It's been years since I thought about Rollins as anything other than a "media personality", long ago he ceased to be the black flag/Rollins band guy and became the guy I saw with enthusiastic opinions on various tv shows that occasionally did small parts in movies and tv shows and for what its worth I've enjoyed him in that capacity more than as a musician. I doubt Rollins will ever make a jump to leading man status in major films, I feel like he is better suited as a supporting character (He was great as the white supremacist in Sons of Anarchy) that being said He is great in "He never Died".
The movie is nothing spectacular, It was is a fun movie to watch on a bored Saturday even if you will forget the bulk of it by the time next Saturday rolls around. The standout part of the movie is definitely Rollins performance as Jack, the awkward immortal that just wants to be left to his own devices but of course never is. I'm not sure if its a testament to Rollins skills as an actor or its just a peek at a strange part of Rollins real personality but he definitely feels believable as a man who is uncomfortable with the dance of social niceties most people two step their way through daily strictly out of years of conditioning. I find it especially entertaining how Rollins character seems to consider his answers before submitting and telling a polite sociable fib. I myself (and I suspect most people) occasionally like to daydream about being honest in my interactions with the world, Some times youd rather tell some high spirited sales clerk to fuck off rather than make small talk.
Editors note: I removed about four paragraphs worth of example conversations here where I imagined where I was honest with people in mundane encounters. Writing those examples did give me some insight on the necessities of nicety after I read over them and realized what a hostile world it would be if we were all honest. Thanks polite deception!
Rollins does a good job of portraying jack, A man who has almost convinced himself he has no concern for anyone or anything other than himself.
When we are introduced to Jack it's apparent that Jack keeps his world fairly small and simple, He likes to sleep through most of the day with only interruptions to Eat at a diner, Play bingo and of course pick up mysterious packages from a medical intern. Jack seems to be content with this existence but of course we wouldn't have a movie to watch (aside from some strange art picture I suppose) if events didn't transpire to that would interrupt his schedule.
In this case the two events are A) Jacks daughter shows up for a nice little "oh by the way, you have a daughter" visit. and B) Someone kidnaps the medical intern that supplies jack with the aforementioned mysterious packages.
What we get is not your normal action flick, Jack isn't hell bent on revenge or overcome with parental joy. As a matter of fact, Jack isn't even sure if he is going to get involved in either case.
One big question that a lot of the movie revolves around is that of what/who Jack is? It's clear Jack isn't your normal guy but it isn't instantly clear exactly how he is different. I imagine that the title and cover art alone makes it safe for me to say he doesn't die easily and within a few minutes of the movie I was fairly confident I was pretty sure what Jacks deal is. Turns out I was wrong and the reveal of Jacks back story was one of my favorite parts of the movie.
There isn't a whole lot I can say here without spoiling things but I will say that "He never died" is a decent way to spend a couple of hours if it's one of those days when you have been through every category on netflix 5 times and nothing is really jumping out at you. You may forget the movie in a few weeks but I can't imagine you'll regret the time you spent watching it and if your a fan of shows like Supernatural or X-files you may even find yourself hoping for the unlikely prequel or sequel giving us more of Jacks backstory.
I give "He Never Died" 7.5 douche bags with black flag tattoos who have never listen to black flag out of ten.
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