Renegades

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.)