A Familiar But Entertaining Actioner
Summary
Hellfire tells a story we’ve seen many times before, but it has a few surprises and it’s nice to see Stephen Lang play a hero. There are some impressive fight scenes and a high bodycount, but I felt like Dolph Lundgren was underused not getting any action scenes. Still, this is a fun watch and worth a rental.
Plot: A drifter, who arrives in a small town, finds residents in the grip of a ruthless boss and tries to free them.
Review: I’ve been looking forward to finally watching Hellfire as I’m a huge fan of everyone involved; directed by Isaac Florentine and starring Stephen Lang, Dolph Lundgren & Scottie Thompson, it’s not quite as action-packed as I was expecting for the first half, but it really picks up in the final 45 minutes.
It’s funny how I just watched Missionary Man a few weeks ago as this has a very similar story and also starred Dolph Lundgren. In Hellfire however, he plays a corrupt Sheriff who may have met his match when a mysterious drifter known as Nomada (Lang) arrives in town. Harvey Keitel plays the main villain, Jeremiah who forces the townsfolk to work for him in his cocaine business under threat of violence. His son, Clyde (Michael Sirow) is a hateful bully who wants his way with local girl Lena (Thompson) but she isn’t interested. Nomada does odd jobs for Lena’s father, Owen (awesome name) but Clyde and his goons don’t like new faces. Soon, they realise they’ve picked a fight with the wrong guy.
Hellfire is all very familiar and is another Pale Rider style movie that doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, but it still has some solid action scenes. That should come as no surprise with Isaac Florentine at the helm. We get a few fights and the showdown between Nomada and Zeke (Johnny Yong Bosch) is a major highlight.
It takes a little too long for anything to happen on the action front going for a slowburn first half, but I thought it was mostly worth the wait. I also found one scene where something genuinely shocking happens quite daring as I didn’t see it coming. You’ll know it when it happens…
It’s nice to see Stephen Lang play against type as a badass hero rather than a villain which we’ve seen so often and I was rooting for him all the way. The biggest crime this movie commits is having Dolph Lundgren in it and not giving him any action scenes; I was hoping for at least a fight scene but he is sadly underused.
Isaac Florentine regular Steve Edwards provides a nice Bluegrass score which works for the tone of the film and gives it a somewhat melancholy feel.
Overall, Hellfire isn’t up there with the likes of the Undisputed movies, but it still has its moments with some decent fight scenes and a refreshingly heroic Stephen Lang. Dolph is underused and it takes a little while to get going, but I still had a fun time with Hellfire.