I really wanted to enjoy 'Gunmen' as it looked like a fun piece of action from the 90's with a good cast. I can tolerate a predictable story, turn my brain off in pursuit of a good time as I know lots of things are likely to go boom here and a mass of firearms are gonna be shot off. The two foes who become allies I could have seen from a mile away, but what I didn't expect was just how simple the story is even for this genre.
Down in South America, drug baron Loomis (Patrick Stewart) has had his 400 million stolen and now the only man who knows where is it is the brother of the deceased thief, Dani (Christopher Lambert). Armor (Denis Leary) and his group of cut throat mercs are brought in to find the cash as DEA bounty hunter Cole (Mario Van Peebles) breaks Dani out of jail because he has a score to settle with Loomis. Dani knows where in the world the boat is and Cole just so happens to know the name of the boat.
It was a hoot to see Patrick Stewart playing a bad guy even if he doesn't have a ton of screen time. Leary isn't given much to sink his teeth into and doesn't go off on any rants unfortunately and as the "good" guy Peebles is merely sufficient. It's really Lambert that shines here the most - playing one of his 90's action slightly off kilter goofballs - with the right energy, his patented laugh. A slight deviation from the buddy cop movie with the prerequisite issue of trust and double crosses is the score here.
'Gunmen' is the type of flick you can skip and not miss much and those who give it a go will be hard pressed to rank it highly. It's as generic as generic gets ... much like the title I suppose. If you like any of the stars - Lambert, Stewart in particular - I think it's worthy of a curiosity watch but not much more. I was never bored due to some decent stunt work, but it also didn't impress.
Down in South America, drug baron Loomis (Patrick Stewart) has had his 400 million stolen and now the only man who knows where is it is the brother of the deceased thief, Dani (Christopher Lambert). Armor (Denis Leary) and his group of cut throat mercs are brought in to find the cash as DEA bounty hunter Cole (Mario Van Peebles) breaks Dani out of jail because he has a score to settle with Loomis. Dani knows where in the world the boat is and Cole just so happens to know the name of the boat.
It was a hoot to see Patrick Stewart playing a bad guy even if he doesn't have a ton of screen time. Leary isn't given much to sink his teeth into and doesn't go off on any rants unfortunately and as the "good" guy Peebles is merely sufficient. It's really Lambert that shines here the most - playing one of his 90's action slightly off kilter goofballs - with the right energy, his patented laugh. A slight deviation from the buddy cop movie with the prerequisite issue of trust and double crosses is the score here.
'Gunmen' is the type of flick you can skip and not miss much and those who give it a go will be hard pressed to rank it highly. It's as generic as generic gets ... much like the title I suppose. If you like any of the stars - Lambert, Stewart in particular - I think it's worthy of a curiosity watch but not much more. I was never bored due to some decent stunt work, but it also didn't impress.