Lone Hero

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 film was recently shown in the spring of 2002 on HBO. The twist to this film involves one of the participants in a local town's wild west show given to tourist. A criminalistic motorcycle gang invades the town. It is that participant mentioned above who cleverly fights off this gang, one with the help of a friend who apparently is well versed in weapondry and by getting a few of the towns participants to assist him when the gang makes its final assault to seize the town with their ultimate goal of perhaps killing innocents and pillaging the town for whatever they can use on their travels. Lou Diamond Phillips is ideal as the head of the biker gang with a mean wise guy attitude. Sean Patrick Flannery is perfect as the mild mannered participant that wards off the gang. Robert Forster is good support as the friend of Flannery and the weapons expert.

There is a style to this action film that although makes it a sort of "B" film that makes it a cut above similar type films. I would say that the plot-story line is the key that is carried out very well.

if your waiting for the next john carpenter movie to come out and you stumble across this almost exact remake of ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, you might want to give it a go... Lou Diamond Phillips is pretty okay here, better than he was in ROUTE 666 (which was god awful) and about the same as he was in BATS. But his performance in The Big Hit really smokes this. you might also want to catch RAISING ARIZONA if you like the deranged motorcycle part as well... all in all, a movie to watch on tv, but dont pay to see it. B-Movie all the way!!!

For those living in the Ivory Tower who think that "Citizen Kane" is the movie by which all others should be judged, this movie is complete trash. For the rest of us who remember that movies are ENTERTAINMENT before ART, this movie certainly has the capacity to be entertaining.

It's a modern western: A small town in the west, a gang of bandits, and a nobody who has to save the day thanks to an older, tougher mentor. The action is fast-paced, yet refreshingly simple, and the movie deserves bonus points for not taking itself too seriously...in fact, the general pace of the movie switches fluidly between action and comic relief. The direction is effective, with a few inventive shots, and the score has the perfect "modern western" feel to it. The acting, however, is a bit weak. Sean Patrick Flanery acts like he's about to fall asleep, and most of the rest of the cast is completely forgettable. Two exceptions however, are Robert Forster (who is for the post part solid) and Lou Diamond Phillips, who actually overplays to the point of being likable (it's an over-the-top character, thus requiring an over-the-top performance).

Anyone looking for a meaningful cinematic experience will surely be disappointed, but if you're looking for an entertaining shoot 'em up, you can do a lot worse.

7/10

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.