Brian Helgeland

  • Highway to Hell (1991)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Cable TV, May 2022) As far as high concepts for a horror movie go, retelling Orpheus and Eurydice in a late-1980s context is not bad nor that original – it’s not that big a surprise to find that well-known filmmaker Brian Helgeland came up with the screenplay of Highway to Hell. It helps that the film doesn’t take itself all that seriously despite its classical inspiration, and that it all starts from Las Vegas. As a young man goes to rescue his girlfriend from having been brought to hell by a zombie cop, we get a tour of a satirical vision of the netherworld mocking 1980s society. While the two lead actors remain little-known (well, depending on how you feel about Kristy Swanson), there are a few cameos in supporting roles, including pre-stardom Ben Stiller and Gilbert Gottfried, as none other than Hitler. Unfortunately, despite an imaginative premise and some occasional wit in the execution, Highway to Hell remains limited to cult-movie status: it doesn’t quite have the budget (or the special-effects sophistication) to do justice to its ambitions and must settle for an evocative approximation. Even its best moments almost do it a disservice, highlighting how much better the film could have been had it had the budget, time or additional motivation to do better. But the result is still quite a bit better than you’d expect from a little-known 1991 horror comedy.

  • Legend (2015)

    Legend (2015)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, March 2016) The problem with Legend isn’t that it’s a bad movie: As a fictional presentation of the true-life story of the Kray twin brothers that dominated London’ organized crime scene in the sixties, it’s a more interesting than usual take on the mob story. It provides Tom Hardy with a splendid acting springboard as he ably plays both brothers with very different styles, showcases sixties London, plays with the real-life absurdities of the Kray brother’s relationship with the Establishment and effectively structures itself around the sentimental life of the sanest Kray. The problem, in fact, is that Legend has so many great things to draw upon that it doesn’t quite live up to the potential of its subject matter. It often feels unfocused, occasionally hitting upon greatness in its best moments (such as when the Krays start physically fighting each other inside a deserted nightclub), occasionally flowing with wit in its faster-paced explanatory sequences … only to crash to a halt in-between the high points. There are also some unusual narration issues toward the end that create more questions than satisfaction by highlighting how the movie is lying. While not enough good can be said of Hardy’s dual performance, the rest of the film around him feels far more ordinary—which is curious given that Oscar-winning Brian Helgeland is at the helm. When ennui sets in, there isn’t much to be done to save the rest of the film.