Héroe solitario

Like most here, I stumbled across this movie by accident and am glad I did.

Robert Forester is great, and Sean Patrick Flannery does a good job as the "Lone Hero," but for me Lou Diamond Phillips stole the show.

His portrayal of a bad guy was anything but routine. His character is complex as a truly bad "bad guy" bordering almost on the unbelievable. A real cold-blooded killer with no compunction at all in killing people-cops or anyone else he chooses, he also possesses a genuine sardonic sense of the world he lives in. He bring an edge of humor into what could have been a run-of-the-mill murderer.

The humorous overtones carry through his every action and are reflected in his continued attempt to gain empathy from Flannery's character. One could almost say he is playing Satan. He enjoys his evil life style and tries over and over again to corrupt Flannery.

I suspect Lou Diamond Phillips enjoyed this roll and was allowed by the director to shape the character himself.

His evil is an attractive evil and yet you know that if Flannery let's up or goes along with Phllips, Phillips' character would kill him in a second.

I really enjoyed this movie.

Oh yeah, and the gun play/Western style shoot-em-up tone of the movie makes this one a keeper. Recommended.

Survivalists across the nation will love Lone Hero who takes on a gang of murderous bikers who threaten their peaceful western theme village. Our Lone Hero in this case is Sean Patrick Flannery with a little help from iconoclastic Robert Forster and others.

The film is The Wild One meets 3:10 To Yuma. Lou Diamond Phillips heads a biker gang only these dudes carry weapons that Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin never had. He gets into town and robs a local bar and one of actors in a western reenactment show for the tourists actually arrests Phillips and hands him over to the law.

But like in 3:10 to Yuma, the gang comes in and then it's a battle between Flannery forced to become a real western hero and Phillips and the gang.

The film really does belong to Lou Diamond Phillips however. He actually makes this murderous thug charming in his own gruesome way. He overacts to the max, but in this situation that's what I'd have done. He's far more colorful than pallid Sean Patrick Flannery as the hero.

Lone Hero is not a great film, but definitely easy to take and a film the National Rifle Association ought to be buying the rights to and disseminating as it perfectly puts their case against gun control.

The "High Noon" story has been told so many ways on the screen that its hard to think that another retelling could be anything but tedious.

Surprisingly, however, "Lone Hero" is an entertaining, low-budget variant on the tale, thanks to a terrific performance by Lou Diamond Phillips as the vicious, but sardonically perceptive biker villain with most of the good lines. Sean Patrick Flanery, as the title hero, and Robert Forster, his ally with a unspoken past, provide more than able support.

The plot is by the book (or is it by the screenplay?), but there is enough nicely mounted action to keep fans of the genre happy, and enough good dialog to keep most others from getting bored.

This film has what so many direct-to-video action films lack--good acting with a script whose iconic characters rise well enough above the trite to make the scenes between the fights worth watching.

I saw parts of this movie on HBO while flipping between channels looking for something worthwhile to watch. I thought this made for HBO movie was far from what I was looking for. After seeing parts of it probably half a dozen times and being drawn in, I finally sat down and watched it from beginning to end.

This movie has a straightforward simple plot. At a glance it looks like "Hollywood stock" and the average back cover synopsis at the movie store wouldn't lead you to believe different. But, this film is of higher quality. The writing is good, even witty. The acting is good. The action is a vehicle to the plot, not center stage. It is a light, benevolent, and heroic movie, with action as its backdrop.

Unfortunately I haven't seen anything else written or directed by Ken Sanzel that was worth the time to watch it.

This is a thoroughly acceptable retelling of the 'outlaws run amok in a good old-western town' scenario set in modern times. This film, which is technically an action/adventure, can almost be seen as an homage to the shoot-'em-up cowboy films of a bygone era. It pits a lackluster actor doing hourly shows as a badguy in an old-west theme town against a vicious, win-at-all-costs leader of a motorcycle gang and his thugs. The characters are strong, and if you allow the usual 'willing suspension of disbelief' (and like a little meat to your movies) you will probably have a fun time watching this flick.