#mycritique

Sooooo..... this a topic I’ve been wanting to talk about for awhile, ever since the first episode of Helluva Boss came out. I’ve been putting it off because I’ve been afraid of coming off as one of those fans. And before I start I want to say that I respect the cast and crew and everything they’ve been doing. I don’t have any problem with them, but I still want to discuss the differences between Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss, and why I think Hazbin (even at just a pilot) has gotten a warmer reception. And I realize we’re only on the third episode of Helluva at this point, but I’m just basing this on what has been released so far.

Story & Theme

I think Hazbin has more heart to it than Helluva, for sure. The characters, the story, and the tone all has much more heart and emotional weight than Helluva. The whole purpose of the show is centered around redemption and character interaction, whereas Helluva’s is....well I don’t know. Unlike Hazbin, Helluva doesn’t have a specific purpose or story to tell. There’s no goal for the characters like there is in Hazbin, and as a result there’s nowhere for the story to go. Let’s compare the two protagonists, Charlie and Blitzo. Charlie has a clear goal set up in the pilot which the rest of the series will build on; she wants to help redeem sinners. And the show and characters give us a reason for us to want her to succeed. She’s a empathetic character; people don’t believe in her, she has failed but keeps trying regardless, she just genuinely wants to help people. And it’s not just important for Charlie to reach her goal, but for the universe itself. If she doesn’t succeed more sinners in hell will die (permanently). But what does Blitzo want? Well the show doesn’t explicitly tell us. We can assume it’s money and a successful business, but why should we care about that? The story doesn’t give us a reason to support Blitzo’s pretty shallow and selfish goals. And because there is no explicit goal for the main character there’s not much holding the show and characters together. What reason do Moxxie and Millie have for staying at their job with Blitzo? Money I guess, but is that a compelling reason to keep characters together? No, not really. There’s no overarching theme either, or at least not an obvious one. There’s no theme of redemption, or friendship, or nihilism, or what have you. There’s no theme at all. And it’s hard to develop a good series when it doesn’t have a theme, or goal, or purpose. And Helluva doesn’t appear to have any of those (so far) beyond some world building as its only clear purpose.

Characters

Blitzo is a dick. That’s not inherently a problem, but it is when that seems to be his main (and only tbh) character trait. This is even worse because he is the main protagonist, and if the main character is unlikeable, it’s going to be hard to watch the show unless the other aspects or characters make up for it. Moxxie, Millie, and Loona are fine, but we don’t get to see a lot of them. By that I mean we don’t get to see a lot of their characters; their likes, dislikes, quirks etc.) We see it sometimes with Moxxie, but not often. With the third episode we finally got to see more of Loona, and I hope the subsequent episodes bring more out of the characters like that. But Blitzo is just really hard to get past. There’s hardly anything positive to say about him. His design is cool, but his overall depiction is uh, not good. Most of what we get from him is insults and wanting to fuck his employees and DAMN is that bad.

Little off-shoot here, but Blitzo reminds me VERY MUCH of season 1 Michael Scott. And that’s not good. There’s a reason his character changed drastically in the first 2-3 seasons, and why that first season has aged pretty badly.

Maybe if there was some commentary on Blitzo's actions (like when he says the “r-word” yikes) there wouldn’t be much of an issue. Commentary and context is good and can help with theme, character arcs, and real-world parallels. But there is no commentary on the negative actions of Blizto. It’s just constant insults and violence for 15 minutes. It’s like an adult swim show, or most adult cartoons; where anything remotely “adult” is thrown at the screen just to see what sticks. Most adult cartoons are full of random violence, cursing, and offensive language just to make them “adult”. And that’s why adult cartoons are seen so poorly, because most people see them as pointless adult filler on T.V with no real purpose beyond “being adult”. And it’s sad to see Helluva fall down the same route, when Hazbin was so much more than that.

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So a lot of things need improvement, and hopefully that’s done in these next few episodes. The second episode was completely different from any episode thus far, and doesn’t match up with everything I’ve said. It was an anomaly. The second episode had emotional weight, character, and a good story. It seems like a Hazbin episode stuck in the middle of Helluva. Even the tone is different. It’s more serious and has a story to tell. There are plenty of moments that tell us about the characters and it has a reason to be a part of the show. It made me want to watch more like it, and that made episode 3 a disappointment despite the nice character designs that it had. Episode 3 was more of the same; people getting stabbed, bullets in the head, pointless insults, and a plot that goes nowhere. A typical adult cartoon.

Helluva Boss seems to be multiple shorts tied together only through shared characters and a shared universe. To be honest, I think Helluva works best as shorts focused on world building, rather than a full-on series.

(Feel free to add to the discussion)

Yeah, that’s true. But I don’t think it counts as commentary, at least not good commentary. Maybe if Moxxie went into more detail about it or Blitzo regretted it, it might be okay. But the way it was used? Eeeeeeee.....no, yikes. There was no purpose for it; they easily could’ve used “idiot” or “fool” or any number of other adjectives that aren’t insults towards a marginalized group. And it would’ve had the same effect minus the unintentional insensitivity.

Recently the internet was buzzing of the casting of Ben Affleck to play the dark knight in the upcoming man of steel sequel. Most feel that the actor will tarnish the iconic comic character because of Christian Bale's portrayal in the trilogy, while some see it as a triumph. I for one could give two shits,but as a movie fan this is a well though, and interesting choice. For Affleck fans he'll bring that persona and depth with a character like Batman.Yes the man has made an embarrassment,and redemption in his career who cares so has every indecent person who's made a 360 in their career, but I digress on the subject this is a wise choice in cast every one stop the bitching, and moaning and please remove the tampon, or wooden stick from out of your rectum,and just embrace the moment because god forbidden Affleck could change his mind at a certain moment, but that would be a slim chance ever happening now with his imprint on the dotted lines. Why did I write his? That's basically the answer their to write, and cause my friend approaching me to ask If the movie would live up to the hype? The common answer is we'll just have to wait, and see. If it's good it's go, if it's not that slightly bad don't make it out to be a disaster we just have to embrace it for what it is a standard film that can't go wrong. That's my critique and, i'm sticking to it.

In light of the release of the trailer for Spike Lee’s take on the upcoming remake or Americanization of “Oldboy” based on the Japanese manga, and 2003 Korean adaptation. Many people have already taken to dislike this version fearing it won’t do justice, and because of the choosing of the director, and for Hollywood’s everlasting shame to remake movies that shouldn’t be remade. As a film auteur I agree on the latter, but for my part why bad mouth a film that you haven’t seen as of yet(if your familiar with the source material), or once it’s release they make it seem even worse. I’m a Spike Lee fan myself if you couldn’t tell, and sure the man has had a few hits, and misses, but I’ve always thought his so call “bad” films were better than his well known acclaim films. If your a fan your expecting some of the director’s trademark of versatile camera movement, and getting the best out his performers. The man has artistic visions, and aspects not to mention integrity he wouldn’t waste saliva on you if you hated his movies or not. He’s probably doing it for the paycheck, but a man has to eat. I love Oldboy, and is considered a favorite among my all time list, and occasionally recommend it to people who haven’t see it. It’s Mainly why we love movies in the first place good stories, characters, and visuals. Fans stop your fucking sobbing, and wait til the movie comes out or don’t see it “FUCK OFF” your not hurting anyone so who cares. Your don’t have to like or re blog this, or do whatever I don’t give two shits it’s just one man’s opinion so it really doesn’t matter. That’s my critique, and i’m sticking to it.