Ok, so say you just robbed a diamond store and made off with
millions worth of the stuff, would you feel like it wasn’t enough? Like there was a void in your soul? And the only way to fill that void was to
steal a priceless Native American spear in the middle of your getaway and kill
some poor guy who objected? I suppose
that’s what any of us would do in that situation, right? But if you think about it isn’t that a bit
much? I mean do you really need the
spear? Do you really need to kill a dude
for taking a step forward and essentially saying “are you fucking serious?”? If you take a step back I think you’ll see
that ripping off a diamond shop and murdering an entirely different individual
during that phase for only glancing at you is probably enough shitty things to
have accomplished in an afternoon. But
then again I could be wrong.
And so we have Renegades. Buster McHenry (Kiefer Sutherland (Dark City, The Vanishing)) is a Philly
cop that plays by his own rules. For one
thing he wears a mustache (which doesn’t look very cool or make Sutherland look
older) and for another he has a problem telling people he’s a cop. So when he gets in sticky situations, like
neutralizing a hostage situation by pretending to be a drunk that can’t find
his car therefore taking down the bad guy by surprise and getting promptly
arrested, he would rather spend the night in the drunk tank and have everyone
find out about him on their own than speak up.
It’s actually pretty bizarre how much he doesn’t want people to know
he’s a cop. I really don’t get this. He’s got such a huge chip on his shoulder in
part because his old man got busted for being a dirty cop but the other part of
it is, uh, youthful rebellion? I dunno. Oh, and he dresses in jeans and a leather jacket. Classic.
McHenry (the Buster part of his name is kinda bad,
especially compared to his counterpart but I’ll get to that) works
undercover. He’s infiltrated a gang that
wants to snatch diamonds while also trying to smoke out a dirty cop in his ranks. When he goes to a meeting with the bad guys
they alter their deal and want him to come along on the heist. McHenry has no choice, it’s either blow them
off and get killed or get in the car and try to navigate the situation in a
desperate attempt to find an exit.
This is a fantastic setup.
One of my favorite things in any movie is when an undercover cop has to
do something terribly illegal or he’ll be killed on the spot. Whatever it is: taking drugs, robbing a bank,
murdering someone, it’s always incredibly tense. And this picture fucking delivers. Not only does McHenry and co nab the diamonds
but the main villain, Marino (Rob Knepper (Transporter
3, Hitman)), pinches a Native American spear, kills several people and they
go on a terrific car chase with the cops. The real kicker is McHenry amazingly survives
all this shit only to get shot in the back by Marino. Holy shit man, the entire sequence is about
fourteen fucking minutes long and it’s really great. It’s like the filmmakers were having so much
fun they just wanted to keep it going and going. This part is almost a mini film by itself.
As a result (or consequence really) of killing the guy who
dared to say “no!” during the spear stealing, you now have Hank Storm (Lou
Diamond Phillips (Che, Disorganized Crime))
out for your ass. It was his brother
that got gunned down in cold blooded murder so he wants revenge. I guess you could say a storm is coming (I
don’t regret that sentence).
Hank Storm is a much better name than Buster McHenry. I can’t believe the filmmakers didn’t
reevaluate Buster. I know it doesn’t
really matter that much but it kinda bugs me.
They knew how to do a cool and ridiculous sounding name so why not go
two for two?
Anyway, like McHenry Storm is a renegade, I guess. He knows how to kick ass, track folks and
always keep a cool head when things get rough.
Like as soon as his brother dies Storm wastes no time and takes some
guy’s sports car to join in the chase.
The two leads are both men of action that don’t think too much about
what they’re doing and just fucking do it.
Storm thinks McHenry was part of Marino’s crew so they
reluctantly form an uneasy alliance to go after Marino and his posse. So there’s a lot of butting heads as per
usual. Their clashes range from fun
(they take the time to duke it out on a rooftop while trying to escape the
cops) to pointless padding out of the film (McHenry tries to ditch Storm over
and over again which gets annoying and doesn’t progress the story). When they do click it feels more like they
gave up and simply put up with each other which I like. They definitely respect one another by the
end but it’s interesting to see these two play off each other in an untrusting and
almost awkward way.
Sutherland is giving it his all in this. It looks like he’s genuinely terrified during
the car chase with his voice getting very hoarse while pleading with the bad
guys to not kill him. And after he gets
shot he really looks like he might not make it because he’s breathing so
heavily and he gets so limp, pale and sweaty.
He can mostly pull off the tough guy act but pairing him up with someone
who’s just as, if not more, capable brings the character down to earth a little. That was smart.
Phillips is unexpectedly good as a bad ass. He’s lanky but manages to be stoic which goes
a long way. He looks like a guy that
couldn’t do much but when it’s time for action he can handle it no
problem. McHenry is more of the talker
and Storm is more of the doer. I’ve always
liked Phillips for his subtle charm and he works it effectively in this one.
Director Jack Sholder did A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (aka the gay Freddy
movie (Sholder claims to have not picked up on the homoerotic subtext during
filming which is slightly hard to believe but not inconceivable I suppose)) and
the really fun Terminator-esque The Hidden. He does a good straightforward job here with
clear exciting action and a bunch of drama to keep you invested.
I saw this many years ago and it didn’t leave much of an
impression. Well I’m glad to say that
this is much better than I remembered. It’s
pretty gritty with some well executed action and an engaging enough story. Sutherland and Phillips do a good job and look
like they’re into the material. The
villain, although cast well, is pure evil with no redeeming qualities however. It’s a shame they didn’t give him a
personality. But the dirty cop is
surprisingly more fleshed out than you would think. He actually struggles with his inner demons
and feels conflicted about the illegal shit he’s doing.
Overall I liked this one quite a bit. There’s not only hardened cop shit but also spiritual
Native American shit which you don’t see enough of in movies (especially
action). Alright, the stealing of the
spear (again, which Marino had no prior plans of taking, he did it on a whim,
an impulse lift) has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Marino could’ve just shot Storm’s brother who
was in his way during the escape and that would’ve been enough. But the spear makes me like the movie that
much more. Sure, why not throw it in
there? Have the bad guy be more bad and
give Storm even more motivation to kill Marino.
Whatever, I’ll roll with it.
This one is getting fairly deep in terms of action pictures
but you know I love that shit, and you should too. So check it out.
(I seriously have no idea what the deal is with the trailer below, especially the music choice. The movie is not nearly as lighthearted as they would have you believe.)
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