#it's late so i'm probably heading to bed soon but if anyone wants to hmu on discord or IM tomorrow to talk about it? hell yeah

[bozojesus]

   so i finally watched 3 from h.ell and...

   i really liked it actually 

  i missed cutter terribly, of course, but not to the point where it ruined the movie. they do kind of rush through the segment about his execution at the beginning, but there’s a scene where otis & baby talk about him during the third act that was very sweet and actually made me tear up. it’s obvious that the characters haven’t forgotten him; he’s just a very painful subject and that’s understandable, considering how much he meant to them. otis in particular sounded ready to cry when talking about him. shocker, right?

   that said !! cutter very very clearly lives on through baby. i really loved how she was developed in this one and she stole every scene she was in. i thought sheri’s acting was solid throughout the movie - even when she was going really over-the-top during the first forty or so minutes, i still bought it, and while baby remains a terrible person, i thought 3FH humanized her a lot more than TDR did. most of her kills are pretty quick ( though she still relishes in them, of course ) rather than the drawn out sadism & mental torture from the first two movies. her emotional journey reminded me so strongly of her dad’s in the sense she has this aimlessness about her, like she no longer knows what to do with herself or what her place is or what she wants. she even goes so far as to question otis about why they even do what they do, which leads to otis questioning their lifestyle himself to some degree. maybe i’m reading into it wrong, or maybe other fans will read his reaction differently, but his response to baby almost seemed like one of resignation. death, violence & destruction is what they’re used to. it’s simply what they’re meant to do - what else is there for them? i’ve always believed that’s a thought that had already crossed cutter’s mind - that he is simply meant to destroy, so he might as well continue to destroy. it was interesting to see otis & baby starting to get to that point now that they’re older. kind of feels like everything’s coming full circle, in that sense.

   as for otis himself, it really seemed like he was just kind of ?? going through the motions. don’t get me wrong, he’s still a sick, thoroughly evil man, but he lacks a lot of the relish he used to have. this time around it felt more like he was following a routine than carrying out these horrendous deeds because he believed them to be his not-so-divine purpose ( or whatever the hell goes on in his head ). he still goes on his usual misanthropic rants, but does he actually believe them anymore, or is he just saying them because that’s what’s expected of him at this point? it’s hard to discern.

   ri.chard brake did a really nice job as foxy. he was appropriately gross & despicable when the movie called for it while still having a certain charm about him. there were moments where i shuddered at his behaviour; other times i found him very endearing and Almost Sweet ( you can definitely tell he was meant to be cutter’s replacement because that was essentially cutter’s role in the last one ). he isn’t as fleshed-out as he could’ve been, no, but for a last-minute addition to the cast? he’s totally fine. he isn’t grating at all. i liked him! i’d be really okay with seeing him again and while no one can replace cutter, i think foxy’s presence helps fill what would’ve been a very sad & lonely void. he and baby basically take turns acting as the comedy relief of the movie with the occasional sarcastic jab from otis. i thought it worked well.

   as for the other characters... sebastian was adorable. by far my favourite new addition to the squad. he played a huge role in the humanization of baby and it was so, so nice to see a character in this series who’s a genuinely kind person and not a total piece of shit. i really hope rob will write more characters like him in future movies because i think he underestimates how important it is to have them around in media like the firefly family series. they keep things from getting too bleak. warden harper’s wife judy was great, but really under-utilized. i thought the guard greta’s storyline had potential but it sadly didn’t go anywhere, which is a shame. warden harper himself is appropriately scummy, but i felt rob... could’ve went a little further with him? i felt he should’ve gone all-out and really made us hate the guy, if that was supposed to be his purpose. i feel like the home invasion scene should’ve been Earned. that was by far my least favourite sequence of the movie and it just dragged on and on and on. 

   i also would’ve liked rob to have explored the concept of sensationalized serial killers in the media more and why this is a bad thing. it seemed like the opening of the movie was setting that up, but like greta and harper’s arcs, it just... did not go anywhere. i was really hoping we’d see how fame impacted otis, baby & cutter, and how their sensationalization affected pop culture in general, since they’ve been in the public eye for over a decade... but nope. we have some scenes where baby maniacally gushes over her supposed stardom, otis grouching about how they have to be careful in the public eye and a pretty funny joke from foxy where he tries to insist he’s the most recognizable of the bunch, but that’s about it.

   and like... could we not have had at least some reactions from them to 80s pop culture? the movie didn’t have to revolve around that, but it’s like... these guys are so heavily ingrained in 70s aesthetic & they’ve been locked up for 10 years, pretty much shut off from the rest of the world. you’d think we’d at least get some quips from otis about how music has gone down the shitter or something like that, but nope! nothing like that either. i suppose that’s something that’s gonna have to be saved for future 3FH threads instead.

   the dialogue wasn’t awful but some of the callbacks were a little Too obvious for my taste. i liked the subtle ones, like where baby tells otis she has a “better idea” at the end when deciding what to do with aquarius and how otis is actually accepting her plan ( as opposed to otis’ “better idea” angering cutter in TDR ), and how otis tries to hype baby up with the “fucked up shit” line. but some of other stuff otis said? like the boogeyman shit at the beginning and the “murder factory” line when he’s killing harper? nah, that felt a bit forced and kind of uncreative on rob’s end. i think he could’ve done a bit better with that.

   overall, i thought the first forty minutes were a bit of a drag, but when the characters get to mexico things really kicked off and i found myself enjoying it and getting really into it. it’s definitely not TDR or Ho1KC, but it’s a fun ride in its own right. the one thing i do think it did better than TDR was - again - giving the characters some depth & dimension. we actually got to see emotional reactions from them & they’re given some quiet moments where they could just talk to each other and have fun outside of the disgusting torture shit ( which, thank god, this movie doesn’t linger on quite as much as the last one imo ). that’s something i felt like TDR lacked & i’m glad rob did that portion right this time around. 

   while it’s a flawed movie and the absence of my beloved clown is definitely felt, i really don’t think 3FH is this abysmal piece of shit that some people are making it out to be. i don’t think it’ll hold the same special place in my heart that the first two do, but i liked it. i’m very glad to have finally seen it and i’m hoping it’ll spark some new life into the fandom. you best believe i’ll be writing up cutter several 3FH verses in the future & am super eager to use this film as a basis of doing new stuff for him.