Mean Guns (1997)

Director:

Albert Pyun

Writer (WGA):

Andrew Witham (written by)

Release Date:

21 November 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime

Tagline:

100 Assassins. 1,000 Weapons. 10,000,000 Dollars. Only One Can Survive.

Plot:

A gangster boss (Ice-T) has a list of about 100 people who have screwed up at one point or another. Rather than outright killing them...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Gunfight | Reference To Goldilocks And The Three Bears | Independent Film

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Christopher Lambert	...	Lou
Ice-T	...	Vincent Moon
Michael Halsey	...	Marcus
Deborah Van Valkenburgh	...	Cam
Tina Cote	...	Barbie
Yuji Okumoto	...	Hoss
Thom Mathews	...	Crow
Kimberly Warren	...	D
Hunter Doughty	...	Lucy (as Hunter Lockwood Doughty)
Jerry Rector	...	Bob
James Wellington	...	Ricky
Hoke Howell	...	Commissioner Galloner
James Mathers	...	Jerry Montegna
Milan Nicksic	...	Kobolski
Jahi J.J. Zuri	...	Blondie

MPAA:

Rated R for nonstop violence, and for language.

Runtime:

104 min | USA:105 min (TV version) | USA:110 min (video version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:MA | New Zealand:R18 | Germany:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | Spain:18

Company:

Filmwerks

Quotes:

Ricky: Hey, I happen to have a healthy respect for profanity. They're just not happy words and they don't make me happy to hear them. To use something over and over until it has no meaning. Hell hell hell hell hell.

Movie Connections:

References Highlander (1986)

Soundtrack:

Salsipuedes

Time for some good old fashioned redemption.

"Mean Guns" is a great movie as far as action goes. Christopher Lambert and Ice-T are really the only two big names in the movie. The rest of the cast is either virtually unknown or relatively unexperienced in the action movie genre.

What happens when you dump a load of guns into a roomful of killers? You get this movie. As action as action can get, the confines of an empty prison makes for the perfect setting for the mayhem and murder of the contest that will leave only a certain lucky few alive, as per rules of the contest. Kill or be killed, the movie follows around a handful of central characters as they attempt to make it through alive.

The soundtrack, the majority of which is Perez Prado, makes for the perfect background for the beautiful symphony of destruction and death throughout the movie. The acting leaves a bit to be desired. Some of the characters give very wooden and monotone performances (specifically that of "D" and "Cam"), but most of it is pretty decent. The action is on the more realistic side of the spectrum, going against many modern action movies in which the bad guys fly back 10 feet when they're shot with a small-caliber pistol. The deaths are fairly realistic; you don't get everyone being shot 14 times and then giving a long speech before finally doing a 540-backflip off a roof to their death.

As far as action movies go, this is a good one. Don't expect any academy award winning acting, but its definitely an enjoyable movie.

7/10