Gunmen (1994)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

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.

GUNMEN is a brilliant action movie, and of course very funny. Once again, the great Mr. Denis Leary shows he has the chops to be a great screen villain. As with JUDGMENT NIGHT, he excels as a wonderfully nasty bad guy.As for our leads, Mario Van Peebles and Christopher Lambert work brilliantly together as they joke and shoot on the way to find some laundered drug money. I don't know what everyone's problem with Lambert is because he's been brilliant in every film I've seen him in. I hated what I saw of HIGHLANDER 3, but that was just because the film sucked, not because of Lambert. Strangely, there's no love interest for our heroes. But that's no problem. Patrick Stewart pops up in what is basically an extended cameo as Leary's boss. He's okay, but I'm glad that Leary is the main villain of the piece. GUNMEN does not disappoint as there is non-stop action and side-splitting comedy on offer. Enjoy.

"Gunmen" was loosely based upon Sergio Leone's "The good, the bad and the ugly". But it isn't that much of a rip off. It's actually pretty good. Here are the most obvious resemblances :1. In "The good, the bad and the ugly", there are three men : the good, a lonesome cow-boy (Clint Eastwood); the bad, an gun-for-hire(Lee Van Cleef) and the ugly, a thief (Eli Wallach). In "Gunmen", Mario Van Peeples plays a bounty hunter (the good), Dennis Leary plays a cutthroat (the bad) and Christopher Lambert plays a thief (the ugly). The relationship between Van Peeples and Lambert in "Gunmen" is similar to Eastwood and Wallach's partnership in "The good, the bad and the ugly".2. There also is what I call the "you've got the gun and I've got the bullets" situation. In "The good, the bad and the ugly", Eastwood and Wallach are forced to work together to find the treasure because Wallach knows the name of the cemetery and Eastwood knows the name of the grave in which the treasure is buried. In "Gunmen", Van Peeples and Lambert both have their own part of the secret. Lambert knows where his brother hid the boat with 400 millions dollars aboard and Van Peeples knows its name.3. Finally, there are many scenes in "Gunmen" similar to the ones in "The good, the bad and the ugly" like the scene where Lambert is forced to reveal where the boat is to Leary (Wallach is beaten up and reveals the name of the cemetery to Van Cleef) and the scene at the end when Van Peeples makes Lambert believe he'll get rid of him to keep the treasure (Eastwood hangs Wallach but cuts him loose and shares the treasure).With all these resemblances, it makes no doubt that "Gunmen" is a remake of "The good, the bad and the ugly". A good remake, though. Considering this movie was made with a very low budget with terrific cast, I thought "Gunmen" was a cool action/adventure flick. Mario Van Peeples and Christopher Lambert are great in their roles and Dennis Leary is excellent as the main bad guy. Patrick Steward also gives a very believable performance as the drug dealer.Overall, "Gunmen" is a fun modern day remake of Sergio Leone's epic western. I give it a strong 7/10.

After watching the original Highlander, I found myself wanting to see a guy I'd never heard of act in some other movies because of the performance he put on in the one I'd seen. Christopher Lambert isn't what I'd call a great actor, he plays pretty much the same soft spoken character in everything, but for some reason that character tends to be entertaining. Gunmen was pretty much an hour and a half of stupid fun and while I'd never nominate it for an oscar or any other accolade, I still think it was worth watching.