t know.

Eventually he reveals that he is the Biblical figure Cain. The one responsible for committing the first murder of his rother Abel. He is cursed to never die, but beyond that he is the proverbial patient zero of vampires.

He has lived an eternity and knows he will never die. All he wants though is to be left alone. Until he spends a little time with his daughter. That time lit a very dim light within him. At one point the intern that has been supplying him with blood is captured and being tortured by thugs. Jack (Cain) follows the thugs and rescues the intern. But he only does it because he needs his contraband supply. Saving him is coincidental to getting his fix. Because that’s the guy Jack is. Except he does save the intern.

We see glimmers of a better person within him. As he goes about his days maiming and killing people that are after him. The pain and punishment he inflicts is absolutely meaningless to him, and if they would just go away he could be happy. Crawling back into bed and ignoring the world.

This movie has some issues. A key one being the vagueness the story and characters wallow in. Early on we saw Jack shirtless and he has scars where Angel wings appear to have been removed. I’m not a Biblical scholar in any way, but I don’t ever recall hearing a suggestion that Cain was an Angel. Or a Fallen Angel. And the movie doesn’t offer up any explanation of this.

This movie though fits in well with my love of unusual and unexplained stories. I really enjoy things being a mystery. Don’t get me wrong, I want to know what is going on. We all know that Wolverine was much more interesting of a character before Marvel saw the potential of big sales on a story offering to give him an origin. So do I want to know all the details about Jack? Damn straight I do! I enjoyed this movie for what it was. But I want “He Never Died 2: Revelations.” A story 5 years after the movie ends with him going John Wick after the mystery figures. And I want “He Never Died: Legends of Cain.” An HBO Max series of 10 episodes with each one being a historical tale of an event in his past. I want them to revisit and run this into the ground. Because when it is all said and done, I really liked Henry Rollins in this role as Cain.

I’m giving this 9 stars. The only reason it doesn’t get 10 is because the first time, long ago, when I tried to watch it… it didn’t grab me. So yeah, I blame myself for it being 9 stars instead of 10. (And man, do I really want to see Legends of Cain!)