A New York DEA agent springs an outlaw from jail to lead him to stolen money in South America.
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The acting in this movie is really good.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Two mismatched rogues who hate each other are forced to work together to try and find a buried treasure, while a really nasty guy tries to track them both down to get the gold. One of our heroes knows the boatyard the treasure is hidden in, the other the name of the boat.Christopher Lambert and Mario Van Peebles haven't exactly had glittering screen careers, and Denis Leary, the villain, probably enjoyed the peak of his film career in the mid 90s. But in this one they are all fun to watch. Van Peebles and Lambert have a certain chemistry on the screen that needs to be seen to be fully appreciated.The film does go a little too far on the side of dirty in some scenes and stupidity in others. Patrick Stewart's presence is as ludicrous as his character's arc and demise.In general this is well acted and directed and certainly not a bad movie. This is not essential film making by any means, but worth tracking down if you like action comedy buddy flicks that borrow the plot from classic westerns.
400 million dollars is hidden in a boat in some in South America by Dani Servigo's brother. When his brother gets killed, Dani is a wanted man - by undercover DEA agent Cole Parker and also by Armor O'Malley, who is working for drug boss Loomis. Together, Servigo and Parker search for the boat....After Highlander 2 bombed big time, tins went a little awry for Lambert. He's never been box office gols, but he's always been reliable.This film marks a turning point for his career, and it starts of pretty badly. It's trying to be some sort of action film where the makers think we will have a good time because Lambert plays some sort of moron and Van Peebles is the straight guy.It fails miserably due to the fact that it's too incoherent and Leary isn't how he was in Judgment Night,mans he didn't get enough screen time.Instead we have the two leads in different set pieces involving water dunking, waterfalls, and lots of random extras being blown to bits.Twenty years ago, this could have been a lot of fun, but these days, the film is dull even at four in the morning when you cannot sleep.At least Patrick Stewart is in it, and he is hilarious for all the wrong reasons.Dull.
I think it's fair to say Christopher Lambert has had his fair share of duds in recent years. Started off in a great way in the 80's and then it's been one long slide into obscurity (Highlander 4 anyone?). Mario Van Peebles career path has been pretty similar since 'Heartbreak Ridge' though he seems to have done all right recently appearing in Ali. Anyway Gunmen' co-stars the two the same year they appeared together in Highlander 3. The basic plot of this South American actioner is that Dani Servigo (Lambert) is the only one who knows the name of harbour where a boat with 400 million dollars of drug money onboard is moored. Cole Parker (Van Peebles) is the only one who knows the boat's name. Together they're trying to get there before Loomis (Patrick Stewart), the drug lord the money belongs to and Armor O'Malley, his right hand man (Dennis Leary) who's starting to strain at the leash.Why am I recommending this film? Well, Sam Raimi said that the success of the Evil Dead films is dependant on how much abuse Bruce Campbell suffers. I think it's the same with this. At one point Van Peebles is tortured for information by being hung below a helicopter and flown through trees and then dunked in a lake. The more they suffer the more you want them to overcome the obstacles in their way. Mind you, Dani and Cole not the nicest of heroes'. Actually they're a couple of complete jerks. They bicker constantly and don't trust each other, stooping so low as to shoot each other in leg so they other can't run off with the money (this being a early 90's action film all this does is give them slight limps, how realistic). What makes it great to watch them is Lambert and Van Peebles aren't afraid to go for it and it's obvious they're bouncing off each other. On top of this we have Leary playing exactly the nasty driven character he's so good at (don't believe me? watch Judgement Night), whether it's shooting his own men or having people buried alive. An interesting fact to note is that this is an early writing effort from Stephen Sommer, who went on to demonstrate his ability with action pictures with such films as Deep Rising and The Mummy.
I watched this film expecting it to be a rip off of Lethal Weapon or The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Sure, the director is influenced by Sergio Leone, but that's no bad thing and this is hardly a remake of it. Instead, it has the same laid-back approach of any Leone western and is inspired by some of his great movies moments. If anything, this is much more a clone of Lethal Weapon, and it's a good one too.Being a fan of Christopher Lambert, it was great to see him in wise-cracking action and Mario Van Peebles was equally good. I also thought Denis Leary was a terrific bad guy and I liked Brenda Bakke as Maria too, a much better role for her than in Under Siege 2. I would go so far as to say this is just as much fun as Highlander, except it's a comedy with plenty of gags, some good, some not so good, but the film has so much pace to it that it doesn't really matter.So if you like a good-humoured buddy flick, and you liked Heartbreak Ridge, then you should see Gunmen.