Johnny Handsome (1989)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Awesome Movie

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

I'm so glad I've finally seen this film. This is well worth the waste of your time, Walter Hills, gem of a picture. Everyone in this film does a great job esp Mickey Rourke.

Johnny Handsome (1989) *** (out of 4)John Sedley (Mickey Rourke) is a deformed criminal who goes to pull a heist with Rafe (Lance Henriksen) and Sunny (Ellen Barkin) but they double cross him, which leads him into prison. Inside there's an attempt on his life but he barely survives and that's when Dr. Fisher (Forest Whitaker) offers him an option for plastic surgery. He's let out of prison and starts his new life, which is based around revenge.Director Walter Hill was riding a wave of success going into this picture. If you go through his career you'll see that he took at stab at several different genres throughout the 1980's with this one here being his attempt at a film noir. All the elements of the noir are on hand here but of course it's been updated for the era, which means it's in color, has a lot more sexuality and of course the nature of the material has been boosted to a R-rating.JOHNNY HANDSOME works on many different levels but we can just focus on the payback aspect of the story. The character is someone that you actually like and he's someone who end up caring for and feeling bad for. When you like a character so much it's easy to root for them and the film then gives us a couple great villains to root against. The entire revenge aspect work so well and Hill pulls you into this life and really takes you along for a terrific ride.It certainly helps that the cast are so wonderful with Rourke leading the way in what's really a double role. He did a wonderful job at playing the deformed character and he really comes to life once he becomes the handsome guy who sets out for revenge. Hendriksen is also terrific as the main bad guy as he certainly makes you hate the character. Barkin brings the same type of toughness and sexuality that she displayed in SEA OF LOVE. You've then got a nice turn by Whitaker, a good performance from Elizabeth McGovern and then there's Morgan Freeman playing a cop who you never know what he's up to.The film contains a great score, some really good cinematography and of course there's Walter Hill's eye that helps pull all of this together. The film really isn't as violent as some of Hill's previous films but it also contains some glorious style that the director really didn't show in earlier movies. JOHNNY HANDSOME is an extremely entertaining film that's worth watching.

Walter Hill's bluesy, melancholic crime thriller Johnny Handsome is a grimy concoction of violent heists and brutal shootouts held together by a character study of facially deformed career criminal John Sedley (Mickey Rourke). Sedley, looking like a cross between the elephant man and an orc, is a withdrawn, awkward outsider whose only success has been in illegal activities. Him and his partner (Scott Wilson) hook up with evil pair of dirtbags Rafé Garett (Lance Henriksen) and Sunny Boyd (Ellen Barkin) to pull off a jewelry store job. They get double crossed by the no good shitheels, his partner winds up dead, and Johnny gets caught. As part of an experimental program, Johnny undergoes a procedure to have his face altered to look normal. It's a success, and with a new face, Johnny gets parole, a legit job and begins to start anew. However, the bloody betrayal still haunts him, and slowly he starts to want revenge. This film lives in the snappy world of garish, larger than life criminals and hard nosed, mean spirited cops, a heightened, slimy version of the action genre that Hill delivers like the pro he is. Moody blues, smoky, detritus stained alleyways and the ever present vibe of the seedy side of New Orleans permeate every alcove of this piece, giving it a distinct, off noir flavor. Rourke nails the transformation from out casted freak into alpha dog slick tough guy like a caterpillar emerging from its cocoon, making us feel for Johnny despite his sordid lifestyle. Henriksen is a preening, sickening monster as street rat Garrett, a high strung, sadistic degenerate that will shoot his mother in the face if he thought he'd get a dollar and a smoke out of it. Barkin is a snake, oozing sluttiness and petulant, psychotic damaged goods charm from every whiny drawl and coy little grimace, the ultimate bad girl. Morgan Freeman turns up in a rare tough guy turn, as A.Z. Drones, the uptight cop who sees nothing but trash in Johnny and has no hope for any change. Freeman's reaction to Johnny's new face is one of sarcastic, stunned hilarity and is a career best scene from him. Forest Whitaker makes an appearance as the sympathetic doctor in charge of the operation, and Elizabeth Mcgovernn is a welcome breath of fresh air from the greasy rogues gallery, as a nice girl he meets at his legit job. This gritty yarn waltzes in straight from a dime store novella, and Hill knows how to guide it just this side of silly, with just the right amount of cheeky pulp, grounded writing, rambunctious, blood soaked shootouts, and well, bold drawn characterizations.

Walter Hill' filmography is always engaging at first sight.Stirred up by a screenplay promising action, sex, betrayal and revenge, you sit on your couch and insert longingly your DVD.Cast is good,no technical flaws,New Orleans'heat, should be a great movie....well, i ended up unsatisfactory; not really frustrated, but in a longing-for-more position.Watching this film helped me whiling away the time, but i won't watch it again, because it lacked elation.Two actors save this flick and owe the credits for not turning it into a B-movie. Ellen Barkin plays so well a hell of bitch and Morgan Freeman portrays effectively and jubilantly a cynical cop.As for Mickey Rourke, i don't know what to say for his acting as his role requests almost no acting, wearing a mask on his face for half the movie....