Those of us who grew up in the '90s on a steady diet of Hollywood movies borrowed from VHS stores (I badly miss them!) would fondly remember the days when they took delight in action and horror movies that didn't need much investment of the brain cells or make big political statements, but prioritized entertainment above all else and did justice to the genre.
It's this time, when you could enjoy watching movies without arguing with random strangers on the internet, that the new Prime Video series The Bondsman reminded me of. Created by Grainger David, it also reminds you of the days when you discovered this excellent actor called Kevin Bacon (Sleepers, Hollow Man), who excelled at playing dark, tormented characters.
Bacon makes it evident from the first episode that this is a material tailor-made for an actor of his calibre. Told over eight episodes, each of duration close to 30 minutes, The Bondsman tells the story of a bounty hunter, Hub Halloran (Bacon) who, in one of his routine assignments, is viciously murdered and, then, to his and our surprise, he becomes alive again. No time is wasted letting us know that this is the work of... the devil. Now, the story of demon hunters or heroes coming back from the dead to seek justice is not new to us. The genre aficionados who grew up watching films like The Crow (the 1994 version), Constantine (with Keanu Reeves), Ghost Rider (with Nicolas Cage), any of Sam Raimi's early Evil Dead films, or the John Carpenter films will find themselves in an exciting nostalgia-inducing experience.
One of the most appealing factors of The Bondsman is that it doesn't rely solely on supernatural thrills alone. There is some solid character development on display, not just with Bacon's Hub Halloran character, but even the woman who appears as a co-ordinator who assigns Halloran the tasks he is supposed to be doing for the devil.
There are a couple of reasons for Halloran being chosen by the devil for this job. The first, he is a bounty hunter and he is, basically, on a mission to capture or eliminate the 'fugitive' demons that have intruded into our world. The second, well, that's a spoiler so I'd better leave it to you to find out. What makes all this even more interesting and complicated is that the woman who contacts Halloran to do this job has her own backstory which leads to a fair amount of dilemma towards the end of the season.
Moreover, Halloran is not painted as an entirely pure protagonist. He has got some skeletons in his closet (literally). There is a dark backstory revealing why he was sent to Hell in the first place. The same writing approach applies to some of the human antagonists Halloran has to deal with, one of whom happens to be Lucky Callahan (Damon Herriman), the guy Halloran's wife is now going out with. Callahan, despite being a "bad guy", has clear reasons for doing what he does.
I should also add that this is a considerably gory series that doesn't shy away from bloodshed or throwing at us some unpleasant visuals of the aftermath of the carnage. But it shouldn't be a problem for horror fans who prefer their stories as bloody as they come. That said, The Bondsman isn't all doom and gloom. It allows enough space for humour, especially the dark variety, that sometimes takes the edge off the more morbid portions. To conclude, it's a blast!
