Hellbound is about an ancient demon that was locked in a coffin a thousand years or so ago, and then in the 1990s it was unleashed. When it's unleashed, it ends up in Chicago, where it runs afoul of Chuck Norris. He's the wrong guy to run afoul of. Chuck and his partner (Calvin Jackson), chase the demon all the way to Israel to try and take him down and send him back to hell. The demon won't know what hit it.
And neither will we with all the padding to get us there. I think that's the problem with this movie, it doesn't know if it wants to be a cop actioner, a martial arts flick, a supernatural/religious thriller, or a mix of all of the above, but it ends up struggling on all fronts, which is too bad. This is not the Cannon/Norris classics we're used to, but in a way is a fitting end to the Cannon run, to go out with one of their biggest stars in something that, to a large extent was sauteed in wrong sauce. I think on the other hand, as the Cannon Group's last film (Street Knight was the film produced by Cannon), it's an interesting artifact in and of itself. Like a piece of pottery found at the baddie's archaeological site in this film, we can look at this as a piece of something bigger, a wave that crested in the history of the action movie world, and to that extent I think it's worth checking out.
This marks 41 Cannon films here at the DTVC, and so not only getting them into the 40 Club, but also giving them a post to fully honor them, is very necessary. That feeling we get when we see that Cannon logo flash onto the screen is something that all of us who like the kinds of movies we like know and understand. It's like the smell of comfort food cooking in the kitchen, or the opening chords to a song we love. Even when it's a film like this, which I didn't enjoy as much as some of their others, the mere sight of the logo gets me in a mindset to at least think I'm going to like it. And what's fascinating is, as this wave was cresting, in the late 80s/early 90s, a new wave was forming behind it, PM Entertainment, and by 1994 we could see that one building further out to sea. When you think about it, between Cannon in the 80s to early 90s, and then PM from the early 90s through to 2000, we in the DTV action world had it pretty good.
Chuck Norris turned 80 this year. That means he was already in his 50s when he made this. That might explain the lack of fight scenes, but it's also crazy to think that he's 80 now! It was also fitting that it was his film that was the last from The Cannon Group, because he was such a staple of their films in the 80s. I think my personal favorite of his Cannon flicks is Invasion USA, which I did review here. Whatever your thoughts on Norris's extreme right wing views, he was one of the most influential action stars ever, and his 80s Cannon stuff was some of the best ever.
So why didn't this work then, if Cannon and Norris were such a great team? The thing is, it does have its moments, but it tries to do too much, and when that happens, often it ends up doing too little. The going to Israel part is filled with things like a crazy driver driving them through the city, a kid pickpocketing the partner--because Norris would never let a kid pick his pocket. In Invasion USA we had pitched battles everywhere, a suburban family trimming the tree getting their house blown up by an RPG, just tons of amazing stuff. This may have been trying to be something different, which I respect, but sometimes different isn't always better.
As we move Cannon into the 40 Club, I feel like it's best to wrap this up by talking about their influence on me and ultimately creating this site. The 80s were my formative years on the planet. It was a time of big hair, big music, and big movies, but there was something about the Cannon action flick that stood out for me, whether it was the American Ninja series, the Stallone and Norris actioners, or even the Pyun flicks that I didn't know at the time were Pyun flicks. It's fitting then that they're the first studio/production company to get into the 40 Club.
It's time to wrap this one up. I think for me, it really is the novelty that this is the last Cannon Group film. It feels like you're moving, and you're cleaning up the house and taking one last look around, going through some of those last memories. For me as a movie it has its flaws, kind of like when you have that one last meal at that place before you move, and they get the order wrong, but you're enjoying the company and the people you're with before you leave the next day.
For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107101
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