Character Analysis: Hydell

Character Analysis: Hydell

By: Brian Cotnoir

     This is something, I’ve been wanting to try for a while, but I didn’t know exactly how I wanted to do it, so please bare with me as I try to develop and improve upon this idea of mine. What my “Character Analysis” is going to be is, I will be look at a character in a film and I will be writing an in depth analysis on what I thought of the character, what are their strengths and weaknesses, whether I thought the role could have been played by a better actor, etc.  Sometimes I’ll do a character who appears in only one film, other times I’ll pick a character that appears in multiple films/franchises, sometimes I’ll review a main character in a film, and other times I will review a support character, and I even hope to do comparing and contrasting characters in films that have been remade.  I hope you all like this, and without further delay he is my first Character Analysis.

CHARACTER: Hydell from “Lockout” (2012)

Hydell is a character who appears in French director, Luc Besson’s 2012 Sci-Fi Action “Lockout”.  Hydell is a prisoner aboard MS-1; a prison in space that orbit’s the earth.  All prisoners on MS-1 spend the duration of their prison sentences in a preservation tube in a stasis (or deep sleep).  Emilie Waronick—who is the daughter of the President of the United States—travels up to MS-1 as part of humanitarian mission.  She is there to interview some of the prisoners, and check on their well-being because there are rumors going around that the prisoners aboard MS-1 are actually being used as human guinea pigs to test the physical and psychological effects of deep space exploration on MS-1.  Hydell is the first (and actually only) prisoner Emilie get’s to interview.                         

A very neurotic character indeed

     From the first time we see Hydell he comes off as very hostile and appears to be a very agitated, and neurotic.  Hydell was sent to MS-1 after being convicted of 53 counts of “aggravated physical assault”, which he laughs off and claims that it “was a case of mistaken identity”.  He is a very sarcastic person, and displays an immature, almost child-like, behavior throughout the film.  A few examples are, ignoring his older brother and doing what he pleases, throwing a temper tantrum when he doesn’t get his way, breaking things because he gets frustrated or understand how they work, taunting other people who he has put in a helpless situation, and never considering the consequences to any of his actions.    

Hydell has an older brother named Alex, who is also on MS-1.  Alex is just the opposite of his younger brother, he is well spoken, he thinks before he acts, and displays strong leadership.  This brings up the question: did Hydell, possibly, suffer some brain damage as an effect of his stasis?  We are shown other prisoners in the film that have suffered some severe mental trauma after being awoken from their stasis (everything from brain damage the dementia).  Or is there the possibility that Hydell, was just following in his brothers footsteps and that’s how he became a criminal.  Hydell, doesn’t seem to care much for his brother Alex.  Alex tries to keep Hydell in line and orders him around, but he almost never listens.  Towards the end of the film, Hydell loses his temper and stabs Alex after he scolds and embarrasses him.  As his brother lies their dying Hydell shouts out; “Mommy, says you talk too much!”.  Even though we never see or hear from her in the film, I think this implies that Hydell may have had a close relationship to his mother, and may be suffering from some sort of Oedipus Complex and that’s why he may have turned out as a rapist.

This is what happens when you leave the sociopath alone

THE ACTOR

Joseph Gilgun, a promising and up-and-coming actor

     Hydell is played by a lesser-known actor that I actually have great admiration for named Joseph Gilgun.  I first saw Joseph Gilgun in the film “This is England” about 5 years ago, and I really enjoyed his performance as the likable skinhead leader Woody.  One thing I really like about Joseph Gilgun is his voice.  I think he has the coolest accent ever, and if there was a surgery around where they could change the sound of your voice, I would have this surgery to make myself sound like Joseph Gilgun.  I first saw a trailer for this film in a movie theatre, and I thought it was just going to be some lousy Sci-Fi action film that I would never see, and that’s when I heard one of the characters in the trailer say the line “Well, I’m gonna dream about you.  Aren’t I?” and I recognized that voice right away and started geeking out in my seat, because I was so excited that Joseph Gilgun was going to be in a film that was going to get a wide release in the U.S.  I was with my dear friend and colleague, the Corseted Critic, when I saw this trailer for the first time, and she saw how I excited I was; she actually went with me to see the movie the day it was released AND she paid for my ticket because she’s awesome like that. I enjoyed every second I saw Joseph Gilgun on screen in this film, and yeah this film is definitely a guilty pleasure for me.  

CHARACTER IS INSPIRED BY OR SIMILAR TO:

     Hydell wasn’t really inspired by or similar to any characters that I can think of in any other films.  Though, I will say that I thought Hydell was somewhat similar to a character Joseph Gilgun played in another film.  I definitely saw some subtle similarities between Gilgun’s Hydell and the character, Kenny, who he played in British Crime Drama, “Harry Brown”.  I think that Gilgun definitely brought some of his acting tricks from playing Kenny in “Harry Brown” and used them to influence how he portrayed Hydell.

Joseph Gilgun as Kenneth in "Harry Brown" (2010)

Joseph Gilgun as Hydell in "Lockout" (2012)

FATE OF THE CHARACTER:

Hydell ultimately damned everyone on MS-1 when he managed to escape.  Right, after he managed to escape, he held a gun to a workers head and ordered him to release all the other prisoners.  The worker opens the other stasis tubes and is shot in the head after he followed his demands. Hydell just wants Emilie.  He cares nothing about the lives of the other prisoners or the other hostages, he just wants Emilie.  Emilie is the only person that they’re really trying to rescue.  Hydell, grows impatient after he fails to find where she is, and he kills every other hostage on MS-1.  Emilie and Agent Snow (played by Guy Pearce) are the only people who manage to escape MS-1 alive before the government sends in the “Space Marines” to blow up MS-1 and kill everyone on board.